The Value of Silence

In a world fraught with background noise, Jews are told to stay silent. In a world filled with bright lights, Jews must focus on their light within. When the world obsesses over materialism, we are only meant to turn to God. When a friend is suffering, we are only meant to listen. 

God imparted the value of silence on the Jewish people the first time they encountered Him as a nation: Matan Torah. The Torah was given to Bnei Yisrael in the desert, a desolate place, distant from civilization. The desert is silent; there would be no ambient noise or distracting voices. Bene Yisrael would focus only on the word of God. 

To hear the voice of God, we must listen to the silence. Eliyahu HaNavi did not encounter God in an earthquake or fire but rather in the kol demamah dakah, “the sound of slender silence.” Rabbi Sacks articulated this as “the sound you can only hear if you are listening.” 

The Breslov Hassidim adapted the value of silence to their spiritual growth as they popularized the practice of Hitbodedut: a physical self-seclusion for Jewish meditation. This way, they would be able to build a close relationship with God, through escaping the noise and connecting with the silence of nature. 

The pinnacle of our daily prayers and our most profound prayer is the Amidah, the “silent prayer.” The biblical source for this prayer is Chana, praying for a son: “She spoke in her heart. Her lips moved but her voice was not heard.” We model our prayers after her perhaps because the point of our prayer is not our voices, but our kavana, our intention behind our voices.

Our Sages constantly urged the importance of silence. Raban Shimon Ben Gamliel declared: “I have found nothing better for a person than silence.” Silence, they repeated, is “a fence to wisdom.” King Shlomo eloquently expressed: “Intelligent, if he seals his lips.”

We must ask ourselves: Have we truly remained silent when a friend desperately needed to talk? Have we been focusing on just listening or were we planning what we should say next? When we pray, do we mentally prepare to manifest kavana from within, or are we just meaninglessly uttering the words?

Sometimes, our voices are not what’s important. Every now and then we must escape the cacophony of noise and cultivate that desert mindset. We must tap into the kol demamah dakah, whispering through nature and our souls.

 Melachim 1, 19:9-12

 Shemuel 1, 1:13

 Mishna Avot 1:17

 Mishna Avot 3:13

 Mishlei 17:28