Published August 19, 2010
R’ Yisrael Salanter noted that there are people who go to great lengths not to harm others in any way, but have no compunctions about berating people who insult them or who do things which are against halachah.
Chazal tell us that the words of a person may indeed cause harm to others. Thus, said R’ Yisrael, anyone who berates others is no different from a person who causes physical damage or harm to others, and such behavior is totally forbidden. For this reason, he was always very careful about everything he said.
The Baal Shem Tov said that it is as difficult to describe to another person one’s love of Hashem as it is to describe to someone the taste of a food that the person has never tasted.
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