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Daily Chizuk #0165
Parnasa / Money
Hold Back: The Atoning Power of Silence
HOLD BACK
The Vilna Gaon wrote in a letter that everybody has to go through a certain amount of affliction in life and a lot of it has to do with atonement. Some people take upon themselves extra fast days as a means of teshuva, others have different methods of atonement but, says the Gaon, the greatest self-imposed affliction that can accomplish more than all others combined is when a person holds back from speaking evil.
Rav Aharon from Belz quoted Rabbi Uri from Strelisk who said that if a person has a piece of lashon hara to say and it’s at the tip of his tongue, but instead of saying it he holds himself back, it’s considered like he fasted 84 fasts. And Rav Aharon continued, “I think it’s worth much more than that.”
B’ezrat Hashem, this attitude will help us become better people and open the door for Hashem to shower us with an abundance of blessing.
The Vilna Gaon wrote in a letter that everybody has to go through a certain amount of affliction in life and a lot of it has to do with atonement. Some people take upon themselves extra fast days as a means of teshuva, others have different methods of atonement but, says the Gaon, the greatest self-imposed affliction that can accomplish more than all others combined is when a person holds back from speaking evil.
Rav Aharon from Belz quoted Rabbi Uri from Strelisk who said that if a person has a piece of lashon hara to say and it’s at the tip of his tongue, but instead of saying it he holds himself back, it’s considered like he fasted 84 fasts. And Rav Aharon continued, “I think it’s worth much more than that.”
B’ezrat Hashem, this attitude will help us become better people and open the door for Hashem to shower us with an abundance of blessing.
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