Guarding the holy power of speech

בענין זכירת מרים.

On the matter of remembering Miriam.

The piece opens by taking up the mitzvah of remembering what happened to Miriam, who spoke against Moshe Rabbeinu and was stricken.

אשר עשה ה' אלקיך למרים כו' בצאתכם ממצרים.

"What Hashem your God did to Miriam... when you came out of Mitzrayim."

The Torah ties the memory of Miriam to the Exodus, an unexpected pairing that the Sefas Emes will now explain.

מה שייכות ליציאת מצרים.

What connection does this have to the going-out from Mitzrayim?

He raises the question: why does the verse about guarding our speech (learned from Miriam) specifically invoke yetzias Mitzrayim?

אכן ביאור הענין כי נבחרו בנ"י ביצ"מ להיות עם נחלה מיוחדין לשמו ית' ועיקר כחן של ישראל בפה.

Indeed, the explanation of the matter is that Bnei Yisrael were chosen at the Exodus to be a treasured nation, set apart for His Name, and the essential strength of Yisrael is in the mouth (peh).

At the Exodus, Bnei Yisrael became Hashem's own nation, and their core power lies in speech — in the holy use of the mouth.

כי הנה האדם כלול מדצח"מ ובכולם יש תערובות טוב ורע כנודע.

For behold, a person is composed of all four levels — inanimate (domem), vegetative (tzomei'ach), animal (chai), and speaking (medaber) — and in all of them there is a mixture of good and evil, as is known.

Man contains within himself the entire spectrum of creation, and at every one of those levels good and evil are intermingled.

אכן בחי' הדיבור שהוא ההבל שבאדם דכתיב ויפח באפיו כו' ויהי כו' לנפש חי' לרוח ממללא.

However, the aspect of speech — which is the breath (hevel) within a person, of which it is written, "And He blew into his nostrils [the breath of life]... and man became a living soul," [which Targum renders] "a speaking spirit (ru'ach memalela)" —

Speech is unique: it comes from the very breath of life that Hashem breathed into man, the divine soul that makes him a "speaking spirit."

והבל זה ניתן לשמירת הגוף אשר יש בו התערובות.

and this breath was given to guard the body, in which there is the mixture [of good and evil].

This holy breath of speech was entrusted to a person precisely in order to guard and refine the body, which is where good and evil are mixed together.

ולכן צריכין לשמור הפה ביותר לאשר מצד עצמותו אין בו רק טוב.

Therefore one must guard the mouth more than anything else, for in its own essence it contains only good.

Because speech in its essence is purely good — flowing from the divine soul — guarding the mouth deserves special vigilance; misusing it corrupts something inherently pure.

וז"ש נצור לשונך מרע לאשר אין בו רע בעצם.

And this is the meaning of "Guard your tongue from evil" — [guard] that which has no evil in its essence.

The verse warns us to keep evil away from the tongue precisely because the faculty of speech is essentially free of evil and must be kept that way.

וכן מ"ש ז"ל לא מצאתי לגוף טוב משתיקה שע"י שמירת הבל הנ"ל נתחזק צד הטוב שבאדם כנ"ל:

And likewise what Chazal said, "I have found nothing better for the body than silence" — for through guarding the aforementioned breath, the side of good within a person is strengthened, as explained.

Silence is "good for the body" because by guarding the holy breath of speech, a person reinforces the good within himself and refines the body where good and evil are mixed.

Summary: The mitzvah to remember Miriam is linked to the Exodus because at yetzias Mitzrayim Bnei Yisrael became Hashem's nation, and their essential strength lies in the mouth. Speech flows from the divine breath Hashem blew into man — pure good in its essence — given to refine the body, where good and evil are mixed. This is why guarding the tongue and embracing silence are so vital: they protect a faculty that is inherently holy and thereby strengthen the good within.