Musar su Esodo 28:33
וְעָשִׂ֣יתָ עַל־שׁוּלָ֗יו רִמֹּנֵי֙ תְּכֵ֤לֶת וְאַרְגָּמָן֙ וְתוֹלַ֣עַת שָׁנִ֔י עַל־שׁוּלָ֖יו סָבִ֑יב וּפַעֲמֹנֵ֥י זָהָ֛ב בְּתוֹכָ֖ם סָבִֽיב׃
E farai ai suoi lembi melagrane di lana azzurra, e porpora, e scarlatto, a’ suoi lembi (dico) tutt’intorno; e tra quelle sonagli d’oro tutt’intorno.
Shemirat HaLashon
(Ibid.): "As the opening of a suit of armor shall it [its neck-opening] be for it, so that it not be torn." Why need the Torah add "as the opening of a suit of armor"? Is it not sufficient to have stated "And the mouth of its head shall be [folded over] within it. A border shall there be for its mouth"? It must intimate, then, that just as one dons armor for protection, that he not be harmed by the arrows shot at him, so, if one clamps shut his mouth, it affords him protection against his antagonist, and, in the end, it serves to silence him by giving him no answer. If he answered him, however, the quarrel would widen and he would come to blows, as it is written (Ibid. 21:18): "And if men quarrel, and a man strike his neighbor with stone or fist, etc." And the Holy One Blessed be He is also his Protector because of this, because "the earth depends upon him," as mentioned above. (Ibid. 33-34): "And you shall make on its (lower) hem pomegranates of purple … and golden bells in their midst roundabout [one bell between every two pomegranates]. A golden bell and a pomegranate [next to it], a golden bell and a pomegranate, on the hem of the me'il roundabout. The allusion here would seem to be to what Chazal have said (Chullin 89a): "What is a man's 'trade'? Let him make himself a mute. I might think, even to words of Torah. It is, therefore, written (Psalms 58:2): 'Righteousness shall you speak.'" It is found, then, according to this, that whenever one has time, he should not remain idle, but he should learn Torah. And the learning should not be silent, as we find in Eruvin 54a. And when one cannot learn Torah, whatever the reason might be, he should make himself a mute, who cannot open his mouth. And for this reason there were on the hem of the me'il, "a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate," alluding to the study of Torah, as mentioned above. And, in the midst of this, when he cannot learn, he should embrace the trait of silence [as our sages of blessed memory have said (Avoth 1:16): "R. Shimon ben Gamliel said: 'All my life, I grew up among the wise, and I found nothing better for the body than silence.'"] And this is alluded to by the pomegranate next to the bell; that is, like a pomegranate, that makes no sound. And, if one conducts himself in this manner, the Torah assures us (Ibid. 35): "and its sound will be heard when he comes to the sanctuary." That is, the sound of his prayer and his Torah will be accepted on high, which will not be the case if he does not guard his faculty of speech and mixes his speech with lashon hara, rechiluth, and the like, in which case the forbidden speech will defile his words of holiness and they will not be accepted on high, as mentioned above in Chapter I.
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