זוהר ויקרא — דף מו ע”ב

There is yet another righteous man who perishes in his righteousness: when the wicked are many in the world and judgment hangs, the righteous man perishes in his righteousness, he is caught in their sin — like Abba, who was caught in the sins of the people of his town, who were all insolent toward him, and he never warned them nor ever shamed them, and he restrained our hands from quarreling with the wicked, and he would say to us (Psalms 37), "Of David. Fret not because of evildoers, be not envious of the workers of iniquity." My father said: surely the Holy One, blessed be He, punished me for this, for I had the power to rebuke them by my own hand and did not do so, and I did not shame them either in secret or openly.<br />
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Another son opened further and said (Genesis 2), "and the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground," etc. "And the Lord God formed" — with two yuds, for two inclinations, the good inclination and the evil inclination, one corresponding to water and one to fire. "The Lord God" — the full Name. "Man" — includes male and female. "Dust from the ground" — this is the dust of the holy land, from which he was created, which is the site of the Temple.<br />
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"And He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life" — this is the holy soul that is drawn from that life above. "And man became a living being": man was included in the holy soul, from the supernal living one that the earth brought forth, as it is written (ibid. 1), "let the earth bring forth a living being" — the breath of that supernal living one.<br />
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It is written, "let the earth bring forth a living being" — the breath of that supernal living one; and since this living being is holy and supernal, when the holy land draws it into itself and it becomes included within her, then it is called "neshama" (soul).<br />
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And come and see: whenever a person walks in the way of truth, and his mouth and tongue speak holy words, in prayer and in Torah, this soul cleaves to him, he is beloved of his Master, how many guardians guard him from every side, he is marked for good above and below, and the holy Shechinah rests upon him. And it is she who ascends above and speaks before the holy King, and enters through all the gates, and none can stay her hand. Therefore she is called "the speaking spirit," for to all other souls it is not permitted to speak before the King, except to this one.<br />
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And when he strays from his ways, and his lips and his tongue speak evil words, the Shechinah departs from him, and the holy soul passes from him and no longer cleaves to him. And from the side of the evil and mighty serpent a spirit awakens that roams and devours in the world, for it rests only where supernal holiness has departed. And those words ascend to the place of the evil serpent, for everything returns to its place. And at the moment they ascend, all proclaim and say: "depart from the surroundings of the evil word of so-and-so! Clear the way for the mighty serpent!"<br />
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And that soul ascends in shame and in the distress of all, and it is no longer given a place to speak as before, and then the serpent arrives. And when that evil word ascends by known paths and rests before the mighty serpent, how many spirits awaken in the world, and a spirit descends from that side, and finds that that person aroused it with an evil word; and behold, the holy speaking spirit has departed from him; then it rests upon him and defiles him, and then he is shut, and his flesh is blemished in the appearance of his face in every way. And therefore it is written, "he who guards his mouth and his tongue guards his soul from troubles" — his soul, surely: the one that used to speak becomes mute because of the evil word. And just as a person's punishment comes for that evil word, so his punishment comes for a good word that came into his hand and he could have spoken and did not speak, because he thereby blemished that speaking spirit, which is fitted to speak above and to speak below, and all of it in holiness. How much more so if the people walk in a crooked way, and he could speak to them and rebuke them, and he is silent and does not speak, as we have said, as it is written, "I became dumb with silence, I held my peace even from good, and my pain was stirred."<br />
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"Was stirred" — by plagues of impurity. And this is what King David said, struck by this and turning away from it, as it is written (Psalms 87), "turn to me and be gracious to me." What is "turn to me"? As it is said (Numbers 12), "and Aaron turned." Rabbi Chiya and Rabbi Yossei came down and kissed him. They joined together for the whole of that way. Rabbi Chiya read over them (Proverbs 4), "but the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines ever more brightly until the full day." "When a plague of leprosy shall be in a man, he shall be brought to the priest." Rabbi Yossei said: the companions had occupied themselves with this plague in all its shades, and the priest knew by them to discern the pure from the impure; he knew to recognize those that were sufferings of love, or those that were found in one whom his Master had despised and distanced, for according to a man's ways a plague comes upon the world.<br />