“Silence”

Dear members and friends,

Like many people these days, I am surrounded by various technological devices and screens that help with many aspects of our lives. Of course, they also compete for our attention, and if we’re not careful, they can distract us, sometimes to a point at which we’re never silent. The Mishna (Avot 1:17) quotes Rabban Gamliel’s son, Shimon, who said: “All my life I have been raised among the wise, and I have found nothing better for the body than silence.” Also, in the Gemara (Berachot 17a): Mar, the son of Rabina, on concluding his prayer added the following, which we say to this day: “My God, keep my tongue from evil and my lips from speaking guile. May my soul be silent to them that curse me and may my soul be as the dust to all.”

It’s true that Shabbat supposes to give us that break we need, but do we take enough advantage of it? This year, I decided to participate in an ecumenical silent retreat in the mountains of Colorado, at St. Benedict’s Monastery in Snowmass. After four days, 2,100 miles in the car, a hurricane, and a snow blizzard, I arrived on Friday, Nov. 13. After a short introduction, we entered the “grand silence.” For the next eight days there was no speaking or eye contact with the other participants until the following Friday. Like Dorothy and her friends, I traveled far to see the Wizard, which is really our inner voice.

Going to the mountains where there is no cellular reception, where all the screens that normally surround us now lay lifeless, and where there is no human to talk to, we are forced to face ourselves and channel a conversation with God. We can finally hear and recognize the voices we don’t normally hear. At once, silence becomes the conversation.

It makes sense. God, who created the world with words and gave humanity its unique ability of speech, wants us to learn how to use words and use them wisely. After all, another wise proverb tells us that if a word spoken in the right time is worth a coin, silence in the right time is worth two. Surely, we can all improve our skills in this area. Silence challenges us to let go of the constant need to know and to be in control. Silence is an opportunity to practice the notion that ultimately we are not in total control.

Just before entering the “grand silence,” we learned about the massacres in Paris, but for a week, we had no way to follow the story. I was torn. Is finding a way to listen to the news more important than listening to silence? My conclusion was that it’s essential to take these breaks and to be silent. Sometime it’s the only way to process in our minds this kind of barbarism. It’s important to be silent and to free ourselves from distractions, so we can think, so we can act.  Sometimes we need to be silent to let our actions speak louder.

May God bless us with peace soon in our days and everlasting thanksgiving,

—Rabbi Gadi Capela