As soon as we entered the wedding hall, we turned around and left. We didn’t even get past the lobby! The music! Oy! They call that music?
Frighteningly, if you ask someone in his twenties, he won’t know the music was much too loud. He has already been poisoned – and literally deafened! -- by this culture of screaming. A famous rosh yeshiva told us last week that he has developed tinnitus as a result of attending chassanas.
Recently, a legendary baal chessed and baal tzedakah told me that the secret to Shalom Bayis is “shtikah … silence!” Learn silence and you can get through life.
“Shimon [ben Rabban Gamliel] says: all my days I have been raised among the sages and I found nothing better … than silence.” (Avos 1:17)
“A fool when he is silent is considered wise.” (Pesachim 99a)
The Bais Hamikdosh was built in silence.
Around us is the noise of the jungle. The next car can have its windows closed, but the noise from within is so loud that it hurts the ears of those on the outside!
How did Dovid ha Melech become great?
“Sent from his … home, a pariah in the community… Dovid found rich pasture and clear, flowing water for his soul -- which thirsted for Hashem -- in the wilderness to which he fled. There, where no one … saw him, he sought to draw close to G-d…. How beautiful is the wilderness! The vast skies and clouds above, every grain of sand … they all joined Dovid in songs of praise to G-d. No sound or echo is heard of any voice, other than the voice of song.” (Kitov, Book of Our Heritage)
In the cities of Edom, surrounded by screen images, sirens and grinding engines, one is hard pressed to hear the voice of Hashem. The world believes that, when they watch the news, they are seeing truth, but everything they see is sheker.
“[The word of Hashem came to Eliahu ha Novi and] said, ‘Go out of the cave and stand on the mountain before Hashem….” Eliahu then heard a great and powerful wind, an earthquake and a fire. “After the fire came a still, thin voice…. When Eliahu heard this, he wrapped his face in his mantle and … behold, a voice [spoke] to him….” (1 Malachim 19:11ff)
We need silence. “To those who curse me, let my soul be silent, and let my soul be like dust to everyone.” (Shemoneh Esreh)
In this week’s Parsha, Hashem tells Moshe Rabbeinu about the future site of the Bais Hamikdosh, but the word “Yerushalayim" is never mentioned. The kedusha of Yerushalayim is so great that one cannot even utter its name. Rather, it is referred to as “the place that Hashem, your G-d, will choose ….” (Dvarim 12:5)
When we say “Shema,” we cover our eyes. “You heard the voice from the midst of the darkness….” (Dvarim 5:20) “Rabbi Yitzchak said: Bracha is not found except in something that is hidden from the eye.” (Taanis 8b) The original redemption was hidden in the intense darkness of Mitzraim when Am Yisroel were buried to the forty-ninth madreiga of tumah.
The Ultimate Hidden One is Hashem. Because of its intense kedusha, the world of Moshiach is hidden. “Hashem took the light of Moshiach and concealed it from every living eye. In deep darkness, He hid the light.” (Kitov)
Somewhere in the world today, Moshiach is waiting, hidden within deep darkness. When Hashem is ready, he will be revealed. If we listen carefully, we may hear his footsteps, but we must tune out the noise. So, in fact, the deep darkness around us is a sign of hope, an indication that redemption is imminent.
The Gemara tells us how chassidim harishonim would prepare for an hour before davening, daven for an hour, and then remain in contemplative silence for another hour afterward (Brachos 32b). In our frenetic world, we have forgotten this wisdom. We rush from one activity to the next, never pausing to listen for the Divine voice that speaks in whispers.
Somewhere in the world today, Moshiach is waiting, hidden within deep darkness. At the time Hashem chooses, he will be revealed. If we listen carefully, we may hear his footsteps. So, in fact, the deep darkness around us is a sign of hope, an indication that redemption is imminent.
In the quiet of the night we can hear the footsteps of Moshiach. "T'ka b'shofar Gadol …. Sound the great shofar for our freedom," freedom from darkness, freedom from sheker, freedom from internal and external enemies, freedom from meaningless noise. Let us rejoice in the darkness, for it is a sign of the Great Light which is about to burst upon the world!
GLOSSARY
Am Yisroel: The People of Israel
Baal chessed: a person who dispenses kindness
Baal tzedakah: a charitable person
Bais Hamikdosh: The Holy Temple in Jerusalem
Bracha: blessing
Chassana: wedding
Chassidim harishonim: pious Jews in the time of the Mishnah and Gemara
Davening: praying
Dovid Hamelech: King David
Edom: Western culture
Eliahu ha Novi: Elijah the Prophet
Kedusha: sanctity
Madreiga: Degree of
Mitzraim: Ancient Egypt
Moshe Rabbeinu: Moses our Teacher
Parsha: Torah portion
Rosh yeshiva: head of a yeshiva
Shalom Bayis: peace in the home
Sheker: lies
Shofar Gadol: Great Shofar
Shtikah: silence
Tumah: impurity
Yerushalayim: Jerusalem
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