Do you say to kill me..?! (2:14)

Speaking negatively of another kills three: the speaker, the one who listens, and the one who is spoken of …

- The Talmud, Erchin 15b.

Two Mezhebuzh citizens were involved in a bitter dispute. Once, while they were angrily having it out in the local synagogue, one shouted at the other: "I will tear you apart like a fish!"

Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov, who was in the synagogue at the time, told his disciples to form a circle, each taking the hand of his neighbor, and to close their eyes. The Baal Shem Tov himself closed the circle by placing his holy hands upon the shoulders of the two disciples who stood nearest to him. Suddenly, the disciples cried out in fright: they saw the angry man actually ripping his fellow apart, just as he had threatened!

No potential ever remains unrealized. A person's every act, word, and even thought has an effect. At times, the effect is concrete and tangible; at times, it is more subtle and can be discerned only by a finer, more spiritual eye.