Eat Your Words!

Translated from Rabbi Arush’s feature article in the weekly Chut shel Chessed newsletter. The articles focus on his main message: “Loving others as yourself” and emuna. 

 

The Baba Sali’s Blessing 

A group of prominent community activists once called upon Harav Mordechai Eliyahu, zy”a. They asked for his participation to warn the public to stay away from a certain rabbi about whom rumors were circulating. These activists, along with several leading rabbis, had composed a declaration to this effect, and now they wanted the Gedolei HaDor to sign it. 

 

After listening to their speech and reading the proposed declaration, Rav Eliyahu said, “No, I will not sign this paper.” 

 

The visitors tried to persuade the Rav to sign, explaining that they had extensive proofs to back their suspicions. The Rav declared, “I don’t want to see anything or hear anything. I’ve already told you that I refuse to sign on your paper.” 

 

The visitors looked at one another, trying to figure out what to do next. Without Rav Eliyahu’s  signature their efforts would probably have no effect. They decided to try once more to convince him, but Rav Eliyahu cut them off before they could start. 

 

“Let me tell you something,” he began. “The holy Baba Sali bestowed on me the power to bless the people of Yisrael, so that my blessings would bear fruit. He did this on one condition – that I never say anything bad about any Jew in the world. I do not want to lose the power he gave me, so I don’t want to hear or see anything negative about this Rav. In fact, I don’t want to think anything negative about him. 

 

“No amount of money would compensate for losing my power to bestow blessings. Would any of you be willing to give up on such a thing? I feel close to every single Jew, and therefore I am committed to avoid hearing anything bad about any Jew. I certainly would never sign my name on such a letter!” 

 

After this little speech, the visitors had nothing to say. They wished the Rav good health, and they turned to leave. 

 

We Are All Baba Sali! 

This story made a strong impression on me, and I thought about it for a long time. Harav Eliyahu received his special power of bestowing blessings from the Baba Sali, but the truth is that every Jew has this power. Hashem told Avraham Avinu, “You will be a blessing,” and Rashi explained that this means, “Until now, only I could bestow blessings. I blessed Adam and Noah, but from now on, you can bless whomever you choose.” 

 

Avraham Avinu bequeathed this special gift to all his descendants. The power of bestowing blessings was inherited by Yitzchak Avinu, and then by Yaakov Avinu. Our people have continued to bestow Yaakov’s blessing on our children to this very day. That means that every Jew has the power to bestow blessings. 

 

Why did the Baba Sali make it conditional that Rav Eliyahu must never speak badly about any Jew? It was because the Baba Sali understood that if you want to bless Jews, you have to love Jews. In that case, Rav Eliyahu did not receive this gift exclusively! It is available to every one of us! 

 

We all want to be able to bless our children, our family members, and our friends. We want to bless everyone who is sick or injured, to have a full recovery; we want to bless all those who are single to find their shidduch in a timely fashion. And we want our blessings to work! How can we do that? It is conditional on our refraining from speaking negatively about others, on our feeling a close connection to every other Jew, and on our avoiding all disputes, feuds, and hatred, as we would flee from the plague. 

 

What’s at Stake? 

Rabbi Shimshon Barsky, a leading Breslover Chassid who lived several generations ago, wrote in his Eitzos Hamevu’aros that strife and baseless hatred are derived through the negative trait of desire. The difficulty about this is that when one person hates another, or when people have a dispute, each one is certain that he is right and that he is championing the cause of truth, that he is waging Hashem’s battle. Since we do not realize that our feelings come through our personal desires, we do not even attempt to control them and stifle them. On the contrary, each person who hates the others believes that he is fulfilling a lofty mitzvah. 

 

So, before you begin to speak badly about any other Jew or group of Jews, and especially if you wish to criticize Rabbanim and Torah scholars, imagine that you are at your daughter’s wedding and you are walking up to her just before the chuppah to give her your blessing for a successful marriage. Do you want that blessing to be just hollow words, or do you want it to become a real blessing that will bring her bliss and health throughout her life? Is it worthwhile to lose the power of bestowing blessings on your children because you want to speak badly about another Jew? Do you want to be disconnected from a sector of the nation of Yisrael? Decide for yourself. 

 

One Nation – One Heart 

Let’s look at this a bit deeper. Why would anyone want to speak badly about another Jew if he realizes that by doing so he will lose the power to bestow blessings? To answer this, look at the amazing words of the Or Hachayim on parashas Vayechi: “The power to bless corresponds to the degree of one’s love. Anyone who wants his blessings to bear fruit must bring himself to love intensely the person whom he is blessing.” 

 

So, you might say, “When I give a blessing to my daughter on her wedding day, I certainly love her very, very deeply. What’s the difference if I don’t feel any love for someone else who has nothing to do with me?” 

 

But that is a false premise. The nation of Yisrael is one unit – “like one person with one heart.” If you decide not to love one Jew, your love for everyone in the nation, even your love for your daughter the bride, is faulty. 

 

Rebbe Nachman taught that if you speak badly about a Jew, your love for the Torah becomes tainted and you won’t be able to learn Torah diligently. Every Jew is considered to be a letter in the Torah, and all our souls are parts of one giant soul. If you disconnect from a single Jew, you are disconnecting from the entire nation of Yisrael, and the blessings that you give to your children will not be very effective. 

 

The tefillin shel rosh has four separate compartments, while the tefillin shel yad has only one. This teaches us that in your head you are permitted to think differently from others, but in your heart (the tefillin shel yad rests next to your heart) we must all be united – one heart! If you disconnect from a single Jew, it is like disconnecting from one letter of the Torah. Just as that sefer Torah is invalid for use, this person’s heart is invalidated. He is incapable of loving properly. 

 

Baseless Hatred Brings Self-Destruction 

The Beis Hamikdash was destroyed because of Jews’ baseless hatred. When one Jew hates another, in reality he is hating himself and his own family. This hatred is a recipe for self-destruction. We can understand this within the parameters of a family. If someone harms his brother, he hurts his parents as well, and when someone hurts his parents he is actually hurting himself. When someone hurts his wife, he is hurting his children, and when someone hurts his children, he is really hurting himself. 

 

The Baba Sali taught us that we are all one family. When one person tries to harm another Jew, however distant he thinks that person is from him, he is actually harming himself. He is destroying his own home with his own hands. The destruction of the Beis Hamikdash is not a result of Jews’ baseless hatred, but rather, that hatred is what destroyed it. 

 

The entire book of Devarim is the farewell address of Moshe Rabbeinu. No one loved the entire nation of Yisrael as much as he did. He was not willing to give up on anyone. He remained fully connected to even the lowest, most wicked Jew. He began sefer Devarim by gently giving mussar couched within his deep love. His love brings him to describe the people’s sins in great detail afterward, but he still judged every Jew favorably, claiming that their failings were caused by external circumstances. And he ends his speech by lovingly bestowing his blessings on them. 

 

We need to read this account before we come to Tisha B’Av, so that Hashem will convert that day to one of celebration and joy. The third Beis Hamikdash, for which we long so deeply, will be built through love, and it will be completed through peace and comradeship.