아가 2:14의 Musar

And consider how great is the sin of a man who speaks evil speech: Is their sin that they have sealed their lips and quieted their tongues from speaking words of Torah not big enough for them; that they surely [use them to] destroy with evil speech? And King David, peace be upon him, said (Psalms 119:23), “Though princes meet and speak against me, Your servant speaks out Your laws.” The explanation is that they are still from speaking out Your laws and speak evil speech and speak against me, while I am still speaking out Your laws. And our Rabbis said (Arakhin 15a) [that] the cure for evil speech - to save oneself from it - is to be involved with the Torah; as its stated (Proverbs 15:4), “A healing tongue is a tree of life,“ And this is [the meaning of] what is stated (Psalms 39:2), “I would keep my mouth muzzled, etc.” And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, explained (Midrash Tehillim 39) that the muzzle is involvement with Torah. And our Rabbis said (Yalkut Shimoni on Nach 721), “The Congregation of Israel is beloved by her voice and hated by her voice: She is beloved by her voice, as it is stated (Song of Songs 2:14), ‘let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet.’ And she is hated by her voice, as it is stated (Jeremiah 12:8), ‘she raised her voice against Me; therefore I have hated her.’” And this is [the meaning of] what is stated (Proverbs 18:21), “Death and life are in the power of the tongue; those who love it will eat its fruit.” And its explanation is: “Those who love it will eat its fruit” - and one who loves the tongue, and that is a man that always wants to talk, for him the proper counsel is that he should, “eat its fruit.” That is, he should not speak idle words but rather words of Torah, wisdom and ethics and the bringing of peace between a man and his fellow; justify the [actions of] the masses; praise the good; disparage the evil; and be zealous about the truth. For there is no end to the merits that he can acquire for himself with his tongue. And [it is] as we discussed earlier, that life is in the tongue.

And it is known that the withholding of honor from the Holy One Blessed be He because of the fools who have denied Him or rebelled against Him and said: "What profit [is ours] that we have kept His keeping [i.e., His mitzvoth]?" — such dishonor obtains only in this terrestrial, material world, where "eyes" are those of flesh. But in the higher world, all the angels crown the Blessed One's name and proclaim His glory — how He vivifies and leads them. As Scripture states (Nechemiah, Ibid.): "And the host of the heavens bow down to You." And (I Kings 22:14): "I saw the L-rd sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing before Him, on His right and on His left." (Isaiah 6:2-3): "Seraphs were standing above Him … and one called to the other and said: 'Holy, Holy, Holy is the L-rd of hosts [tzevaoth],'" for which reason the Holy One Blessed be He is called "Tzevakoth," as we find throughout the Torah. And when we reflect well, we see in truth that this world is not even like a mustard seed compared to all of the higher worlds. (For there are many worlds on high, as Chazal have said (Avodah Zarah 3b) that every day the Holy One Blessed be He soars through all His eighteen thousand worlds, and, especially, in respect to what is explained in the holy Zohar in many places.) So that their "rebellion," G-d forbid, is considered naught. And in this world, the Holy One Blessed be He found His people Israel, who are especially beloved by Him — so much so, that they are called "sons" unto Him, viz. (Devarim 14:1): "You are sons, etc." And their voice is sweet to Him, viz. Song of Songs 2:14: "Let Me hear your voice." How, then, can we not be ashamed of ourselves if we do not trust, G-d forbid, in His name, which vivifies all of the worlds? And of all the angels, of whom there are found tens of thousands of them in each class, not one of the celestial angels, from the time the Holy One Blessed be He created all of the worlds, has descended, G-d forbid, to apprise us that he is lacking some of the Divine effluence. And it is known that there are angels whose size is several thousand parasangs, as Chazal have said in Chullin 91b, that the size of Gavriel was two thousand parasangs, this being deduced from what is written in Daniel (10:6) when he [Daniel] saw the angel, viz. "And his body was like [the Sea of] Tarshish," (which is two thousand parasangs.) And there are angels who are much taller, as stated in Chazal (Chagigah 13b) about Sandalfon that he was five hundred years "walking distance" taller than his fellows [(The walking distance of an average man is ten parasangs a day.)] And this little man [in this world], who is not even [the size of] a mustard seed compared to them — how can he constantly fret and worry: "Whence will come my livelihood and whence will come my help!" When we reflect upon this well, we should be astonished much more about ourselves in this than we are astonished at the fool in connection with the bird! There is nothing left for us to do but to gird ourselves with strength and do His will without worrying at all, just as the King's son need not worry that he will be left without a loaf of bread, as it is written (Devarim 14:1): "You are sons to the L-rd your G-d."

As to that which our Sages said, that "One sin quenches a commandment, but one sin does not quench the whole Torah" (Sotah 21a), as it is said, "For the commandment is a lamp, and the teaching is a light" (Prov. 6:23) — this applies to one who commits a sin by chance, but not to one who completely throws off the yoke of warning against a sin. And our Sages, of blessed memory, said, "The congregation of Israel is beloved for its voice" (Shohar Tov, 39a), as it is said, "Let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice" (Cant. 2:14). And it is also hated for its voice, as it is said, "She hath uttered her voice against Me, therefore have I hated her" (Jer. 12:8). From this we can conclude that "life and death are in the power of the tongue" (Prov. 18:21). And it is said, "And those who love her will eat her fruit" (ibid.). This means that one who loves the tongue, that is to say a man who loves to speak constantly, it is worthy and true counsel to him that he should eat of its fruit. In other words, he should not speak idle talk, but should speak words of the Torah, or words that will bring peace, or words that will teach many to do good, and he should teach them the good and keep them far from evil, and to be zealous for the truth, for there is no end to the good deeds that a man may do with his tongue. And this is the meaning of "life and death are in the power of the tongue."