שמעון בנו אומר, כל ימי גדלתי בין החכמים, ולא מצאתי לגוף טוב אלא שתיקה.
Shimon his son said: All of my days I was raised among the wise men and I found no good for the body like silence. [Avos 1-17]
Rambam, in his commentary to this mishna, has a lengthy but very
worthwhile discussion about speech which we will summarize below. He
divides speech into five categories.
(1) Obligatory: speech which the Torah requires us to utter. The primary example of this is Torah study.
(2) Praiseworthy: speech which is not commanded by the Torah, but which
fulfills a positive purpose. This would include complimenting others,
praising good people and qualities, and denigrating bad qualities. Also
words -- as well as song -- which inspire, which touch the soul of the
listeners and goad them to become greater people would fall under this
category.
(3) Permissible: speech which relates to our businesses and our basic
needs -- food, clothing etc. One is considered praiseworthy if he
minimizes his speech in this category.
(4) Undesirable: empty talk, that which the listener gains little from.
This would include much of what we hear in the news. The commentators
give such examples as discussing how a person became rich or died (or
both), or how a wall was constructed. Today - who hit a ninth inning
homer, who was traded for whom. Which politician said what and which
politician answered. Most talk we hear is in this category.
(5) Forbidden: that which the Torah explicitly forbids -- cursing, false
testimony, gossip (whether true or false), vulgar language, etc.
It is ELUUUUUUUUUUUUUULLLLLLLLLL!!!! The Nazir, Rav Dovid Cohen would not say a WORD all of Elul. Taanis Dibbur. I don't recommend it for YOU but I DO recommend that you speak LESS. I also recommend that you listen to less Dvarim Bteilim. One example is podcasts. Some are worthwhile listening but most are just endless blabbering about nothing for people with extra time to burn. There are many many other examples of wasted speech.
