{"id":80532,"date":"2020-09-29T17:51:15","date_gmt":"2020-09-29T14:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=80532"},"modified":"2020-09-29T17:51:58","modified_gmt":"2020-09-29T14:51:58","slug":"the-power-of-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-power-of-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power Of Speech"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"80532","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":46656,"related_cahpter":"579","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"And the holiness of language\u00a0\r\n\r\n","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">David cries out to God to save him because \u201cthe truthful people have vanished from mankind (12:2).\u201d He then goes on to detail what specifically he means by \u201cun-truthful\u201d people. They are the smooth-talkers and the outright liars. David is lamenting a generation of people who are misusing the gift of speech. This behaviour, according to David, is indicative of the morality of society in general.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch writes that a strong society is built on trust between its people, and that trust is predicated on believing each other. When people no longer believe what each other say, or if there is a disconnect between talk and action, then trust is lost, and society breaks down.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Language has played a key role in the pivotal moments of the emergence of the Jewish nation. God spoke to Moses at the burning bush. God spoke to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai and verbally transmitted the Ten Commandments. And God spoke continuously to the people through His prophets, who most often began their prophecies with \u201cThus said God\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In fact, the foundation of our very world is built on language. God created the world with words. On each day \u201cGod said\u201d let there be light\/a firmament\/waters\/luminaries\/living creatures\/man\/rest. And with each creation God used language to name day, night, earth, heaven, seas, and man. Immediately after creating the world God gave man the power to use language to name the animals, differentiating humankind from all other beings. The very core of our Jewishness is the promise God verbalized numerous times \u2013 that He would be our God and we would be His people.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the flip side, the misuse of language has been our downfall. Our expulsion from Eden was because of the twisting of God\u2019s words by the serpent and ultimately by Eve\u2019s willingness to buy into what she wanted to hear. Joseph spoke negatively about his brothers, and one thing led to another until ultimately the whole family landed up in Egypt and the Jewish nation was eventually enslaved. When freed from slavery, they spent 40 years wandering in the desert because of slander told by the spies about the promised land. And according to the Talmud (Gittin 55b-56a) the destruction of the Second Temple resulted from slanderous speech.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">David\u2019s plea to God demonstrates his appreciation of the holiness of language, and how its misuse is tantamount to the desecration of our relationship with God.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":80533,"id":80533,"title":"ps12-hebrew lang","filename":"ps12-hebrew-lang.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps12-hebrew-lang.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-power-of-speech\/ps12-hebrew-lang\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ps12-hebrew-lang","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":80532,"date":"2020-09-29 14:51:03","modified":"2020-09-29 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