In the previous section we took up the status of permitted food eaten not for the sake of Heaven, and the refinement such food requires. Now we turn to speech: what is the status of a person who speaks idle words, and what is the path by which the soul is purified of them?
A person who speaks idle words is not speaking words that are forbidden. You cannot come to him with the claim that he said something prohibited, since what he said was permitted. But on the other hand, he also cannot claim that the energy he expended in those words is holy, for there was not the slightest element of a mitzvah in that speech. And as was explained in chapter 6, there is no in-between state: either kedusha or sitra achra. It emerges that this speech, permitted though it is, is like permitted food that requires refinement, and the person must purify his soul of this tumah and this kelipah.
Here is the foundation of the whole matter: every word spoken is energy. A word does not leave the mouth and vanish without leaving any effect. Every word has force and meaning, and it becomes bound up with the person's soul and remains bound to it, as will be explained further on, until the soul is completely purified. No word gets lost. That is why, once a person has spoken idle words, his soul is now tied to energies that are not holy, and therefore they are impure, and the soul requires purification.
What is 'kaf hakela'?
The purification comes about through the soul being hurled about in kaf hakela, as brought in the Zohar, Parshas Beshalach (folio 59). A kela is a sling, a device that flings an object from one extreme to the other, something like a catapult. And what does this mean in terms of the soul? The soul is thrown from one extreme to the other, and the content of those two extremes varies according to its level:
A soul that has tasted spiritual pleasure: Someone who, during his lifetime, had moments of genuine delight in something spiritual, who from time to time experienced a spiritual awakening: his soul is brought into that spiritual pleasure, and immediately afterward it is flung into animal pleasure, and back again, over and over. It is returned to that very same pleasure it had in its idle talk, only that now it grasps and feels just how foolish the whole thing was, and this is an enormous pain for the soul.
A soul that never tasted spiritual pleasure: Someone who was never on the level of spiritual delight at all, but who kept Torah and mitzvos on a basic level: of him the expression is used that he is thrown from Eretz Yisrael to chutz la'aretz, and from chutz la'aretz back to Eretz Yisrael. The meaning here is in the realm of desire: the soul is given a sense of wanting to keep Torah and mitzvos, and immediately afterward the desire for the very opposite.
And how long does this go on? It all depends on how much cleansing is needed, and in that world the concept of 'time' does not exist at all. In 'Hayom Yom,' in the very passage cited earlier, it says that a person can purify himself from chibut hakever by saying words of Torah for a sixth of the day. Regarding kaf hakela, however, no measure of time is mentioned at all; rather, one should use every free moment for words of Torah. Which means: there should be no stretch of time in which a person is not occupied with words of Torah.
Forbidden speech:
Until now we have been discussing speech that is permitted. What about someone who speaks words that are forbidden, such as mockery, lashon hara and the like? Here we are not dealing with permitted speech that needs refining, but with forbidden speech that belongs to the three completely impure kelipos. Here too kaf hakela is required, since every idle word calls for kaf hakela, but it is not enough: "אין כף הקלע לבדו מועיל לטהר ולהעביר טומאתו מהנפש, אלא צריכה לירד לגיהינום" - kaf hakela alone is not sufficient to purify the soul and remove its impurity; the soul must descend to Gehinnom.
What is Gehinnom?
The Mitteler Rebbe explains the subject of Gehinnom at length in one of his maamarim, and brings an example that makes it graspable. It has already been explained that the soul is eternal, and that even while the body lies in the grave, everything a person did during his lifetime in this world remains within the soul and is not lost. A person spoke certain words and took pleasure in them, and that pleasure remains lodged in his soul, attached to all the various things he filled himself with.
An example: picture a person standing before a wondrous, spiritual sight, something his very soul goes out to behold, and in the middle of it someone comes over and starts muddling his mind with nonsense and pestering him. He wants to concentrate, and the other fellow keeps interrupting. It is an agonizing experience for the soul to be in a state where it wants to focus on something G-dly and at that very moment idle matters are being pushed into it.
This is precisely what Gehinnom is: the soul is already in a state where it can see G-dliness, and at that very moment it is made to taste every one of the pleasures it had in this world at the time the person was speaking forbidden words - the mockery he enjoyed, the lashon hara he enjoyed. That clash of opposites, between infinite G-dly delight and these petty enjoyments, is the tremendous anguish of the soul that is called Gehinnom.
And how does this state cleanse the soul? Because the person now feels revulsion toward that forbidden speech. The greater his delight in G-dliness, the more he feels how low and how foolish the thing was; he regrets it and wants to be rid of it, and these very torments are what sever him from the foolishness. It is like a man who goes down to the sea on a stormy winter day. He is told not to go, and he goes anyway; once the wave has caught him and he is about to drown, a genuine regret passes through his mind: what a shame that he did not listen to what he was told. That is real anguish, and that is the meaning of Gehinnom - the person feels just how foolish his act was, he regrets it, and by that very means he purifies himself of that state.
As for Gan Eden, which is the positive side, we will learn about it, with G-d's help, further on.
Worth noting: the Holy One, blessed be He, asked Avraham Avinu which he would prefer for his children, Gehinnom or subjugation to the nations in exile, and Avraham chose exile. It emerges that all the troubles and problems and suffering a person has in exile come in place of the whole matter of Gehinnom. An explicit mashal on this point is brought at the end of Iggeres HaTeshuvah: the suffering here below takes the place of the suffering above.
"וכן מי שאפשר לו לעסוק בתורה ועוסק בדברים בטלים" - "And likewise one who is able to occupy himself with Torah and instead occupies himself with idle matters":
Until now we have been speaking of someone who spoke idle words in a permitted way, whose purification is through kaf hakela. But someone who could have been learning Torah and at that very time occupied himself with idle talk, his speech was done in a forbidden manner, and he now has three separate problems:
The idle speech itself, for which kaf hakela is required.
Bittul Torah: he should have been learning at that time and did not, and so he transgressed the positive commandment of Talmud Torah.
The general punishment that applies to anyone who fails to fulfill a positive commandment out of laziness, whichever mitzvah it may be.
And therefore it says: "אין כף הקלע לבדו מועיל לנפשו למרקה" - kaf hakela alone does not suffice to scour his soul clean. On the face of it, kaf hakela helps anyone who did something forbidden, so why is it not enough here? Because it also depends on which positive commandment is involved. This person transgressed a mitzvah that is one of a kind, for "Talmud Torah is equal to them all": just as on the positive side there is no reward comparable to that of one who learns, so too on the other side. For that reason there are severe punishments specific to bittul Torah in particular, over and above the general punishment that applies to neglecting any positive commandment out of laziness.
'The Gehinnom of snow' - measure for measure:
The general punishment for someone who was lazy and failed to fulfill a mitzvah is called 'the Gehinnom of snow,' as brought elsewhere. It does not mean literal falling snow; it is a concept that can be understood along the lines of measure for measure. One who transgresses a prohibition does so with vitality, with liveliness, and therefore his form of Gehinnom is a Gehinnom of fire. But one who neglects a positive commandment does nothing at all; he simply stays passive out of laziness, and therefore the Gehinnom he receives is a Gehinnom of snow, of coldness. So it emerges that one who speaks idle words in a forbidden manner requires kaf hakela, plus the Gehinnom of snow for neglecting a positive commandment, plus the punishment unique to bittul Torah.
Defining bittul Torah:
Bittul Torah means someone who could have learned and did not learn, in the plain sense: he had no reason whatsoever not to learn, and he did not learn. Since electronic devices were invented there is no longer any excuse for someone traveling on the road, and even before that he could have taken a sefer along with him anywhere. True, while a person is at work he must be focused on his work, and that is not his time for learning, but everyone must set fixed times for Torah during the hours when he is free and able.
In the Previous Rebbe's book of memoirs there is an account of Jews who did physical labor, blacksmiths and the like, who would recite the entire book of Tehillim by heart while they worked. Their labor did not stop them from using every moment, so that there would be no such thing as bittul Torah in their lives.
The point of all of this: a person has to know that every bit of energy he expends places an obligation on him to see that it goes to the side of kedusha and is done for the sake of Heaven - every word, every emotion, every food, every thought. And if not, he has created a problem that now has to be cleaned up and purified. There is no need to get absorbed in the details of the illustrations, debating what exactly this Gehinnom is and what exactly that kaf hakela is; the conclusion has to land specifically on the positive side - the recognition of how important it is to use every single moment for good.
To summarize: In this section we learned that speaking idle words, permitted though it may be, is not holy speech, and therefore the soul becomes bound up with an impurity that requires purification through being hurled in kaf hakela - the soul thrown from one extreme to the other, each soul according to its own level. With forbidden speech, kaf hakela alone does not suffice, and a descent to Gehinnom is required, whose essence is the anguish of seeing G-dly delight while simultaneously tasting those unworthy pleasures, an anguish that brings regret and purification. We also learned that one who speaks idle words at a time when he could be learning Torah carries three distinct problems, all of which must be rectified, and we looked at 'the Gehinnom of snow' as measure for measure for laziness, at the definition of bittul Torah, and at the obligation to set fixed times for Torah.
In the next section we will take up another interesting point that appears at the end of the chapter on this same subject, and we will also answer the question: what is the place of tzedakah in the purification of the soul?