Parshas Vayeira
Rabbi Hillel Brody
Last week, for Parshas Lech Lecha, we brought an indication to the huge rewards which are available to someone who remains silent when speaking could cause harm. It would follow naturally that using one’s speech for the positive is an even greater act. Indeed, it is a very powerful thing when one uses the gift of speech to bring about a benefit. If asked to give an example of using speech for the positive, many people would give an example like comforting someone who is bereaved or paying a compliment to someone who appears to be feeling down. We could hardly blame someone for giving such examples, but the truth is infinitely greater than that.
In Parshas Vayeira, after Sedom and its environs are destroyed, Lot and his two daughters find themselves in a cave. Thinking (or, at least, convincing themselves) that they were the last people on Earth, the daughters get Lot drunk and each of the daughters conceives a child. The older one names her son Moav, which means, “From father.” The younger one names her child Ben Ami, which means, “Son of my Nation.” These two sons go on to be the fathers of the nations of Moav and Ammon, nations who reappear later in the Torah.
When the Jewish People are preparing to encounter these nations before entering the Land of Israel, Hashem instructs the Jewish people to leave these two nations alone. However, a distinction is drawn between Ammon and Moav. Ammon was to be completely left alone, whereas when it came to Moav, war was prohibited but the Jews were permitted to subjugate them. The Gemara in Bava Kamma explains that Ammon was rewarded for the more refined language of their matriarch.
In the introduction to Sefer Chovas Hashmira, the Chofetz Chaim derives from this Gemara that even the speech of non-Jews, who have no mitzvah to speak nicely, is noticed and rewarded by Hashem.
Consider that the eternal reward to Ammon was for a miniscule modicum of modesty in speech on the part of the younger daughter; she chose “Ben Ami,” instead of a more explicit reference like her sister used. It’s not as though the younger sister performed some incredibly holy act here; the best we can say about her is that she was slightly less vulgar than her sister. And yet, this subtle difference in how she spoke generated an everlasting reward for her descendants. How much more so, concludes the Chofetz Chaim, does Hashem take note of and reward the speech of His nation.
Even though we try, it often seems impossible to become the total master of one’s speech. The Chofetz Chaim acknowledges numerous times that this emotionally challenging fact could easily lead one to give up on trying. It is encouraging to remember that even if we don’t manage to avoid all improper speech, the reward for even a slight improvement is beyond our comprehension. Every word is carefully measured by Hashem and “a little better” can create massive spiritual impact. May this idea serve as a motivation for all of us to continue to strive for speech which is in line with Hashem’s Torah.
