In the Story of the Master of Prayer, concerning the group that said that rhetoric and speech is the goal, meaning that one should know many languages and be a nice speaker, etc. This error is slightly understandable. For we know all the evil thing that is done today by the sinful speakers, as our Teacher, may his memory be for a blessing, said jokingly, when he greatly praised the power of speech. And he said afterwards, "but there are speakers who are sinners of Israel,as it is written 'and your speakers sinned against Me.' " For all the intellectuals and philosphers and heretics, virtually all of them are great speakers. And in truth, in its root in holiness, speech is very good. As our Teacher ,may his memory be for a blessing, himself praised speech greatly, and he said that speech has great power to arouse the man. And behold this matter of the value of speech is very necessary for every person who desires true and eternal life, who wants to go in the ways of Hashem, to return to the Blessed One. And the general advice, which is the foundation of all the types of advice, is isolation and talking between oneself and G-d, as we have explained many times. Meaning to accustom oneself every day to go to a special place to isolate himself and to speak before the Blessed One, the way one would speak to his friend, and to say a great amount of complaints, entreaties, requests, placations in the language that he normally speaks, that Hashem Yisborach should help him and merit him to return from his evil deeds and to draw near to the Blessed One. And for this the idea of speech is a great thing. Meaning to accustom oneself to expand his speech and to say many complaints and to request to find for himself each time new words of repentance and appeasement and nice complaints and words of arousal for great mercies. For in the matter of speaking between himself and his Maker, which is the main goal that we need through which we can merit eternal life, and to be saved from the pit of destruction and from the muddy depths, etc. For this matter we need all the types of speech in the world, petitions and requests and appeasments and placation and entreaties and mercy and grace and complaints and similarly like this greatly. And all the matters of these words are included in rhetoric. For all this comes at its root from the aspect of the highest rhetoric, from where King David, may peace be upon him, arranged the Book of Psalms with his holy spirit, which contains all the expressions of holy rhetoric. But the group mentioned above chose rhetoric for their own evil, to consume all their days in the ways of rhetoric, in order to draw the Israeli heart, G-d forbid, to the ways of the skeptics and the philosphers, through which they uproot themselves and their children and their students who go in thieir footsteps from both worlds, as we literally see in their evil ways and to where they arrive through their evil rhetoric.

And it is impossible to expand upon this here, for a multitude of parchments would be insufficient to tell the greatness of the bitter affliction that has spread out today so much and about those sinful rhetoriticians is said: "And what advantage is there to the master of the tongue" and "Remove from me the multitude of your songs", etc.

Who prays always for your peace and salvation, who yearns to be seen with you in joy.

Yisroel Dov Odesser