About the following matter every person must be in great pain: How have all the laws of the prohibitions which are dependent on the mouth been forgotten? Examples of this are the prohibition against idle speech which have not only become “permitted”, but have even become a sign of sophistication, as people look up to him as one who knows the news of what happens in the world. When a person knows how to make a lot of jokes and how to make people happy with friendly banter, they will praise him to the rooftops as being a “Badchan” (professional entertainer) and they will come to him every day to waster the time by listening to the empty things of the world. When the news is finished and they are left with nothing to discuss, they think and search for other topics of discussion, whether it be more empty things or forbidden speech as with abundance of words iniquity will not stop. Woe to us when the day of judgment will arrive, as instead of worrying about the usage of the precious time, they pass the time with idle speech.
How good and pleasant it would be if when they have spare time they would gather together in the house of a local wise man or at least someone who knows how to learn, so that they can hear words of Torah either in writing or by heart, as the words of a wise man are important and find favor in the eyes of Hashem and man.
