Words Can (Literally) Give Life

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Words of Chizuk are so powerful. They can take a person who is down and out and lift him up. They can change lives and give people hope. Most people don't have the opportunity to physically save a life, but we all have the ability to enable others to live their lives with peace-of-mind and happiness. Our words can accomplish this. Words can bring life. When Hashem gave life to Adam and blew a soul into him from Himself, the Targum writes that it was that soul which gave Adam the ability to speak. Speaking is a G-dly characteristic that Hashem gave us which can be used to do so much good.

A few words of encouragement can go so far. Rabbi Moshe Tuvia Lieff told a story about a boy named Shlomo who was diagnosed with cancer at the age of eight. He was not given too much hope. He battled the disease for years, and Baruch Hashem, he won. He eventually got married and, at the age of thirty, was told that he was totally healed. He made a Seudat Hoda'a - a meal of gratitude, for his family and friends. At the meal, he got up to speak to thank Hashem publicly. He said, "I also need to thank my pediatric oncologist who is in the audience today because unbeknownst to him, he played a major role in my recovery. It was not his treatments or his medications. It was during a visit to his office at a time when my health was deteriorating, and my situation was very bleak. I overheard the doctor whispering to the nurse. He said, 'You see that boy, he is a strong boy. He is going to survive. He is going to live. I am telling you. He is a strong boy, he is going to live.' Every time a situation seemed too difficult to handle, I remember the doctor's words, and I willed myself to survive."

Shlomo then sat down and the doctor who was not scheduled to speak asked if he could address the audience. He said, "I have to tell you the truth. The story is not exactly as Shlomo related. I did not believe that Shlomo was going to survive. When Shlomo was leaving my office, another boy with a similar illness was entering. I told the nurse that that boy was strong and that he was going to live. Shlomo heard me and thought I was referring to him, and that is what gave him the will to fight." The words spoken by that doctor, although unintentional (we know there are no coincidences) literally brought life.

Everybody can give encouragement. It doesn't have to be in a speech given to a large audience. Just a few words to a friend, or even a stranger can make all of the difference. Rabbi Yoel Gold told a story of a woman who stopped at a rest area on the Garden State Parkway to get gas and noticed that the attendant was just about three and half feet tall. His name was Vinny, and he started washing her windshield when he noticed a picture of a Rabbi in the front of her car. He knocked on her window and asked the woman if she knew that Rabbi. She said, "Yes, that's my father, Rabbi Geldzahler." The attendant told her, "I love your father. I owe him so much. You see, most people when they come to fill up, they look at me funny because I am a midget, but when your father came, it was a different story. He got out of his car, looked at me straight in the eye and he said, 'You are my inspiration. You have every reason to play the role of victim and stay in bed in the morning and not come to work like a regular person. Yet, you choose to act as if you don't have a handicap, and you come to work like everybody else.' He called me a 'giant man' and said that he was going to his Yeshiva, and that day he would use me to teach a lesson to his students and tell them that he met a fantastic man who overcame his challenges. If he could do it, then we all could do it." Vinny finished by telling the Rabbi's daughter, "Your father was the first person to ever make me feel tall."

Words are very powerful, let us use them to encourage and bring life.

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