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A Word That Shines: The Teivah of Speech

Rashi says the tzohar Noach made for the ark was a precious stone that gave them light. Why should a gem in an ark matter to us, who build no ark? And why must the ark be finished “to a cubit above”?

Name a tzaddik: tap for who he wasTitle a sefer

Bereishis 6:16

צֹהַר תַּעֲשֶׂה לַתֵּבָה וְאֶל־אַמָּה תְּכַלֶנָּה מִלְמַעְלָה וּפֶתַח הַתֵּבָה בְּצִדָּהּ תָּשִׂים תַּחְתִּיִּם שְׁנִיִּם וּשְׁלִשִׁים תַּעֲשֶׂהָ

Make a light for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above; set the door of the ark in its side; lower, second and third stories you shall make it.

18“Make a light for the ark.” explains the tzohar, the light, as “a precious stone.”¹ We may say that this is the hint: teivah, “ark,” is also the Hebrew for a word, the teivah a person brings out of his mouth. He must see to it that this word gives off a great light, like a precious stone. “And finish it to a cubit above”:² ammah, “a cubit” [the single cubit to which the roof narrows], hints at complete unity, for the tzaddik must walk in complete unity in the upper worlds.

צֹהַר תַּעֲשֶׂה לַתֵּיבָה. פֵּירֵשׁ רש"י "אֶבֶן טוֹב". יֵשׁ לוֹמַר הָרֶמֶז "תֵּיבָה" הַיְינוּ הַמִּלָּה וְתֵיבָה שֶׁאָדָם מוֹצִיא מִפִּיו, צָרִיךְ לִרְאוֹת שֶׁהַתֵּיבָה הַזֹּאת תָּאִיר אוֹר גָּדוֹל כְּאֶבֶן טוֹב, "וְאֶל אַמָּה תְּכַלֶנָּה מִלְמַעְלָה", רֶמֶז 'אַמָּה' הוּא רֶמֶז עַל הָאַחְדוּת גָּמוּר, שֶׁהַצַּדִּיק צָרִיךְ לֵילֵךְ בְּאַחְדוּת גָּמוּר בְּעוֹלָמוֹת עֶלְיוֹנִים.

Rashi on Bereishis 6:16, who gives two views: some say a window, and some say a precious stone that gave them light. R' Elimelech takes the second. ↩
Rashi on Bereishis 6:16, on “to a cubit.” ↩

In shortEvery word a person speaks, his teivah, should shine like Rashi's precious stone, and the tzaddik must walk in complete unity in the upper worlds.

The maamar as a whole

R’ Elimelech reads the instructions for the ark as instructions for speech. Rashi says the tzohar was a precious stone that gave light, and teivah, ark, is also the Hebrew for a word. So every word a person brings out of his mouth should give off a great light, like that stone. The ark was finished “to a cubit above,” its roof narrowing to a single ammah, and that one cubit hints at complete unity: the tzaddik must walk in complete unity in the upper worlds.

Takeaway

Each word that leaves our mouth is a teivah, and R' Elimelech asks that it give off light like a precious stone. Before we speak, we can ask whether this word will shine; and of the tzaddik he expects more, to walk in complete unity in the upper worlds.

Learn this in the merit of Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk. His yahrzeit and life ›

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Tzaddikim he names

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