Parshas Matos-Masei

Your Words Will Soar To The Heavens!

 

“…he may not profane his word. He shall do all that he said.” (Bamidbar 30:3)

 

Even the greatest craftsman who can think of original ideas to beautify a vessel, an object, and who has delicate hands to produce such beauty, requires the right tools to do so. If the craftsman does not have any tools, he cannot produce the desired object. If his tools are defective, although he may be able to make the object, it will clearly be noticeable that it is of inferior quality.

The Chofetz Chaim zt”l (Shmiras Halashon Sha’ar Hazechira perek yud) uses this parable to describe every Jew. Hashem, our venerable king, has granted us the gift of speech to properly serve Him. We serve Hashem through our Torah learning, our prayers, our blessings, our words of thanks and praises to Hashem. Our mouths are our vessels through which we serve Hashem. When we articulate these wonderful words with which we serve Hashem, we literally create heavenly worlds and holy angels who will be our defense attorneys. These angels will actually defend our souls in the Heavenly Court, after our passing. If our mouths are free of speaking lashon hara, falsehoods, and unclean speech, then our words will be beautiful in their holiness. Our words of holiness will reach the heavens. If our vessels, our mouths, are impure because of unholy words that we speak, then the holy words which we do say, may not rise heavenward, unless we repent.

The Chida zt”l derives a similar idea from the pasuk in this week’s parsha, “…he may not profane his word. He shall do all that he said (Bamidbar 30:3).” If one is careful not to speak “profane” words or lashon hara,… then when he prays and makes requests to Hashem, “He shall do all that he said”, Hashem will answer his prayer! (Talelei Oros by Rabbi Yissachar Dov Rubin)

When our mouths are “pure”, then our Torah-learning and prayers rise heavenward. These holy words create worlds and angels who will defend us in the Heavenly Court. Hashem answers the prayers of one who uses his words to serve Him.