A Snake with Wings

Anytime a person harbors doubts in his or her heart about the veracity of Torah, the directives of our sages or about the truth of Hashem and His Divine providence, that person is under the attack of the snake, the evil inclination. The snake injects the venom of doubt and heresy in a person’s heart, with questions that corrode and destroy emuna: “Who says that some old rabbis that lived centuries ago know more than you? Who has the nerve to teach you morals or tell you what to do with your money or your weekends? Have a good time and live your life! This is the 21st Century – you can’t live like a prude.”

If one drops his guard, the snake will easily have him violating every law of the Torah. This is how Adam and Eve were tricked into eating the forbidden fruit. In the same manner, merely weeks after the Jewish People received the Torah on Mount Sinai, the snake had them commit idolatry and build a golden calf.

Rebbe Natan was a great doctor of the soul. He teaches (Likutei Halachot, Nida, Halacha 2) that a person’s downfall into the pits of heresy and doubt begins with breaches in emuna and personal holiness. The only way for one to avoid this ensnarement is to cast his logic aside and to strengthen himself in emuna, putting total trust in Divine wisdom and not in his own judgment, which is susceptible to the influence of the snake. Emuna repairs all blemishes.

Furthermore, states Rebbe Natan (ibid, Shabbat, Halacha 6), that a person with true sense can realize that the intellectual disciplines of this world are not wisdom at all, for they can’t lead us to our true purpose on earth. So if they don’t help us attain our ultimate goal and fulfill our designated mission, how can they be called wisdom? He then quotes Rebbe Nachman who says that despite the fact that we are in the mundane material world, we should remember our purpose for posterity and therefore work on freeing ourselves from bodily urges, connect ourselves to true tzaddikim, and to focus on the spiritual side of our lives, never forgetting the World to Come, our destiny. True wisdom leads to holiness, uplifting a person from the status of a beast to the status of a human being whose Divine soul dictates to the body, and not the other way around. True wisdom brings a person to humility and to a cognizance of the Creator.

Rebbe Nachman says (Likutei Moharan I:63) that negative speech leads a person to doubt the Torah and the true tzaddikim, and it gives wings to the snake. The intellectual disciplines and the forces of heresy – like the snake – are cunning, clever and strongly persuasive, especially since they encourage bodily indulgence and discourage holiness and abstinence. So figuratively speaking, one’s negative speech gives “wings” to the forces of heresy, enabling them to more speedily take hold of a person’s mind and heart.

But, if the snake has no wings – in other words, if a person doesn’t speak detrimentally against Hashem, His Torah and the true tzaddikim, then the snake can only crawl. The forces of heresy which the snake symbolizes can no longer spread so fast in the world.

By the Jewish People speaking badly about Hashem, His Torah and the true tzaddikim, G-d forbid, they damage themselves. Not only do they give wings to the snake, but they sink deeper in the dark abysses of heresy. Their souls suffer and they lose any chance of attaining genuine inner peace and happiness.

We must take Rebbe Nachman’s words to heart and avoid saying anything – even jestingly – that’s not complimentary about Hashem, Torah, and our holy sages. Why give power to the snake and the dark side? If a person has negative thoughts, he shouldn’t express them in speech. He’d be best advised to consult a competent rabbi and spiritual guide, and to beg Hashem in personal prayer to lead him to the truth. Maintaining wholesome speech is vital to one’s spiritual health.

So what does a person do if he can’t seem to control his thoughts? What if he does harbor doubt and negative thoughts? The least he can do is to refrain from vocalizing them, to prevent the snake from using them to perpetrate more evil in the world. The way to uproot these negative thoughts is to ask Hashem to help strengthen our emuna and to focus on holiness. We must be very careful to speak positively always.

Good speech leads to good happenings in the world. For example, the more that people around the world call out Hashem’s Name, the more we’ll see positive developments. As soon as a person strengthens himself and begins speaking words of emuna, the negative thoughts disappear. His positive words influence the entire world. May we all so merit, amen!