מוסר אויף שמות 28:35

First of all, the episode of the serpent, who spoke lashon hara of the Holy One Blessed be He and thereby brought death to the world. And (Bereshith 29:20): "If G-d will be with me and guard me," concerning which Chazal have said: "if He will guard me against lashon hara." And the episode of Joseph (Ibid. 37:2): "And Joseph brought their evil talk to their father," this being the catalyst of the descent of the Jews to Egypt. And (Shemoth 2:14): "In truth, the thing has become known" (see Rashi there and what we shall write below). There, too, (4:1) Moses our teacher, may peace be upon him, says: "But they will not believe me," and the Blessed L-rd counters (Ibid. 2): "What is this in your hand?" … (3) …and it became a serpent." Also there (6): "And, behold, his hand was leprous as snow." And (Ibid. 17:2): "And the people quarreled with Moses… (7) …over the quarrel of the children of Israel, etc." followed by (8): "And Amalek came and warred with Israel, etc." And (Ibid. 23:1): "You shall not bear a false report, which applies to both the speaker and the receiver [of lashon hara] (as we find in Makkoth 23a), followed by (2): "Do not be after many to do evil." And, in reference to the me'il [the outer robe of the ephod] (Ibid. 28:32): "A border shall there be to its mouth roundabout," and the entire section. And (35): "And its sound will be heard when he comes to the sanctuary, etc." And the entire section of Tazria and Metzora: the plague-spots of houses, the plague-spots of clothing, the plague-spots of men, (Vayikra 13:46): "Solitary shall he sit"— even outside of the camp of Israel. And his atonement— "chirping" birds. And (Ibid. 19:16): "Do not go talebearing among your people," (Ibid. 17): "Reprove, shall you reprove your neighbor, but you shall not bear sin because of him." And (Ibid. 25:17): "You shall not wrong, one man, his fellow," which relates to verbal wronging, which is also in the category of evil speech. And (Bamidbar 5:1): "And they shall send out of the camp every leper"— even if he were as great in Torah as Doeg. And (Ibid. 12:1): "And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses, etc." And the entire section of Shelach Lecha, which speaks about the spies. And (Ibid. 21:5): "And the people spoke against G-d and against Moses." And (Devarim 23:10): "When you go out as a camp against your foes, guard yourself against every evil thing [davar ra]," concerning which Chazal have said: "davar ra" may be read as "dibbur ra" [evil speech]. And in Tetze, the "giving out of an evil name [motzi shem ra]," and (Ibid. 24:9): "Remember what the L-rd your G-d did to Miriam, etc." And (Ibid. 27:24): "Cursed be he who smites his friend in secret," which refers to lashon hara. And it is known that all of the "cursings" were preceded by blessings; and they opened with blessing, saying: "Blessed is he who does not smite"— whence we derive that one who is heedful in this is blessed.

(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.