Musar su Salmi 120:8

And this is the thing about the group of slanderers:
Our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Arakhin 15b), “Anyone who speaks evil speech is as though he denied a fundamental principle [of faith] - as it is stated (Psalms 12:5), ‘Who have said, “we will make our tongue mighty; our lips are with us; who is lord over us?”’” Therefore, they considered him as if he denied a fundamental principle. For he causes and brings about great damage and much evil to his fellows by making them foul in the eyes of people or by other ways of [causing them] loss. And it is not likely that a man would prepare a mechanism of destruction and damage that is more bitter than death without it benefitting himself monetarily, unless it is to have his [evil] impulse honor himself and remove the yoke of the Heavens from upon him - to remove ethical constraints - as it is stated in the Psalm, “when the Ziphites came and told Saul, etc., O God, arrogant men have risen against me; a band of ruthless men seek my life; they are not mindful of You.” (This is a scribal error, as there is some difference between the verse brought down by the author, may his memory be blessed, [and his source]. As [in the source], it is written, “For strangers have risen against me, etc.” And the verse that he wrote here is found in Psalms 86:14; but it needs to be corrected and replaced with the verse as it is written there in Psalms 54:5.) And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, explained (Midrash Tehillim 54) that they intended that Saul would bless them, as he said to them (I Samuel 23:21), “May you be blessed of the Lord for the compassion you have shown me!” But they did not place God in front of them - as it is written in His Torah (Deuteronomy 27:24), “Cursed be he who strikes down his neighbor in secret.” And it is written (Ecclesiastes 10:11), “no advantage is gained by the master of the tongue!” And it is stated about Doeg (Psalms 52:4-5), “Your tongue devises mischief… You prefer evil to good; the lie, to speaking truthfully. Selah.” And they explained in Midrash Tehillim 52, “What do you benefit and what do you gain when you say evil speech? Is it not that you did not need money, for you had [already] become wealthy - as it is stated about him (I Samuel 21:8), ‘Saul’s chief herdsman.’ It was only because you preferred the evil to the good, and ‘the lie, to speaking truthfully’ - as you have removed His yoke.” And it is stated (Proverbs 6:30), “A thief is not held in contempt for stealing [to fill his hunger]; and it is written after it (Proverbs 6:32), “He who commits adultery is devoid of sense, etc.” This is meaning to say that he is worse than a thief, for [the former] needs to “fill his hunger.” Our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Midrash Tehillim 120) that one involved in evil speech is worse than both of them. For he does a great sin without benefit, as it is stated (Psalms 120:3), “What can you profit, what can you gain, O deceitful tongue?”

Consider the greatness of their punishment. Because of the greatness of their sin, it is almost impossible for Gehinnom to cleanse them of it, as explained in Tanna d'bei Eliyahu 18: "Just as the wicked speak lashon hara, which ascends until the Throne of Glory, so, angels descend from the mouth of the Omnipotent One and take those evildoers and cast them into the [nethermost] depths of Gehinnom. At that time, Gehinnom responds and says to the Holy One Blessed be He: 'Master of the universe, I cannot punish them as much as they deserve to be punished, and the whole world cannot punish them enough. Did this speaker of lashon hara not sin from the earth until the heavens? But first send Your arrows from above, and then they will get from me coals of the broom bush from below, as it is written (Psalms 120:3-4): 'What will He give you and what will He add to you, you tongue of deceit? Sharpened arrows of the Mighty One, together with coals of the broom bush.' 'the Mighty One' is none other than the Holy One Blessed be He, as it is written 'the G-d who is great and mighty, etc.'" (We find the same in Arachin 15b.) And how much must the man of heart strengthen himself and stand guard against this bitter sin, in reflecting upon this awesome punishment, which the great prison house of Gehinnom itself is powerless to inflict unless it also be assisted from above!

In order to explain somewhat the quality of peace, I shall adduce some of the apothegms of Chazal on this subject. This is from Ma'aloth Hamiddoth: "Know, my sons, that peace is among the highest qualities, it being one of the names of the Holy One Blessed be He, as it is written (Judges 6:24): And he called it [(the altar) 'the L-rd-Shalom.'" Wherever peace is found, fear of Heaven is found. Where there is no peace, there is no fear of Heaven. Great is peace before the Blessed One, our sages of blessed memory saying in the aggadah (Yevamoth 65b, Bava Metzia 87a): "Great is peace, even Scripture prevaricating to maintain peace between Abraham and Sarah. For whereas she said (Bereshith 18:12): 'And my lord [Abraham] is old,' G-d transmitted this to Abraham as (Ibid. 13): 'And I [Sarah] am old.'" Similarly (Ibid. 40:16-17): "and they had it reported to Joseph: 'Your father commanded before he died: "So shall you say to Joseph: 'Forgive, I pray you, the offense of your brothers and their sin, for they accorded you evil.'" Now nowhere do we find Jacob commanding any such thing at all, for he entertained no apprehension whatever of Joseph's conduct. My sons, come and see how great is the power of peace, for the Holy One Blessed be He said that even foes should be approached with peace as it is written (Devarim 20:10): "When you draw close to a city to wage war against it, call out to it for peace." Great is peace, for it consummates the priestly benediction, as it is written (Numbers 6:26): "And He shall repose peace upon you." Great is peace, for it is the consummation of prayer, as it is written (Psalms 29:11): "The L-rd will give His people strength; the L-rd will bless His people with peace." And what is more, in the day of Israel's consolation, the first report shall be of peace, as it is written (Isaiah 52:7): "How comely upon the mountains are the feet of the herald, announcing peace!" My sons, come and see how great is the power of peace, for the Holy One Blessed be He said that even foes should be approached with peace, as it is written (Devarim 20:10): "When you draw near to a city to wage war against it, call out to it for peace." It was stated of R. Yochanan b. Zakkai that no one ever preceded him in greeting, not even a gentile in the marketplace. And our sages of blessed memory have stated (Avoth 4:15): "Extend greeting to all men." What is meant by greeting "all men"? Even if you see that he is ill disposed towards you, extend greeting to him; for if you do so, you will cause him to love you. What is more, even if he will not condescend to make peace with you, the Holy One Blessed be He will deliver him into your hand and humble him beneath you, as it is written (Devarim 20:1): "And if it [the city] does not make peace with you, but wages war against you, then you shall besiege it, and the L-rd your G-d will deliver it into your hand…" And so we find with David, may peace be upon him, that he pursued peace with Saul, as it is written (Psalms 120:7): "I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war." Not only was Saul not appeased, but he pursued David to do him injury, and the Holy One Blessed be He delivered him into David's hand in the cave and in the encampment. And even so, it never entered David's heart to do him wrong. For one must love peace and pursue peace, as it is written (Ibid. 34:15): "Seek peace and pursue it." Seek it with your friend and pursue it with your enemy. Seek it in your place and pursue it in other places. Seek it with your body and pursue it with your money. [Sometimes one must be liberal with his money to seize upon the "stronghold of peace."] Seek it for yourself and pursue it for others. Seek it today and pursue it tomorrow. And do not despair, saying: "I will never achieve peace," but pursue it until you do achieve it. And what is the pursuit of peace? Thus have our sages of blessed memory said (Sanhedrin 110a): "This is speaking peace at a time of dispute and sacrificing one's honor for the general good, as was done by Moses, as it is written (Numbers 16:25): 'And Moses arose and he went to Dathan and Aviram…,'" and suspending one's affairs to make peace between a man and his wife, a man and his neighbor, and a teacher and his student — even to the extent of arranging a meal for two to make peace between them.

The third aspect concerning which man's conduct on earth will be examined is alluded to by the dual spelling of 25,30 in connection with the discussion of the applicability of the law on redemption of houses sold permanently. The Talmud Erchin 15 discusses the advantage enjoyed by a creature who has been given the power of speech. Basing themselves on Psalms 120,3 "What can you profit, what can you gain, O deceitful tongue," our sages portray G–d as saying to the tongue: "All the other limbs of man are upright; but you are in a prone position. All the other limbs of man are an appendix to his body, but you are within his body. Not only that but I have surrounded you with two חומות, walls, one of bone (the teeth) and one of flesh." The secret dimension of the letter מ is that it appears both as an open letter and as a closed letter (the final ם which in its form is like a closed wall). When a person is circumspect about the use of his tongue, the mouth acts like a dosed wall. When he is careless, his mouth is like a wall which has broken down. This is alluded to in the final, closed ם in the middle of the word in Isaiah 9,6: למרבה הפשרה ולשלום אין קץ, "In token of abundant authority and of peace without limit." In the verse just quoted, our Rabbis perceive that it is human nature to look for faults in others, i.e. "a broken wall" while considering themselves like a "closed wall," i.e. free from faults. This is the deeper meaning of what our sages (Baba Batra 2a) describe as היזק ראיה, damage caused to a person by invading his privacy by looking into his domain [a kind of peeping. Ed]. It is the moral background to the Mishnah in the above mentioned section of the Talmud in which the contribution a neighbor has to make to a wall dividing common property is discussed. The purpose of the wall is to prevent such damage. In other words, the so-called damage is due to the tendency of people to discover something discreditable about their neighbors. We see that even halachically the wall is perceived as something that prevents damage of an abstract nature such as היזק ראיה.