Torah
The Power of Speech
By: Zoey Glaubach
Print
this Shiur This week’s Parsha is Parshat Emor. Towards the end of the Parsha, we learn the story of the Mekalel- a man who curses Hashem and is punished by being stoned to death. The Torah tells us that the name of this man’s mother isShlomit Bat Divri. Shortly after this, the Torah lists the punishments that are received when someone kills or causes damage to another human or to an animal. Why do these punishments follow what we learn about the Mekalel and why is the Mekalel’s mother’s name, Shlomit Bat Divri, significant?
Rashi says the mother was called Divri because Divri means “to speak” and she was known to chatter a lot and speak lashon hara. The Sefer Hachinuch explains that Shlomit’s son was not punished because he literally cursedHashem, but because he used his ability to speak for negative things. He was given the choice of whether to speak good things or bad things, but clearly made the wrong decision. He followed his mother’s habit of gossiping and wasted his words on improper matters.
The Aished HaNechalim clarifies the juxtaposition of these two topics in the Torah. He explains that the reason the punishments for damaging a human or animal follow the incident of the man who gossips is because the man failed to realize the difference between man and animal. Man has the ability to speak, while an animal does not. If this man would have recognized the greatness of the power of speech he would not have used it in an inappropriate manner. We learn from this to appreciate the importance of the power of speech and not use it to say any harmful or unnecessary words.
(Idea from koltorah.org)
| Additional shiurim
from this category can be found in: |
Parshat Shavua (Emor) |
| Uploaded: | Friday, May 2, 2014 |