Yesterday I listened to a podcast (Speaking of Faith) about Jewish scholar and social activist Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972). One sentence struck me: “Words create worlds”. The quote appears in the introduction (by his daughter) of a book of Heschel’s essays. Here it is in context (via languagehat.com):
Words, he often wrote, are themselves sacred, God’s tool for creating the universe, and our tools for bringing holiness - or evil - into the world. He used to remind us that the Holocaust did not begin with the building of crematoria, and Hitler did not come to power with tanks and guns; it all began with uttering evil words, with defamation, with language and propaganda. Words create worlds, he used to tell me when I was a child. They must be used very carefully. Some words, once having been uttered, gain eternity and can never be withdrawn. The Book of Proverbs reminds us, he wrote, that death and life are in the power of the tongue.
The reference from Proverbs is 18:21. But hear also Proverbs 15:24: “The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.”
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