אות - רלה

He said to a certain person who was gravely ill and whose sufferings were very great. For he was ill lying on a sickbed, and he had toothache many many times with excruciating and enormous pain beyond measure — until his whole face became swollen (as they say "geshovalen"). And great efforts of prominent physicians were required to extract his teeth. And also in his internal organs he was gravely ill to the point of death. And his sufferings were beyond measure. And Rabbainu, o.b.m., said to him: All the difficult and bitter sufferings he suffered for many years — all of them are better than one burn in Gehinnom. One burn in Gehinnom is worse than all of them. (In Yiddish: "Es iz altz besser eyden eyn briya in Gehinnom, eyn briya in Gehinnom iz erger derfun.")[424] 424. RAK: See Ramban in the Introduction to Job; Alim LiTerufah, letter 167.

He said: One must be very careful not to let out from one's mouth any word of wickedness, Heaven forbid — even in a way of mockery. That is — one should not say, Heaven forbid, about oneself that one will be wicked, Heaven forbid, or that one will commit a transgression, Heaven forbid — even if one says this in jest and has absolutely no intention of doing it. Even so, this speech harms one greatly and can compel one, Heaven forbid, afterward to do what one uttered from one's mouth — even though one did not say it sincerely but only in jest. And through this King Yehu stumbled — through uttering from his mouth (II Kings 10:18): "Yehu will serve him greatly." Even though in his heart he intended not to serve him but said this in jest in order to deceive the worshippers of the Baal as is explained there in the Scripture — even so he stumbled afterward through this until he himself worshipped idolatry as our Sages o.b.m. said. Therefore one must be very careful about this — for "a covenant has been made with the lips," etc., as our Sages o.b.m. said (Sanhedrin 102a; Moed Katan 18a).

He was speaking with a certain person. In the midst of this, he heard someone praying the evening prayer and saying: "And counsel us with good counsel from before You" — and that man said those words "and counsel us with counsel, etc." quickly. Rabbainu, o.b.m., answered and said to the one standing nearby: Did you see — this one snatches quickly those words "counsel us with good counsel etc."? Yet those words must be prayed with great arousal and with great intention from the depth of one's heart — for this is a very, very precious prayer. For one must very greatly beseech mercies from Hashem Yisburach that He merit us — that Hashem Yisburach give us good counsel — that we merit to know how to conduct ourselves, etc.[425] And this matter is very well understood to all who wish to enter the service of Hashem — that one must greatly beseech Hashem Yisburach about this: that we merit good counsel from before Him Yisburach.