Gate of the Conscience

Speech is the main way that a person connects to Hashem. It’s also the prime mode of connecting between two people. As the basis of interpersonal relationships, speech is a critically important part of our lives. Our sages therefore elaborated extensively on the importance of speech and about the care one must take in using the power of speech properly.

A person’s speech reveals his innermost thoughts. Before a person speaks, one cannot know what he is thinking. King Solomon said that even if a fool is silent, he’ll be considered a wise man (Proverbs 17:28). A person’s nature therefore becomes apparent when he speaks; beforehand, one can’t know him.

Rabbenu Bachiya in “Duties of the Heart” (The Gate of Abstinence) teaches that when a person engages in daily self-assessment, he should ponder his mistakes that he made earlier that day, particularly such harmful speech as lies, gossip, false oaths, and slander. We can judge our character flaws by the mistakes we make. Rabbenu Bachiya then calls the tongue, “the gate of the conscience” – an upright tongue is the sign of a strong and clear conscience, whereas a wagging tongue indicates a weak or vanquished conscience.

Daily self-assessment, particularly in the area of speech, can help a person attain a total correction of the soul. Good and evil, emuna and heresy all depend on the nature of a person’s speech. Positive speech vitalizes a person, while negative speech does the opposite. King Solomon says, “Death and life are in the hands of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21). Every word gives a person life, or the opposite, Heaven forbid.

As soon as a person wakes up in the morning, he must remind himself that the quality of this new day will be in accordance with the quality of his speech. A short personal prayer like this helps: “Hashem, my entire connection with You depends on my speech. Please have mercy on me and help me use this power for good only. Protect me, so no gossip, tomfoolery, or heresy will come out of my mouth, Heaven forbid. Help me guard my tongue from any forbidden speech, and especially slander or even hinting at something derogatory about another person. Let me use my powers of speech to build, not to destroy; to encourage others, not to break them down; to speak the truth, and not to mislead myself or anyone else. Help me speak emuna; let my speech be gratifying to You, amen!”

Rabbenu Bachiya adds that a person must avoid idle speech, saving his reservoir of words for Torah, mitzvot prayer, and the absolute necessities of commerce and making a living. The tongue must be closely guarded, for it sins more readily than any other part of the body. We therefore must treat our tongue like an automobile, making sure that its brakes and filters are well-maintained and functioning properly.

The Rambam teaches that each moment is precious. He encourages us to devote our lives to learning Torah and to observing the mitzvot. He agrees that we must necessarily learn a trade or devote time to making a living, but time devoted to this should be held to a minimum. One may therefore attend trade or professional school and devote the needed time in making a living. But, one may not squander time with inconsequential endeavors such as watching movies, television shows and sports. Exercise, such as daily walking, biking or calisthenics contribute to physical well-being, and since the body houses the soul, taking care of the body is a mitzva. Passive entertainment is not! Idle speech and pointless conversation is also a waste of time and inconsequential, with no ultimate purpose.

May we be so busy with Torah, prayer and fulfilling mitzvot that we don’t have a single second to waste on needless speech, much less forbidden speech. An upright tongue is like a golden-paved path to the pearly white gate of the conscience. The opposite – a wagging and evil tongue, is like a path strewn with litter and a garbage dump at the gate. If we can understand environmental pollution, then we can realize that spiritual pollution is much worse. May our gates be shiny clean always, amen!