Speech, the Holy Tongue, and bittul as the path to Torah

במד' מו"ח ביד לשון כו'.

In the Midrash: "Death and life are in the hand of the tongue" (Mishlei 18:21).

The Sefas Emes opens with the verse from Mishlei that the Midrash cites, which places the power of death and life in the "hand" of the tongue — i.e., in the faculty of speech.

כמו שיסוד האדם הוא בלשון.

Just as the foundation of man is in the tongue (speech).

What essentially defines a human being is the power of speech; it is the very yesod, the defining foundation, of man.

כענין המדרגות דצח"מ.

As in the matter of the levels of domem, tzomeach, chai, medaber (inanimate, vegetative, animal, speaker).

Creation ascends through four ranks: the inanimate, the growing (plant), the living (animal), and the "speaker" (man). Each higher rank is marked by a new capacity, and the human rank is defined precisely by speech — "medaber."

נמצא כי היתרון לאדם המדבר הוא הלשון.

It emerges that the superiority of the "speaking man" is the tongue.

The advantage that raises man above the animal is his power of speech; that is what makes him the "medaber."

וכמו כן בכללות הברואים האדם המובחר שבהם.

And likewise, among the totality of created beings, man is the choicest of them.

Just as speech distinguishes man within himself, so man as a whole is the select, finest creature of all creation.

אכן בנ"י הם המדברים כמ"ש מגיד דבריו ליעקב כו'.

Indeed, Bnei Yisrael are the true "speakers," as it says "He tells His words to Yaakov" (Tehillim 147:19).

If speech defines man, then Bnei Yisrael, to whom Hashem "tells His words," are the speakers par excellence — the ones through whom the Divine word finds expression in the world.

והם המה הפה והלשון שמות וחיים בידיהם ע"י התורה שניתן לנו וכוחן של ישראל בפה לעורר אש התורה שהיא הגחלת.

And they are the "mouth and tongue," with death and life in their hands, through the Torah that was given to us; and the strength of Yisrael is in the mouth, to arouse the fire of the Torah, which is the glowing coal.

Bnei Yisrael are, as it were, the "mouth and tongue" of creation. Through the Torah given to them, the power of "death and life" rests in their hands. Their unique strength lies in speech — in learning and uttering Torah, by which they fan into flame the "fire of the Torah," compared to a glowing coal that bursts into light when blown upon.

וכמו שמתפשטין ניצוצות מעצם האש.

And just as sparks spread out from the body of the fire.

As a fire throws off countless sparks from its core, so the inner fire of Torah radiates outward into many distinct points of light.

כן דברי התורה כפטיש יפוצץ כו' ומתחלק לשבעים לשונות.

So the words of the Torah are "like a hammer that shatters" (Yirmiyahu 23:29), and it divides into seventy tongues (languages).

Chazal compare a word of Torah to a hammer striking rock, scattering many sparks. The single Divine word splinters into seventy facets — corresponding to the seventy languages and the seventy faces of Torah.

ובאמת התפשטות פנימיות התורה נמשך אחר הלשון.

And in truth, the spreading-forth of the penimiyus (inner dimension) of the Torah follows the tongue (language).

The inner content of Torah unfolds and expresses itself precisely through language — through the spoken word and its nuances.

כי בלשון וטעמים מתהפך פי' המלה לכמה אופנים.

For through the tongue and the te'amim (cantillation/intonations), the meaning of a word can turn into many different aspects.

The same word, depending on its phrasing and the te'amim that shape its reading, can yield many meanings — language is the vessel through which the manifold inner light of Torah is drawn out.

והש"י ברא הכל בכ"ב אותיות כידוע שיש צרופי אתוון לאין שיעור.

And Hashem created everything with the twenty-two letters, as is known, for there are combinations of letters without limit.

The entire creation was brought into being through the twenty-two letters of the Holy Tongue. From these letters arise endless tzirufim (combinations), so that all of reality is woven from the letters of Lashon HaKodesh.

והלשון הקודש שניתן לבנ"י הוא דרך האמת שכל הדרכים מתפשטין ממנה וע"ז יסדו ורוממנו מכל הלשונות.

And the Lashon HaKodesh (Holy Tongue) that was given to Bnei Yisrael is the path of truth, from which all paths branch out; and concerning this they established the phrase "and You have exalted us above all tongues."

Lashon HaKodesh is the root "way of truth" from which all seventy languages derive. Because Bnei Yisrael possess this source-language, the Sages instituted in our prayers "v'romamtanu mikol haleshonos" — "You have raised us above all tongues" — for our tongue is the wellspring of them all.

ובנ"י זכו לזה בקבלת התורה כמ"ש גבורי כח ע"ד לשמוע בק"ד.

And Bnei Yisrael merited this through kabbalas haTorah, as it says "mighty in strength" (Tehillim 103:20) — referring to listening "to the voice of His word" (b'kol devaro).

This power of holy speech was acquired at the giving of the Torah. The verse "giborei koach osei devaro" praises those "mighty in strength" who do His word — which Chazal connect to listening to and bearing the voice of Hashem's word, as Bnei Yisrael did at Sinai.

ובמד' ויקרא בשומרי שביעית הכ' מדבר חמי חקלי' בייר ויהיב אר' ושותק.

And in the Midrash (Vayikra) it says that the verse "mighty in strength who do His word" speaks of the keepers of shemittah (the seventh year): he sees his field left ownerless, and he gives — and remains silent.

The Midrash applies "giborei koach osei devaro" to one who observes shemittah: he watches his field declared hefker (ownerless), sees others take its produce, and yet holds his peace. This silent acceptance is itself a great act of strength in "doing His word."

הענין הוא עושי דברו הוא תיקון המעשים להיות נמשך הכל אחר הנהגת התורה שהוא הנהגת הבורא ית' כדבר מלך שלטון.

The matter is that "those who do His word" refers to the rectification of one's deeds, that everything be drawn after the conduct of the Torah, which is the conduct of the Creator, "like the word of a king who rules" (Koheles 8:4).

"Osei devaro" means rectifying all one's actions so that they flow according to the hanhagah (governance) of the Torah — which is Hashem's own way of conducting the world. One submits to the Torah's word as one submits to a sovereign king's decree.

וע"י שבנ"י מבטלין כל רצונם ומעשיהם להטותם ע"פ דרך התורה.

And because Bnei Yisrael nullify all their will and their deeds, turning them in accordance with the way of the Torah.

Through bittul — surrendering their own ratzon and bending their actions to the path of Torah — Bnei Yisrael align themselves entirely with the Divine word.

לכן זוכין לשמוע בקול דברו.

Therefore they merit to "listen to the voice of His word."

This very bittul — silencing one's own will before the Torah — is what makes a person a vessel to hear and bear the voice of Hashem's word.

וזה מצות השמיטין ויובלות.

And this is the mitzvah of the shemittos and yovlos (sabbatical and jubilee years).

Shemittah and Yovel are precisely this avodah of bittul: the farmer relinquishes his field and his will, submitting to the Torah's decree, and thereby merits to hear the Divine word.

וכמו כן ימי הספירה לבטל כל המידות אליו ית' זוכין אח"כ לתורה.

And likewise the days of the Sefirah, to nullify all the middos (character traits) toward Him — afterward they merit the Torah.

The same pattern governs Sefiras HaOmer: through the days of counting one refines and nullifies each of the middos before Hashem, and this bittul is the preparation by which one then merits to receive the Torah on Shavuos.

וכן תקיעת שופר של יובל שהיא הארה מקבלת התורה שהי' מתעורר בכל יובל בזמן שהי' יובל נוהג:

And so too the blowing of the shofar of Yovel, which is an illumination of kabbalas haTorah that was aroused in every Yovel during the time that Yovel was in practice.

The shofar-blast of the Jubilee year carries an echo of Sinai — a renewed illumination of kabbalas haTorah. In the era when Yovel was observed, this light of receiving the Torah was reawakened with every fiftieth year.

Summary: Speech is the defining foundation of man, and Bnei Yisrael are the true "speakers" who, through the Torah and the Holy Tongue — the source-language from which all seventy languages branch — arouse the fire of Torah and draw out its inner light. They attain this through bittul: nullifying their will before the Torah's word, as embodied in shemittah, Yovel, and Sefiras HaOmer, each a preparation that makes them vessels to hear the voice of Hashem and to receive the renewed light of kabbalas haTorah.