Day 8- 40 Days Of Teshuvah To Yom Kippur

#7 For the sin that we have sinned before You through harsh speech;

Again we are dealing with WORDS that come out of our MOUTH. The sins of the mouth are called LaShon Hara - The Evil Tongue. Harsh speech can deeply wound an individual and cause them to stumble spiritually. To verbally abuse someone is just as much an evil and sin as physical abuse.

Proverbs 15:1 A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger

The Talmud (Jewish Commentary) tells us that the tongue is an instrument so dangerous that it must be kept hidden from view, behind two protective walls (the mouth and teeth) to prevent its misuse. Mikahael Ben Moshe

By Making others feel important, we build them up, as if to say, 'Your existence is necessary". This is life giving and life-affirming. One of the great American Rabbis of the past generation, Rabbi Shlomo Freifeld, was known to have brought a neighbor back to YHWH and Torah observance simply by caring enough to say "good morning'. On the other hand, speech can also be used to destroy. Words like "you're worthless" wipes out a person's self esteem. The Talmud (arachin 15b) explains that negative speech is even worse then a sword since it kills many people, even at a great distance. Mikahael Ben Moshe

A Chasidic tale illustrates the point: A man went about the community telling malicious lies about his Rabbi. Later, he realized the wrong he had done, and began to feel remorse. He went to the Rabbi and begged his forgiveness, saying he would do anything he could to make amends. The Rabbi told the man, "take a feather pillow, cut it open, and scatter the feathers to the winds" The man thought that this was a strange request, but it was a simple enough task, and he did it gladly. When he returned to tell the Rabbi that he had done it, the Rabbi now said, "Now go and gather the feathers. Because you can no more make amends for the damage your words have done than you can recollect the feathers".

James/Ya'akov 1:26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless.

James/Ya'acov 3:3 Indeed, we put bits in horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. 4. Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires.5 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles!6.And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.
7. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind.8. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
James/Ya'akov 3:9 With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. 10. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. 11. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening?

12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh

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Now you might be thinking, I am not guilty of these things therefore it does not apply to me. Here is some insight to why we pray in the plural form of "WE" instead of "I".

"Confessions in Judaism, you will notice, are always in the plural: "We have sinned, we have transgressed," etc. They are always meant to be said by the entire congregation, even by those individuals who feel that they themselves have not been guilty of the sins enumerated.

The reasons for the use of the plural and the recitations of the confessions by the entire congregation are manifold.When one Jew sins, it is as though all Jews have sinned. This is in accordance with the principle that all Jews are responsible for one another. The confessional prayers for the High Holidays are constructed to intensify our feelings of responsibility for one another.

When an individual Jew celebrates, the whole community rejoices; when he weeps, the community shares his grief with him; when he sins, the whole community shares his sin.

The group recitation of the confessional is intended to remind us that the failure of the individual is very often the result of the shortcomings of the society or community in which one lives.

My Jewish Learning - Confessing Our Sins Rabbi Dov P Elkins

This is exactly what Rav Shaul/Paul pointed out in the following scriptures.