Musar for Bava Batra 156:12

א"ר שמואל בר נחמן א"ר יוחנן מאי דכתיב (במדבר כא, כז) על כן יאמרו המושלים וגו'

— if thou dost so, thou shalt be built in this world and thou shalt be established in the world to come. 'Ayyar Sihon:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. [H] punctuated as in M.T. gives the meaning 'city of Sihon'. But it may also be punctuated [H] in accordance with the interpretation here given. [H] 'young ass'; [H] of the same root as [H] 'talk'. ');">32 if a man makes himself like a young ass that follows the gentle talk [of sin]; what comes next?33 For a fire goes out Meheshbon<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. v. 28. Heb. [H] may mean 'from the city of Heshbon' (as E.V.). and may also be taken as coming from the root [H], 'to reckon', 'to consider', V. p. 317, n. 9. ');">34

Shemirat HaLashon

We learned (Bava Bathra 78b): R. Shmuel b. Nachmani said in the name of R. Yonathan (Bamidbar 21:27): "Therefore, the rulers say: 'Let us come to Cheshbon, etc.': 'the rulers' — these are the rulers over their yetzer. 'Let us come to Cheshbon' — Let us come and make the world's accounting ['cheshbon' = account], the loss [entailed by the performance] of a mitzvah against its reward; and the reward of a transgression against its loss." The plain meaning is well known: this [the reward of a mitzvah] is forever, and this [the "loss" of a mitzvah] is temporal. Also, this [the "reward" of a transgression] is a negligible pleasure, and this [the reward of a mitzvah] is awesome. For "one moment of pleasure in the world to come is greater than all the pleasures of this world," and the opposite for transgression.

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