SEFER SHMIRAS HALOSHON ? The Gaon’s Will ?
In his ethical will to his family, the Vilna Gaon wrote:
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One will stand judgment for every utterance; even a light remark will not be ignored.... The sin of forbidden speech is the worst of all, as our Sages have stated: “These are the sins whose fruits [i.e. secondary punishments] are exacted from the person in
this world, while the principal [i.e. primary punishment] remains for him in the World to Come ... and loshon hora is equivalent to them all.” What more need be said concerning this most severe of sins? To the verse, “All man’s toil is for his mouth” (Koheles
6:7), the Sages comment (Koheles Rabbah 6:6) that all the mitzvos and Torah study of a person are not sufficient to negate that which he utters [sinfully]. They further state: “Which craft should man pursue in this world? He should strive to emulate a mute
[to avoid evil talk] (Chullin 89a), and press his lips together like two millstones [which grind against one another].”
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... Not a single [such] utterance escapes from being recorded Above. Heavenly angels are forever being sent to each person to record his every utterance. “For a bird of the sky will carry the sound, and a winged creature will relate the matter” (Koheles?10:20).
“Let not your mouth bring guilt on your flesh and do not tell the emissary that it was an error” (ibid. 5:5).
