Unity prepares Bnei Yisrael for Torah

במד' מות וחיים ביד לשון כו' לשונכם רך אלו לאלו לפיכך משה מזהיר אל תונו כו'.

In the Midrash on the pasuk: "Death and life are in the power of the tongue" (Mishlei 18:21)… "Let your tongue be soft to one another," therefore Moshe warns: "Do not wrong one another" (Vayikra 25:17).

The Sefas Emes opens with the Midrash linking the destructive or life-giving power of speech to Moshe's warning against verbal mistreatment of one's fellow.

הענין הוא כמאמר חז"ל ואהבת לרעך כמוך זה כלל גדול בתורה שהתורה ניתנה לכלל בנ"י שהיו באחדות כמ"ש ויחן שם ישראל פרש"י בלב א'.

The matter is as Chazal said: "You shall love your fellow as yourself — this is a great principle of the Torah" (Rashi to Vayikra 19:18), for the Torah was given to the entire klal of Bnei Yisrael, who were in unity, as it says: "And Yisrael encamped there" (Shemos 19:2) — Rashi: as one man with one heart.

Torah was given to the unified nation. The mitzvah to love one's fellow is the "great principle" precisely because Torah depends on the achdus (unity) of Bnei Yisrael.

וזה הוא כוחן של בנ"י כי זכות האבות הם לתקן הג' עמודים שהעולם עומד עליהם.

This is the strength of Bnei Yisrael, for the merit of the Avos serves to rectify the three pillars upon which the world stands.

The three Avos correspond to the three pillars — Torah, avodah, and gemilus chasadim — on which the world rests, and they grant Bnei Yisrael the power to uphold them.

ולגבור הג' עבירות שצריכין למס"נ עליהם ע"ז ג"ע ש"ד.

And to overcome the three sins for which one must give up his life: avodah zarah (idolatry), gilui arayos (forbidden relations), and shefichus damim (bloodshed).

The merit of the Avos also empowers Bnei Yisrael to conquer the three cardinal sins that demand mesiras nefesh.

וזה נאמר בפרשיות הקודמין.

And this was stated in the preceding parshiyos.

The earlier sections of Vayikra dealt with rectifying these three cardinal areas.

וידוע כי חטא לשון הרע שקול נגד כולם.

And it is known that the sin of lashon hara is weighed against all of them.

Evil speech is so severe that it is equated with all three cardinal sins combined.

והיפוך זה ואהבת לרעך כמוך זה העמוד זכו בנ"י בעצמם.

And the opposite of this — "You shall love your fellow as yourself" — this pillar Bnei Yisrael merited on their own.

Against the divisiveness of lashon hara stands the unifying mitzvah of ahavas Yisrael, a pillar that Bnei Yisrael attained through their own achdus.

ובזה הכח נתקרבו להתורה.

And through this power they drew close to the Torah.

It was specifically their unity that made them fit vessels to receive the Torah.

ופרשה זו מכוונת לזה כי מצות השמיטה הוא לבוא אל האחדות.

And this parshah is directed toward this, for the mitzvah of Shemittah is to come to unity.

Parshas Behar, with its laws of Shemittah, is aimed at producing achdus among the people.

לפי' הפשוט שיד עשירים ועניים שוה בשמיטה.

On the simple level, in that during Shemittah the hand of the wealthy and the poor are equal.

When the fields are ownerless, rich and poor alike take from the produce, erasing social distinctions.

ולבד זה עיקר המנינים שבתורה שמיטין ויובלות הם בחי' האחדות.

And beyond this, the essential countings of the Torah — Shemittos and Yovlos — are an aspect of unity.

The very act of counting toward Shemittah and Yovel embodies the principle of unity.

שהספירה והמנין מאחד המספר.

For counting and numbering unify that which is counted.

To count items is to gather many separate things under one tally, binding them into a single whole.

וכן ספירת העומר שהיא הקדמה לקבלת התורה.

And so too Sefiras HaOmer, which is the preparation for receiving the Torah.

The counting of the Omer, leading up to Matan Torah, likewise serves to unify and prepare the people.

ובמד' ויקרא גבורי כח עושי דברו בשומרי שביעית הכ' מדבר כו' לשמוע בקול דברו.

And in the Midrash to Vayikra: "Mighty in strength, who fulfill His word" (Tehillim 103:20) — the verse speaks of those who keep the Shemittah year… "to hear the voice of His word."

Chazal apply the praise of the "mighty ones who fulfill His word" to the Shemittah-observers, who let their fields lie fallow for a full year out of obedience to Hashem.

וזה סמיכת שמיטה להר סיני שע"י בחי' האחדות מתעורר כח קבלת התורה לבנ"י והתורה מיוחדת לבנ"י והיא עץ החיים ממש.

And this is the juxtaposition of Shemittah to Har Sinai — that through the aspect of unity the power to receive the Torah is aroused in Bnei Yisrael, and the Torah is unique to Bnei Yisrael, and it is literally the Tree of Life.

The Torah's famous question "What does Shemittah have to do with Har Sinai?" is answered: the achdus of Shemittah awakens the very power that enabled Matan Torah, the Torah being the eitz hachaim that belongs uniquely to Bnei Yisrael.

וזהו לשמוע בקול דברו כדכתי' הקול קול יעקב.

And this is "to hear the voice of His word," as it is written: "The voice is the voice of Yaakov" (Bereishis 27:22).

The "voice" that fulfills Hashem's word is the voice of Yaakov — the spiritual power of Bnei Yisrael, the voice of Torah.

אבל מקודם צריכין לתקן המעשים וזהו עושי דברו להטות כל המעשים להנהגת הבורא ית'.

But first one must rectify the deeds, and this is "who fulfill His word" — to direct all one's actions toward the governance of the Creator, may He be blessed.

Before reaching the level of "hearing His voice" (Torah), one must first be among the "doers of His word" — aligning all of one's deeds with Hashem's will.

ובמקום הזה יש תערובות שצריכין לברר.

And in this place there is admixture that must be sorted out.

The realm of action is where good and evil are intermingled, and the avodah of birur (separating and clarifying) takes place.

וע"ז נאמר מו"ח ביד לשון שבזה יש שליטה לידי עשו.

And concerning this it is said "death and life are in the power of the tongue," for in this [realm] there is dominion to the hand of Esav.

In the unsorted realm of deeds, speech can be misused, and there Esav — the force of disunity and destructive speech — gains a foothold.

לכן נלחמו בנ"י עם עמלק קודם קבלת התורה והעצה לתקן העשי' היא ע"י האחדות:

Therefore Bnei Yisrael fought with Amalek before the receiving of the Torah, and the remedy to rectify the deeds is through unity.

Just as Amalek (Esav's descendant) had to be defeated before Matan Torah, so the way to purify the realm of action and silence destructive speech is achdus.

Summary: The Sefas Emes ties the warning against hurtful speech to the supreme principle of "love your fellow as yourself." The unity of Bnei Yisrael — embodied in Shemittah, the countings of the Torah, and Sefiras HaOmer — is what makes them fit to receive the Torah, the Tree of Life. Disunity and destructive speech give power to Esav/Amalek in the unrefined realm of deeds; the cure is achdus, which both refines our actions and awakens the power of Torah.