09 Jul CHUKAS: SPEECH

Moshe Rabbeinu
was punished for
hitting the stone, and
the meforshim
explain, in various
ways, exactly where
Moshe erred and what
he did wrong.
Rashi teaches that his
sin was that he hit the
rock and he didn’t
speak to it.
Another explanation
is that his error was
when he rebuked the
nation, he insulted them because he said,
listen rebellious ones.” The Ohr HaChaim
writes, “Hashem’s hakpadah (complaint)
was that Moshe said to the children of the
living G-d, rebellious ones, and it isn’t
proper for a chossid to disgrace and
belittle the children of Avraham Yitzchak
and Yaakov.”
The Bas Ayin combines both
explanations. At first, Moshe disgraced
the nation when he said, “listen rebellious
ones.” After saying this, Moshe was to
speak to the stone to bring forth water.
But after disgracing the nation, Moshe

thought that his words wouldn’t be
effective anymore. He thought, “How can
a mouth that just insulted the holy Jewish
nation be able to bring forth water from a
stone? In my situation, words won’t help
anymore.” And this is the reason Moshe
chose to go to plan B and to hit the stone
instead.
Moshe’s error was that he underestimated
the potential of teshuvah. Moshe realized
that he shouldn’t have spoken negatively
to the Jewish nation and repented. Yet, he
still believed that he lost the power of
speech, but this wasn’t correct. After his
teshuvah, he could once again perform
wonders with his words. If he had spoken
to the stone, it would have given forth
water.
This lesson applies to every Yid.
Obviously, we must be cautious with our
speech. If one speaks lashon hara or other
forbidden words, he loses his power of
tefillah to a certain extent. How can he
daven with a mouth that rebelled against
Hashem? How effective could words
coming from such a mouth be? However,
we mustn’t lose hope, and we mustn’t
stop davening. We must know that we can
do teshuvah, it takes just a moment, and

we have the power of tefillah again. We
must believe in the potential of teshuvah.
The Midrash says that if Moshe Rabbeinu
had spoken to the stone, the Beis
HaMikdash would never have been
destroyed. The second Beis HaMikdash
was destroyed because of sinas chinam
and lashon hara.
If Moshe had spoken to the stone, the
nation wouldn’t have committed the sins
of sinas chinam and lashon hara. How is
that?
The Chasam Sofer zt’l explains that
people speak lashon hara because they
think words don’t harm. If Moshe had
spoken to the stone and brought forth
water, it would have taught the nation the
power of speech. And by extension, they
would understand the severity of lashon
hara. But because he smote the stone, this
lesson was lost. They didn’t learn how
powerful simple words can be. Therefore,
Chazal tell us that if Moshe had spoken to
the stone to bring forth water, the nation
wouldn’t speak lashon hara, and the Beis
HaMikdash would have never been
destroyed.
Reb Moshe Benzelovitz zt’l, a chassid of
the Imrei Emes of Gur zt”l, had an

excruciating toothache. To keep his mind
off the pain, he kept crossing the street,
back and forth. The Imrei Emes summoned
for him, and Reb Moshe, a loyal chassid,
went immediately despite his pain. The
Rebbe said, “I heard that you have
toothaches. It is because you speak lashon
hara. If you stop speaking lashon hara
about Yidden, the pain will disappear.”
Reb Moshe Benzelovitz said that this
counsel healed him. He never again spoke
lashon hara and didn’t suffer anymore
from toothaches. This went on for many
years. One night he spoke avak lashon
hara (a lighter form of lashon hara) and
was in excruciating pain the entire night.
He immediately made another kabalah
never to speak lashon hara; since then, the
pain has never returned.