Musar for Kiddushin 78:23

For is it not written (Mishlei 2:4-5): "If you seek for it as silver, if you search for it as hidden treasure — then you will understand the fear of the L-rd." And it is well known that everyone would prefer having a steady income even with less profit than a chance income with greater profit. How much more so with this ["income" of guarding one's tongue], which is a steady income with great profit. For with this mitzvah one can earn both when he is sitting in his house or when he is in the house of prayer or the house of study, and also when he goes to the market and sees people speaking what they should not be speaking (and distancing himself from them.) As Chazal have said (Kiddushin 39b): "If one sat and did not transgress, he is rewarded as the doer of a mitzvah." In sum: With this mitzvah one can "earn" from the time he rises from his sleep [in the morning] until the time he goes to sleep in the evening, effortlessly, and with great profit. For, for every moment of muzzling his mouth he merits the "secreted light," as Chazal have stated.

4) A fourth level of מצוה performance is performance of the commandment for the sake of G–d, not for the securing of any kind of advantage on this earth. Abraham was a prime example of this when he risked his life to liberate Lot and incidentally all the people of Sodom, etc, and refused as much as a shoelace of the loot which was legally his (Genesis 14,22).

First of all let me explain that there is a difference between the meaning of the word טוב when it is spelled with the vowel חולם and when it is spelled with the vowel שורוק. The former spelling is employed when the visible "good" i.e. the נגלה, only is revealed. When the word is spelled with the vowel שורוק, however, the good that is meant is also the intrinsic good, that which is not visible. We observe this principle when checking the spellings of these three "gifts." When referring to Torah, Psalms 119,72, we have טוב לי תורת פיך מאלפי זהב וכסף, "The Torah of Your mouth I prefer to thousands of pieces of gold and silver." The word טוב in this case is spelled with the vowel חולם. On the other hand, six verses earlier in Psalms 119,66, we find טוב טעם ודעת למדני, "teach me good sense and knowledge," and the word טוב is spelled with the vowel שורוק. Similarly we find ארץ ישראל described as ארץ טובה, with the vowel חולם, on occasion (Exodus 3,8), whereas in Isaiah 1,19, we read "אם תאבו ושמעתם, טוב הארץ תאכלו," "if you agree and listen, you will eat of the good of the land." In this case the word טוב is again spelled with the vowel שורוק. Concerning this verse our sages have said that Isaiah speaks of "the world which is totally good," since they could not understand what other justification there could be for the different spellings. They concluded that in that distant future there will no longer be a difference between the hidden aspects of טוב, and the part which is visible to all. At that time, a blessing will no longer contain also those elements that are not good. A reference to something intrinsic is appropriate only if the same gift described contains both external and internal features. This is why they described that future as one that is כלו טוב, i.e. "totally good."

The subject of the three gifts the Jewish people received must be understood on two levels. One level is the manifest one, i.e. נגלה, a gift which everyone can see as having been received. The other level is what we call the נסתר the hidden aspect of these gifts. We find that the word Tov is spelled with different vowels on different occasions. Most of the time it is spelled with the vowel חולם i.e. Tov, whereas sometimes it is spelled with the vowel שורוק i.e. Tuv.

Whenever it is spelled as Tov the reference is to the manifest good. When it is spelled Tuv the reference is to the hidden good. [The author discussed this in Parshat Ba'halotecha, in connection with Moses' offer to Yitro to join the Jewish people. Ed.] In connection with Torah we find the word spelled טוב with both the vowels חולם such as in Proverbs 4,2: כי לקח טוב נתתי לכם, as well as in Psalms 119,72: טוב לי תורת פיך. It is also spelled with a שורוק as in Psalms 119,66: טוב טעם ודעת למדני. In connection with ארץ ישראל we find ארץ טובה in Deut. 8,7 spelled with the vowel חולם, whereas in Isaiah 1,19 we are promised by the prophet "טוב הארץ תאכלו," spelled with the vowel שורוק. With respect to עולם הבא, we find in Deut. 5,16: למען ייטב לך, which our sages (Kidushin 39b) explain as a reference to a world which is totally good.

The laws pertaining to paying the hired laborer on time, the rules about what the laborer may consume when engaged in harvesting the owner's field, etc., are all allusions to our relationship to G–d our "employer." It is incumbent upon us to be His loyal servants; if we are, the Torah promises us and we expect to receive recompense in the form of enjoyment of "dividends" such as eating while working in the fields of this world. The "principal," the main reward for the מצות, is in the Hereafter: this clearly implies that we must not expect to take home in this world any of the fruit we harvested [in the field]. Basically, reward for commandments performed is not collected in this world. This is alluded to by the prohibition to eat any of the fruit of the field or orchard still attached to the ground (23,26).