Musar על משלי 16:28

And the sixth section: The complainer - King Solomon, peace be upon him, said (Proverbs 18:8), “The words of the complainer are like mitlahamim; and they enter the innards of one’s belly.” Its explanation is that a complainer is a man whose way and whose nature is to always complain, get angry and find (movements) [pretexts] about this fellow, regarding his actions and his words - even though his fellow is innocent towards him, and did him no harm in anything. And he judges everything unfavorably, and not favorably; and anything inadvertent he makes volitional. And he surely makes himself like the oppressed and beaten, and as if the sin of his fellow is heavy upon him; whereas he is the hitter and the beater, as his words “enter the innards of one’s belly.” For the one who places complaints in front of his fellow when he did not touch him and only did good to him brings a storm to the heart. And behold he is like one who throws darts that “enter the innards of one’s belly.” The word mitlahamim is [spelled] inverted, [and is as if it were] mithalmim (they are beating); [and like the inversion of] simlah [and] salmah. And it is like the usage (in Proverbs 23:35), “they beat me (halamuni), but I was unaware.” And it is as if he was saying, “It is like the words of the complainer, they are beating me.” And his saying, “They are beating,” in the plural, is because the complainer includes [all] complainers - like (in Jeremiah 11:15), “the sacral flesh will pass away from you” (which is in singular, but refers to the many); [and] (Isaiah 45:8), “triumph sprout.”
King Solomon, peace be upon him, also said (Proverbs 16:28), “and a complainer separates his friend.” He means to say that he separates his friend and his companion from himself, as they cannot endure his friendship. And our Rabbis said (Derekh Eretz Zuta 9), “Do not proliferate complaints, so that you will not come to sin.” And many times, the complainer will be ungrateful for the good and will even consider it bad, so he will return the good with bad. And it is stated (Proverbs 17:13), “He who repays good with evil will not have evil leave his home.” And sometimes he will think about God’s kindnesses, that they are for vengeance and retribution - like that matter that is stated, (Deuteronomy 1:27), “You sulked in your tents and said, ‘It is because the Lord hates us that He brought us out, etc.’” Hence, distance yourself from the path of the complainers, for they have twisted their paths - anyone who walks in it will not know peace. Rather teach your tongue to judge favorably, and justice will be the girdle of your loins.

These are words of vanity. And when they come out into the atmosphere of the world the Samech Mem, who is called “a man of deceit” (Mishlei 16:28) and a “false tongue” (Mishlei 12:19), comes out to meet them. He summons his strength and goes out towards those words from the opening of the deep chasm and leaps towards them five hundred parsaos. He takes these words of falsehood and makes from them a firmament of vanity called “Chaos” and floats about that firmament, this “man of deceit,” six thousand parsaos at a time. Once that firmament is established the wanton wife, the wicked Lilis, goes out to meet them. She, too, goes along increasing in strength in that firmament. Then thousands and myriads of destroyers join with her and enter into partnership with her. In that firmament they are able to traverse the entire world in a moment. These evil troops of destroyers dress up as the troops of the nations of the world and fall upon Yisroel committing great slaughter.

To return to the main issue that Aaron, the man of חסד, rehabilitated original Adam and that the universe is built on חסד. Since the world was constructed during the seven days of Creation, which in turn paralleled the seven emanations employed in its construction, seven days of inauguration of the Tabernacle were required before it commenced functioning as a microcosm in the fullest sense of the word. The Zohar quotes Rabbi Yitzchak on Isaiah 30,26: "The light of the moon will equal the light of the sun in brilliance, and the brilliance of the light of the sun will be seven times greater than during the seven days of creation." Rabbi Yuda said that the prophet referred to the seven days during which the Tabernacle was inaugurated. The world had been plunged in darkness so that it might re-emerge bathed in light on the occasion of the inauguration of the Tabernacle. On that occasion the moon shone brilliantly as it had done before it was diminished so as not to embarass it at a time when the universe had been rehabilitated. Rabbi Yuda based himself on the verse: ונרגן מפריד אלוף, "A quarrelsome one alienates a friend" (Proverbs 16,28).