SEFER SHMIRAS HALOSHON ? Food for the Soul ?
“One who guards his mouth and tongue, guards his soul from tribulations” (Mishlei?21:23).
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“Which man desires life, who loves days of seeing good? Guard your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit...” (Tehillim 34:13-14).
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Why do the above verses single out shmiras haloshon, guarding one’s tongue, as the key to a good life in both worlds?
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The human body is composed of 248 organs and 365 sinews. Corresponding to this are the 248 spiritual organs and 365 spiritual sinews of the soul. As Scripture states: “You clothe me with skin and flesh, cover me with bones and sinews” (Iyov?10:11).
The various parts of the body are referred to as “clothing” and “covering” for they clothe and cover the soul within man. Each physical organ corresponds to a specific aspect of the soul.
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Hashem has given us 248 positive commandments and 365 negative commandments which relate to the particular parts of the body with which they are performed.1 By performing a given mitzvah through a given organ, a spiritual light comes to rest upon the corresponding
component of the soul; it is from this light that this component draws eternal vitality.
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Thus, when a person fulfills all the Torah’s commandments, he transforms himself into an adam hashaleim, man of spiritual perfection, whose every fiber is sanctified unto Hashem.
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The converse is true as well. If a person commits a transgression and does not repent for it, then the component of the soul which corresponds to that prohibition will suffer accordingly.
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1. See opening introduction to Sefer Chareidim.
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