In this section of Chapter 21, we examine two adjacent verses: "A wise man scales a city of mighty warriors" and "One who guards his mouth and his tongue." Previously, we learned that wealth resides in the shadow of wisdom - "Desirable treasure and oil are in the dwelling of the wise," and one who engages in Torah sees his assets prosper. Afterwards, we learned that good deeds are also the acquisition of the wise man - "He who pursues righteousness and kindness." Now, King Solomon informs us that the wise man also possesses might. Immediately following this, he teaches the secret of how to protect this conquest so it is not taken from him - guarding one's mouth and tongue.
עִיר גִּבֹּרִים עָלָה חָכָם וַיֹּרֶד עֹז מִבְטֶחָהּ׃ (כב) - A wise man scales a city of mighty warriors and brings down the stronghold of its trust. (22)
Rashi cites the homily of our Sages: "A city of mighty warriors" - this refers to the heavens, where the "mighty in strength who do His word" reside. "A wise man scaled" - this is Moshe Rabbeinu, who ascended among the angels. "And brings down the stronghold of its trust" - what did Moshe bring down for us? The Torah, as it is said, "Hashem will give strength to His people," and it is our stronghold and trust.
Rabbeinu Yonah connects this verse to the preceding ones: after learning that the wise man possesses wealth, and subsequently that he possesses righteousness and kindness, here we learn that he also possesses might - "A wise man scales a city of mighty warriors," just as it is said, "I am understanding, might is mine." This does not refer to physical strength like Shimshon's, but rather that by the power of his wisdom he overcomes his enemies. Generally, this overcoming power stems from the fact that he first conquers his internal enemies - bad character traits, inclinations, and lusts; and by virtue of that, he succeeds in overcoming his external enemies as well. This is also the definition of what the Sages said, that the Shechinah rests only upon one who is mighty, wise, humble, and wealthy: "mighty" - one who has the strength to overcome his inclinations, and through this he even merits prophecy.
The Vilna Gaon closely analyzes the phrasing "oz mivtacha" - the strength within the stronghold, meaning its choicest part. The explanation is that even the place they relied upon and were certain was the most secure, the strongest fortifications - the wise man manages to breach and subdue even that. Furthermore, the Vilna Gaon cites the Sages' homily: "A city of mighty warriors" is heaven, "a wise man scaled" is Moshe, and "brings down the stronghold of its trust" is the Torah, which is the choicest of all and longed for by everyone; it is called "oz" (strength) - "Hashem will give strength to His people," and it is called "betach" (security) - "Whoever listens to me shall dwell securely."
The Vilna Gaon further explains: "A city of mighty warriors" is heaven; "a wise man scaled" - every wise man and righteous person ascends there every night and studies, and among them are great tzaddikim who would ascend even while awake and during the day, such as the prophets. Each of them "brings down the stronghold of its trust" - the choicest part of the stronghold. A proof from the prophets: Yeshayahu the prophet brought down "Kadosh" (Holy) - "And You are Holy, enthroned upon the praises of Israel," while Yechezkel brought down "Baruch" (Blessed) - "Blessed is the glory of Hashem from His place." Thus they brought down for us the strength and the choicest part from Above, whether through prophecy, whether in a dream or while awake, or through the wise man ascending on High and being taught Torah.
We have already cited the teachings on dreams regarding the Vilna Gaon's words elsewhere, that the Holy One, Blessed be He, embedded within man the nature to sleep so that he could attain parts of the Torah that he is naturally incapable of attaining. When a person sleeps, his soul is detached from its physical bonds and can attain higher perceptions. According to the Vilna Gaon, this is the very purpose of sleep - not merely "your youth will be renewed like an eagle," but so that a person can attain profound insights in Torah.
We have recounted more than once about the holy Ari, who, after a midday nap of about half an hour, told his disciple Rabbi Avraham HaLevi that in that brief time he had grasped what would require more than eighty years to teach. Such is the nature of sleep. So too, it is told of the Baba Sali, who woke up one morning and asked: "Who is Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael from Bnei Brak?" They told him that there was a tzaddik and Torah scholar in Bnei Brak known as the Steipler, Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael. When they asked why he inquired, he answered: "When my soul finishes studying in the Heavenly Yeshivah at night and descends, I hear an announcement: 'Make way for the tzaddik, Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael of Bnei Brak!'" In any case, we see from here, just as the Vilna Gaon taught, that there is a reality in which every sage and tzaddik ascends each night to study there.
And this is the meaning of "A wise man scales a city of mighty warriors" - the wise man ascends to the domain of the mighty beings who do His bidding, the realm of the angels, to the Heavenly Yeshivah; "and brings down the stronghold in which it trusted" - he brings down Torah from there, and even the lofty levels of "Holy" and "Blessed" were brought down from on high through prophecy.
The Malbim explains that this verse is connected to the one following it - "One who guards his mouth and his tongue guards his soul from troubles." He opens with a parable: a wise man conquered a city of warriors, and not only did he conquer the city, but also the fortress in which they placed their trust. For cities had fortresses where people would entrench themselves, climbing up and hiding within, defending themselves from there and hurling catapult stones. Often, when besiegers wished to destroy them, they would bring timber and set the fortress on fire, thereby burning them within; but reaching that stage was exceedingly difficult, since whoever held the heights possessed a strategic advantage, shooting down from above.
Come and see: a single, solitary wise man scaled a city of warriors and captured the fortress in which they trusted. As it is written in Kohelet (7:19): "Wisdom gives strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in the city" - wisdom is the might and power of the wise man, surpassing ten rulers of a city, and he succeeds in prevailing over them as well. Even though the city was full of men, and not ordinary men but mighty warriors, and even though it was situated on a mountain - and how do we know this? Because it says, "A wise man scaled," meaning he had to climb and ascend, fighting from a position of strategic disadvantage from below - and even though they possessed a mighty tower in which they trusted, nevertheless, "he brings down the stronghold in which it trusted."
What is the meaning behind the parable? The Malbim explains: it refers to the battles of the soul. King Solomon already said in Kohelet (9:14-16): "There was a small city with few men in it, and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great siege engines around it. Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he saved the city through his wisdom, yet no one remembered that poor man. And I said: Wisdom is better than might" - intellect is better than sixty kilos of muscle between the shoulders - "yet the wisdom of the poor man is despised, and his words are not heard."
There, the Malbim explains, the passage speaks of the battle waged by the yetzer hara against the faculties of the soul. The soul dwells inside; it is "a small city" with "few men in it" - the forces of the soul are few. The one coming from without to wage war and conquer it is a "great king" - that is the yetzer hara, building great siege works, snares, and nets around it. For the forces of the flesh are many - the forces of nature, the senses, physical desires, and materiality - and they possess far greater raw power than the inner soul tasked with repelling them all. Only the "poor wise man saved the city through his wisdom": the meager forces of the soul managed to overcome those "great siege engines" - snares and hidden traps - set by that old and foolish king who besieged it from the outside.
The Malbim notes: Observe that here the metaphor is reversed. In Kohelet, the yetzer hara - the old and foolish king - attacks from the outside while the soul is inside. Here, however, in "A wise man scales a city of mighty warriors," the forces of the yetzer and folly are entrenched inside, while the wise man - the forces of good - comes from the outside and ascends to conquer it. And this battle is constant. Every person has an aspect of a fortified city: truth is a small town, for the faculties of the soul and intellect are few, dwelling in this world like transient wayfarers, like a humble village; falsehood, by contrast, is a formidable city, a city of mighty warriors, for material forces are the native residents here, and physical reality dominates this world. To live here and live spiritually is exceedingly difficult: a small city facing a large, heavily fortified citadel.
How can one truly succeed? One who conducts himself according to the rules of wisdom - which are the laws of the Torah - will succeed in conquering the city, subordinating his desires, cravings, and materiality to his discipline, directing them toward the path of truth and the service of Hashem. In what way? The Malbim explains: with the sword of wisdom - "A wise man scales a city of mighty warriors" - and with the shield of understanding, knowledge, and fear of Hashem; then the torrent of desire will not overcome him. Yet one must be extremely vigilant: this battle of the small city against the great, fortified city is perpetual. Even if you succeeded in conquering it once, the conquered forces return. You strike a blow - and they rally back. It is like a fly: there is no such thing as saying, "I am rid of it." One is never permanently rid of it. What must you keep in mind? You have conquered the city - beware lest the conquered subjects rise up and retake the city.
שֹׁמֵר פִּיו וּלְשׁוֹנוֹ שֹׁמֵר מִצָּרוֹת נַפְשׁוֹ׃ (כג) - One who guards his mouth and his tongue guards his soul from troubles. (23)
How does one preserve what has been conquered? This is the continuation: "One who guards his mouth and his tongue guards his soul from troubles." The mouth and the tongue are the fortress of wisdom, the speaking soul, and through them the enemies enter to lay siege to the soul. And there are two aspects here. The first is to truly guard the mouth. A person can achieve tremendous conquests and attain immense triumphs over the evil inclination, yet the yetzer hara looks for him somewhere else: in his speech.
The Chafetz Chaim already writes this: a person can be righteous, yet the yetzer hara catches him by his tongue. How so? When a person speaks, he speaks about someone of his own stature. If a righteous and great person has criticism, against whom is it directed? Against another great person who leads another group or community. And speaking against a great person is dreadful, and the punishment for it is multiplied manifold. This is why Doeg was called "Doeg" - they said to him: you were caught like a fish (dag). Doeg was a great man, the head of the Sanhedrin, and against whom did he speak? Against King David. He spoke against David once - you were caught like a fish, and by what is a fish caught? By its tongue. As a result, eighty Kohanim wearing the linen ephod were killed, and as a result Saul and his sons were killed - all because of Doeg's lashon hara. This teaches you that it is difficult for the yetzer hara to penetrate a great person, so what is the opening? The tongue. If it catches him by the tongue, that is enough. For a great scholar will not go desecrate Shabbat tomorrow, nor will he worship idols; but to speak against another great figure, some criticism or some remark - that is indeed possible. So says the Chafetz Chaim. And we would certainly never imagine such a thing about the great people we know, but come and see from history what happened.
Another point that the Malbim explains several times: there is a difference between "mouth" and "tongue." The mouth is external speech and corresponds to chochmah (wisdom), while the tongue is internal speech - tevunah (understanding), contemplation, that which is deeper within. That is, a person must be vigilant both in wisdom and in understanding not to stray into warped philosophies or corrupt paths, but rather walk in the way of Hashem; that his understanding should not deviate or wander from the path of Hashem. And in this way, he "guards his soul from troubles" - guarding his spiritual soul so that enemies do not continually lay siege to it until they conquer back what he had won. One who guards his mouth and his tongue ensures that the "strength of its confidence" that he has already conquered will not be taken back from him.
And one can delve deeper: how can it be that a person fulfilled many mitzvot, yet loses everything in a single moment? Through lashon hara. It is written in the holy books that one who speaks lashon hara transfers all his merits to the person he spoke about. This is what King David laments: "Those who sit at the gate talk about me, and the songs of drunkards" - in taverns and bars they speak about me. And it is asked: What do you want, then - that the leaders of the generation speak about you? David says: Yes, that would be preferable for me, because if great people spoke about me, I would gain something from it. But the one who speaks about me from the bar or the tavern - what merits did he transfer to me? Not only did he slander me, but I received nothing of value from him. And indeed, so it is written in the holy books, and as discussed at length in lessons on Parashat Tazria and Metzora: the Maggid angel told the Beit Yosef, know that this is how judgment is rendered in Heaven - one who speaks disparagingly of his fellow and speaks lashon hara takes his fellow's sins upon himself and gives him his own merits. A very, very bad trade.
Thus, even if "a wise man scaled a city of warriors and brought down the stronghold of its confidence" - he succeeded, overcame, and conquered - if he does not guard his mouth and his tongue, his end is "troubles of his soul," for all of this will be stripped away from him. And another way in which a person can lose all his mitzvot in a single moment may be added: regretting one's past good deeds (toheh al harishonot). "What a pity that I wasted my life, what a pity that I studied Torah, what a pity that I observed mitzvot; everything I did was not worth it" - and with that, he erased everything he ever did. A terrifying thought for one who reflects upon it. Thus, a person can bring himself into terrible troubles, where none of his righteous deeds will be remembered, as the prophet said, simply by regretting the good deeds he performed. Therefore, these two things must go hand in hand: after "a wise man scaled a city of warriors and brought down the stronghold of its confidence," be careful to preserve it - "one who guards his mouth and his tongue," and then he "guards his soul from troubles."
Rabbeinu Yonah also links this verse to the preceding one. In the previous verse, we saw that the wise person possesses strength and might: "A wise man scaled a city of warriors." This verse then arrives to teach that he possesses an additional strength, even greater than that - the wise person rules over his desire. This is not merely the capture of a city, but something far greater, as it is stated, "and one who rules his spirit is better than one who captures a city." For a person to shut his mouth when necessary, knowing how to exercise restraint when needed - this is a greater virtue than capturing a city.
This is akin to the story recounted in Sefer Chassidim about the pious man who saw soldiers returning crowned with glory from the battlefield. He asked them: What is this? They said to him: We won the battle. He said to them: You have won the small battle, but a great battle still lies before you. They asked him: A great battle? What is your honor talking about; the war is over! He told them: No, the great battle is with someone far stronger - with the evil inclination, and that is the great and true battle. It is relatively easy to win a battle on the field compared to winning the war against the yetzer hara. And this is what the verse is saying: know that the wise person is also capable of being "one who guards his mouth and his tongue," because wisdom gives the soul the power to master desire, as it is written, "to guard you from the strange woman, from an evil woman" - from the power of wisdom comes this protection.
And what is the repetition of "his mouth and his tongue"? The Vilna Gaon explains: There are two primary roots of sin - physical desire and speech. Desire is called a primary root of sin because it is the head and hub toward which many sins flow: through desire one is drawn after illicit relations, after money, after excessive or forbidden eating and drinking, after excessive sleep - everything revolves around desire. On the other hand, there is the matter of speech, which is less directly related to physical desire.
Granted, the Chofetz Chaim asked: What pleasure is there in speaking lashon hara? What gain does the slanderer have? The Chazon Ish remarked that from this very question one can see that the Chofetz Chaim had never spoken lashon hara in his life; for anyone who has ever spoken lashon hara knows how juicy it is, how it rolls off the tongue, what a thrill it is to repeat what he heard - he has the "neies" (the scoop), the latest news, and he simply has to tell everyone, wanting to be the first to break the story. So there is an element of craving in it as well, but it is lesser; it is not like the lust for money, immorality, or forbidden foods. Sins of speech are less connected to physical lust, and they are enormous sins in their own right: lashon hara (evil speech), rechilus (talebearing), falsehood, shaming and hurting others, flattery. The sins of the tongue are a root for countless branches.
Thus, we find that there are two primary roots of sin: physical desire, which is the root of all those bodily cravings, and the sin of the tongue, which is the root of all sins of speech. Corresponding to them, says the Vilna Gaon, there are two distinct punishments: Gehinnom and Kaf HaKela (the hollow of the sling). Into Gehinnom enter those who indulged their physical desires, and into Kaf HaKela enter those guilty of forbidden speech. Know that both of these places are exceedingly narrow and confining for those who dwell in them: regarding Gehinnom it is said, "and a foreign woman is a narrow pit," and regarding Kaf HaKela it is said, "the recesses of the pit" - and a pit is a cramped and narrow place. And this is the meaning of the verse: "He who guards his mouth" - from forbidden foods and bodily lusts; "and his tongue" - from speaking lashon hara; "guards his soul from troubles (tzaros)" - from these two narrow (tzar) places, so that his soul will never arrive in those realms.
We have learned that true strength belongs to the wise person: with the sword of wisdom and the shield of understanding and awe, he ascends to the "city of the mighty" - the fortified forces of physical matter and the yetzer hara - and conquers even "the stronghold of its trust," the very place where they felt most secure. And as Chazal and the Vilna Gaon explain, so did Moshe Rabbeinu ascend and bring down the Torah to us, and so does every sage and righteous person who ascends at night, learns on high, and brings down the choicest treasures from there. Yet King Solomon immediately cautions: the battle is continuous, and the conquered forces seek to re-conquer. The gate through which the enemies enter is the mouth and the tongue - and therefore, "He who guards his mouth and his tongue guards his soul from troubles": guarding one's speech and inner outlooks; recognizing that one who speaks lashon hara transfers his merits to others and loses everything he has conquered, just as one who regrets his previous good deeds erases all his accomplishments; and understanding that corresponding to the two primary roots of sin - physical desire and the tongue - two narrow realms await: Gehinnom and Kaf HaKela. "And one who rules his spirit is better than one who captures a city" - victory over the yetzer hara is greater than conquering a city of warriors, and it is also what preserves the conquest so that it is never lost.