29 Jul THE JEWISH PROFESSION

As we head to Tisha
b’Av, we are acutely
aware that all the
tragedies connected to
the saddest day of the
year have their root in the
lashon hara spoken by the
meraglim, the spies, who
maligned Eretz Yiroel
and generated a bechiya shel chinam, a cry
for nothing, by Klal Yisroel. This created the
horrific snowball effect of crying throughout
the generations. This sin of lashon hara would
plague us throughout the generations until this
very day.
Balak, who was terrified of the Bnei Yisroel
and wanted to learn all he could about their
leader Moshe, turned to the elders of Midyan
where Moshe grew up. The Midyanites told
him, “Ein um’nosom shel eilu ela b’peh – The
specialty and profession of these people lies
only in their mouth.” This is consistent with
what it ways in the Torah, “Hakol kol Yaakov
v’yadayim yadei Eisav – The voice is the voice
of Yaakov while the skills of the hand belong to
Eisav.” On his ‘deathbed,’ Yaakov told Yosef,
‘I am bequeathing you an extra portion which
I took from the Emori, “B’charbi u’b’kashti.”
Literally, this means with “my sword and my
bow.” Onkelos however renders it, “B’tzlosi
u’b’va’usi – With my prayers and my
petitions,” for our power is really in the mouth.
This is also what Dovid haMelech says,

“Eila b’rechev, v’eileh vasusim, va’anachnu
b’Sheim Hashem Elokeinu nazkir – They
come with their chariots, and they come with
their cavalry, but we come with the Name of
Hashem our G-d.”
When referring to the umnos of the mouth, for
further elaboration, we turn to the Gemara in
Masechtas Chulin [83a], where Rav Yitzchak
says, “Mah um’noso shel adam b’olam hazeh?
Ya’aseh atzmo k’ileim – What is the profession
of a person in this world? He should make
himself as a mute.” It is a specialty to be
able to control one’s mouth to the point of not
needing to have the last word.
How many marital nights and weekends
would be saved if people would only master
this skill? Indeed, this talent is so important
that it is one of the things that keeps the world
in existence. As the Gemara informs us, “Ein
ha’olam miskayam ela b’mi she’boleim piv
b’shas merivah – The world only survives
because of one who knows how to zip his
mouth during a quarrel.” As the American
saying goes, “It takes two to tango.” If one
refuses to fight back, quarrels and feuds will
happily and quickly dissipate.
The Chofetz Chaim, zt”l, zy”a, reminds us that
we must take the utmost care that our primary
tool, our mouth, should be pristinely clean
from any lashon hara, lying, hurtful words or
vulgarity. Just like a car mechanic takes very
good care of his tools, or a mohel who does

circumcisions is extremely careful with his
special izemel, his knife, and the shochet is
very mindful of his chalaf, his shchitah knife,
so too, since the mouth is the crucial organ of
our profession, if we want our prayers and our
learning to find favor in the Eyes of Hashem,
we need to be extremely careful of our mouths.
The Gemara in Sanhedrin [99b] tells us that
the primary toil of life is amal peh, the toil
of the mouth, and as a proof to this, it quotes
the posuk in Mishlei, “Ki ochaf alov pihu –
One has a saddle upon his mouth.” Just like
the saddle controls the animal, so too the
primary achievement of life is to be constantly
vigilant to control our mouths from speaking
poorly about anyone. This includes children,
siblings, parents and all relatives, counselors,
lifeguards, and different Jewish groups.
The Vilna Gaon, zt”l, zy”a, asks, “What is
the connection between “profession” and
“silence?” He cites the Sefer Chassidim,
zt”l, zy”a, [863] who says that just like every
person has a fixed amount of days to live, so
also every person has a fixed amount of words
to say. When they use up their words, they
expire. Concludes the Vilna Gaon, just like
a profession allows us to live, so too silence
prolongs our life since we are not using up our
allotment of words. It is important to note that
words of mitzvah such as making a spouse
happy, spending time with a child, or pleasing
a parent do not deduct from our allotment,
while the Sfas Emes says that words of Torah,

since they are full of light, actually increase
our word total.
So, if we want to make our Tisha b’Av
experience meaningful and lasting, let’s be
much more mindful of using our words more
sparingly, carefully, and wisely and, in that
merit, may Moshiach come speedily, and may
we be blessed with long life, good health, and
everything wonderful.