שפת תמים- פרק א

הקדמה-

מיכה divides the תורה into three parts:
1. עשות משפט
2. אהבת חסד
3. והצנע לכת עם ה' אלקיך

We don’t focus so much on the עשות משפט- being honest and ehriliche. Included in this is:
1. Respecting other people’s belongings.
2. Knowing what belongs to me.
3. Not taking advantage of other people.

This ספר is written by the ח''ח. He also wrote the משנה ברורה, ספר חפץ חיים, ספר אהבת חסד… Whatever he saw a need for, he wrote about.

This ספר has seven פרקים. It is called קונטרוס שפת תמים.

The ח''ח lived in Radin. He was the leader of European Jewry. He died in 1933, when he was well into his nineties. The ח''ח personified the פסוק which he always said, "מי האיש החפץ חיים". He even davened for a long life so that there shouldn’t be a חלול ה'.

The ח''ח said, we spoke about ל''ה- "מי האיש החפץ חיים...", but the second half of the פסוק must also be discussed. It says, "נצור לשונך מרע ושפתיך מדבר מרמה". This ספר is called שפת תמים for this reason.

The ח''ח gathers here from many different sources, and בפרט from שערי תשובה.

פרק א-

What is מרמה and how do we distance ourselves from it?

מרמה is when a person speaks and intends to trick his friend with his words. Included in this are all kinds of trickery, even in business. אונאה means to hurt a person. אונאת ממון is hurting people with money. An example of this would be overcharging someone, even if he is willing to pay it. Another example of אונאת ממון would be if I was selling a container of strawberries, and I put the good ones on top to conceal the bad ones. According to the law, this is ok because the rule is “let the buyer beware”. But according to הלכה, this is not ok and the money from this sale is dishonest money because you got it through trickery.

We see that our values are so far ahead from the גויים. The פסוק in וזאת הברכה says, "ואתה על במותמו תדרך"- you, on their high places, you will step on top of them all. R’ Schwab explains this to mean that on their highest point of morality, that’s where we start- our lowest point.

What if the שקר doesn’t cause נזק and הפסד, but it eventually will. For example, an accountant helps out an old lady who is his client so that she won’t watch out from him. Then one day, he goes and steals from her. The trickery that he had throughout his entire interaction with the woman is מרמה and he is hated by ה' for doing this. There are three types of people that ה' hates and one of them is המדבר אחד בפה ואחד בלב. Also, ה' will take revenge on this person like it says in ירמיהו, "בפיו שלום את רעהו ידבר ובקרבו ישים ארבו. העל אלם לא אפקד בם נאום ה' אם בגוי אשר כזה לא תתנקם נפשי"- a nation who does things like this, My נפש won’t take revenge?

People who are like this will get punished for:
1. שקר
2. נזק that was caused.

שקר alone is תועבת ה', as it says "תועבת ה' שפתי שקר". No matter how big or small, a lie is a lie. But it is so much worse when he is planning to hurt and damage his friend.

Let’s say someone does not yet have something, but he is going to get it in the future and through lying you divert it your way, this is also מרמה. Although this is not as simple as just שקר, it is not complete נזק. ה' removes such a person from His face, as the פסוק says "לא ישב בביתי עושה רמי'". This can be compared to a king who announces that anyone who isn’t loyal to his מלכות must leave. If he decides to stay and he doesn’t follow the laws, he will be killed. So to, the constitution of ה'’s מדינה is אמת- בראשית ברא אלקים. If you don’t want to listen, you must get out.

The world stands on three pillars:
1. דיו
2. אמת
3. שלום

אמת is a pillar of the world, so a בעל שקר can’t live in this world. The חותם of ה' is אמת.

You must speak the truth and don’t like שבועת שקר- "דברו אמת איש את רעהו... אל תחשבו בלבבכם ושבועת שקר אל תאהבו". Don’t think that you need to say “I promise”- whatever else comes out of your mouth isn’t true?

The פסוק in משלי says, "שפת אמת תיכון לעד ועד ארגיעה לשון שקר"- a lip of truth lasts forever, but שקר doesn’t last forever- it only lasts for a second. Obviously it works a bit, or you wouldn’t say it. But after a while it will be proven to be untrue. It’s like the boy who cried wolf- it works for a while, but then people see that you are a liar and you lose your credibility. If you cheat on a test or cheat with money, it might work for a bit, but not for long. If you’re honest though, you will be מצליח and people will believe you.

Once a בחור had to go to court, and the ח''ח came to testify for him. The lawyer told the judge that if a robber would come to the ח''ח’s house, he would run after him and say, “I’m מוחל you!”. The judge asked the lawyer if he believed the story and the lawyer said no, but they don’t say those things about you and me. This story shows that you can gain credibility.

If you are honest, your words will have הצלחה- they will come true. Your words should be the complete truth- truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. "ימינה ימין שקר"- must be true. However, if you say שקר, you are אחד בפה ואחד בלב and ה' calls you רע.

תנא דבי אליהו- those people who smooth talk and say שקר, ה' will give them a slippery path in life- יהי דרכם חשך וחלקלקת.

So someone who wants good in עוה''ז and עוה''ב should be אמתדיק because "ה' מי יגור באהליך... הולך תמים".