SEFER SHMIRAS HALOSHON ?
The Work of Satan ?
Much of Satan’s efforts are directed toward inciting strife, and toward ensuring that once a feud has erupted, it does not end quickly. The Talmud relates:
?
There were two people whom Satan regularly incited, so that at every twilight period [on the eve of Shabbos] they fought with one another. R’ Meir visited there and restrained them for three such twilight periods until he made peace between them. He subsequently
heard Satan say: “Woe, that R’ Meir has removed that one [i.e. Satan] from his house [i.e. from the place where he was previously welcome]!’’ (Gittin 52a).
?
The Midrash states that the Hebrew word for ?“dispute” is an acronym for plague; ?wrath; affliction; curse; conclusion; for ultimately, strife brings destruction upon man.
?
The greater the stature of the disputant, the greater is his sin. This is why the Torah underscores the fact that those who joined Korach in his rebellion were “leaders of the assembly, those summoned for meeting, men of renown” (Bamidbar 16:2)
