Afternoon Lesson September 20, 2023
Transcription is made from simultaneous translation which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio
Lesson on the topic of “On the Merits of Silence.”
1. Rav’s Introduction: (00:26) We’ll continue speaking about it, about why silence is so good and what's in it, that through it we merit all sorts of revelations and degrees and to come closer to the Creator.
Reading Excerpt #5. RABASH, Article No. 292, "One Who Restrains Himself in Strife" (00:55)
2. R. (01:43) Only above rhyme and reason. Meaning and all the thoughts that pass through a person he needs to check and arrange himself such that he just wants one thing, to be close to the Creator and in connection to the Creator. Therefore, there's nothing better than silence as it is written. Where he hangs the earth on nothing. Earth is the desire and he arranges everything in such a way that he stops himself during a time of strife and names his desire and the main thing for him is to agree with what he receives from the Creator because surely by this he comes closer to the Creator and enters with Him, enters into connection with Him and in this way he succeeds to rise above his evil inclination, which always arranges all sorts of thoughts and desires against the rule of the upper Force upon him.
So, he has nothing to enter except for silence, meaning a person feels to what extent his evil inclination is always in conflict with it, the Creator, and then what happens he hangs the earth on nothing, His desire, where as it is written, “The one who is silent during a time of strife,” if he has some kind of desire, thought, qualities which are against the rule of the Creator upon him, he is not satisfied so much with what's happening to him, he stops himself during the time of the strife and by that he subdues himself and judges the whole world to the side of merit. By hanging the earth on nothing, meaning he reaches the silence because he has nothing to say to the Creator and then Creator is right in each moment and each state and each instance and in this way a person comes closer to the Creator, specifically during the time when the Creator awakens in him all sorts of desires and thoughts that are against the rule of the Creator upon him.
3. S. (04:54) Where does a person get the strength to acquire, to restrain himself?
R. From learning, from being in an environment that everyone in this environment thinks in this way and are trying to stabilize themselves against it, that it's the Creator who awakens this fight and it's the Creator who needs to calm down his forces and reach a state that he subdues his head and agrees with the Creator how he rules the world.
S. To bow your head is quietness, is stillness?
R. The subduing is silence, otherwise, how even in our world, that is how it is.
S. Is he able to resist the evil in this world?
R. A person if he's in the desire to come closer to the Creator, then he finds the strength to cope with the evil inclination and the Creator helps him and in this way a person reaches silence.
4. S. (06:16) How in silence can a person clarify anything?
R. Silence means that he goes not against the Creator rather he silences his evil inclination and then he comes closer to the Creator and in this movement he reaches the answer of how to correctly manage himself.
S. What is this path of approaching the Creator? If I'm silent, if no movement moves me it's like being frozen.
R. It's not that a person that is in silence doesn't speak, rather he does speak but he does all sorts of actions in order to agree with the Creator, with how the Creator manages reality.
S. What is he doing with all the negative distance with him, to reveal all these negative feelings and all this garbage?
R. He makes scrutinies about what does the Creator want of him and how does he need to behave accordingly.
S. How does he find out what the Creator wants from him? Let's say he comes from the point that he thinks that the Creator knows what he's doing, he does everything right but inside of the person is poison, venom, all kinds of negative things. How does it clarify what the Creator wants from him?
R. He is silent. It's not just written for no reason that silence is very valuable because he receives this rule upon him that the Creator that arranges everything brings a person to the goal and if he calms his forces, his evil inclination and in this way the Creator advances him.
5. S. (09:06) Does this include all kinds of fears and concerns about myself that are revealed in me? Can I mute them in this way?
R. Yes, of course everything a person feels they of course come directly from the Creator and there's nothing more correct. If a person receives them and continues to work on himself only in order to come closer to the Creator and by that silence the best thing out of everything.
6. S. (09:41) What do I need to do with a person that's offended me during an argument?
R. To show him an example of how much you stop yourself during this time of this fight. Show him an example of how much you're silent and you don't want to enter into this fight because there's nothing worse than this kind of fight. In a fight you show everyone and the Creator to what extent you don't accept the upper rule.
7. S. (10:41) What does it mean to move yourself to the scale of merit?
R. That he does not want to enter into the fights but wants to remain in peace and in wholeness and by this he sentences the whole world to this side of merit, to the side of wholeness.
8. S. (11:27) Is remaining silent a condition for thought and contemplation?
R. Of course, if I'm silent and first of all I need to make a calculation, why am I doing this? Why am I doing this? Limiting myself? Locking myself up, stopping myself. This stopping needs to bring me closer to the Creator because it's not a matter of a person who's jumping me, rather it's the Creator. Then this way He arranges my attitude to life or attitude to friends or to people that are distant. Then I, by being silent, I accept the behavior of the Creator, that He's above everything as something correct and I subdue myself and in this way accept the top of Providence.
9. S.(12:45) Please tell us, the dialogue with yourself is a dialogue with the Creator because everything comes from the Creator?
R. Yes and no, we'll talk about it soon.
S. Please tell us also, can I say inside of myself that I'm giving all of myself to you and do everything you think you need to so that I can learn your laws?
R. It's not enough but to start with it's good.
10. S. (13:37) As soon as I start to try to be silent and hear the Creator's desire in my heart, then it's impossible to be without the past in the future. How can I hear what the Creator wants to say in my heart?
R. Specifically by agreeing with the Creator, I'm ready to accept His Providence and behavior upon us and silence, and we start to hear His voice. We'll still talk about it.
11. S. (14:56) How do I turn silence into an action of unity, uniting?
R. First of all we start with silence and then gradually we reach agreement and from agreement we reach connection.
12. S. (12:25) I'm being bombarded by thoughts because they maybe, if I focus on dissemination I listen to my materials. Can this help in the future to turn my thoughts from negative to positive if you just enter the material of Rabash and the writings of Rabash and so on?
R. Yes, that is salvation and this is your education. Good job.
13. S. (16:16) How does a single individual prayer affect the whole world?
R. It influences as much as he is going in the degrees of greater and greater faith and then he has greater influence.
S. How is the general world defined in Judaism?
R. This is the goal that we reach in the end that everyone understands that there is no other reality except reaching peace and Shalom, peace is from the word Shalmut, wholeness and that's what we all need to reach.
S. Are we supposed to say I am a Jew even though I wasn't born and raised in this environment?
R. Jewish is not a nationality. It's from the word Yehud, unity, and therefore whoever aspires to connection or unity with others he is called Jewish. There is no such nation, the Jewish nation. This came out recently but in truth whoever wants to reach connection with others is called Jewish. It doesn't matter where he is born and where his parents are from, rather if he ascribes himself to the connection with everyone.
S. I think the question was can I define myself as a Jew towards the Creator?
R. You engage in connection with everyone so you, according to your actions, are called Jewish.
14. S. (18:53) Should we try to discern silence in my heart and silence towards the goal?
R. This will come by itself gradually. Soon you will see in the upcoming months, half a year will form to such an extent the system of connections between us that all of this will be clear from inside of us from within our heart.
15. S. (19:39) If a person is drawn to some material pleasures, should he be quiet, should he agree with the Creator to perform some action, what should he do?
R. If I feel myself that I'm distancing from the purpose of creation which is to attain the connection with everyone, then I must pray to the Creator ask of Him to give me strength and understanding that I will overcome my evil inclination, that the evil inclination is called that evil force that distances and disturbs between us and in this way ultimately we reach the purpose of life and everyone will be connecting “as one man in one heart.”
S. I feel that I'm being distanced from the ten, so I should be silent, should I pray and demand?
R. Pray, demand, ask, cry, those sorts of actions, corporeal, spiritual, in order to come closer to the friends and with them to be “as one man in one heart.”
16. S. (21:12) How can we see the difference between silence and indifference and apathy and a lack of action in the ten?
R. We need to fight, fight for connection and to be in a war with our evil inclination to the extent that we won't have a free moment.
17. S. (22:04) What's the difference between an argument and a disagreement?
R. Dispute is when we want to clarify important things, essential things and we are interested in it but a fight is when each one out of his ego, he wants to raise himself above the other. In a dispute it's not important for me who was right, or my friend with whom I'm in a dispute, rather what's important for me is to clarify the truth. Therefore I'm not in a fight with him, I'm in a scrutiny with him and that scrutiny it's not important who's right and who's not, the main thing is that we clarify the truth.
18. S. (23:26) How do I explain the truth? How do I clarify the truth when there are disputes between us? I have to be silent and if my opinion is different from others if I need to be quiet then how can we perform this discernment?
R. No, you don't need to close your mouth but rather you need to clarify if you are in a fight or in a scrutiny. In a scrutiny what's important is the truth. Whereas, in a fight what's important for you is to be right and we need to clarify these things in a way that's meticulous and nice.
S. Should I be certain that if I say something it doesn't offend anyone?
R. It's not important If you truly want to clarify the truth then you act in such a way that you don't harm who was with you in these scrutinies but the opposite, show him or her to what extent it's important for you to scrutinize the truth and it doesn't matter who the truth is with, with you or with the other person.
19. S. (25:24) I understood that I need to be quiet during a dispute. I need to mute my evil inclination. How do I fight my criticism and anger so that these two types of silence will be as one?
R. You need to first of all speak with yourself and clarify with yourself, are you truly going to clarify the truth. Only in this condition do you condition the dialogue between you and let's say that friend. That's it,the main thing for you is to reach the truth. Truth is the highest thing and it doesn't matter who's right or not, the main thing is to clarify the truth. By truth and don't sell it.
S. Lately we've been studying the concept of dispute and slander and now we're learning silence. Is there any connection in the purpose of correction?
R. We're always in all sorts of states of silence, fights, disputes and clarification between them and we always need to clarify it all towards the goal of creation. That in each and every moment in my reality I direct it exactly towards the goal.
20. S. (27:20) Can we take our ten, the whole Bnei Baruch and the whole world with us to the Creator in our heart in silence? Is this feeling true?
R. Yes, of course, yes, there's nothing stronger than silence because silence includes in it both what's against and in favor of what's with the Creator, what's not exactly with the Creator. All of the things, all the desires and the thoughts we include in that silence and we want to clarify it in the connection with the Creator as it is written, “I did not find anything in life that's better than silence.”
21. S. (28:44) How to show an interest in silence so that you don't show the other side that you're indifferent but they understand that you're being silent for a reason?
R. Silent, silence can be very very noisy, thundering, so we shouldn't think that in silence I'm shutting myself up but I'm showing the other that I'm in a certain opinion but since my way is peace or is greater scrutiny, in the meantime I'm quiet, meaning that silence, this brings a certain clear opinion that's understood and it could be as truth but nonetheless it's silence.
S. Another thing you said before that in a dispute you have to be quiet and when we have some differences we have to clarify the truth. What does it mean to clarify the truth if we're in different views?
R. To clarify the dispute to end the dispute, such actions and relations and clarifications that you connect and after your connection, the connection between you, you reach one opinion or it could be not so, we see in the Talmud how all of the stages were in different spiritual degrees, to what extent they were in a dispute between them and how the entire Torah was built upon the scrutiny of the dispute.
S. Clarifying the difference, is there any end to this or do we have to be indifferent in our views?
R. Ultimately we need to reach clarifying the dispute in each connection of the dispute. It's in order to clarify the upward opinion, the Creator and if the Creator is revealed from the dispute it's a sign we have reached the right solution; end of the dispute.
S. There's no difference on the other side if we're talking about the Creator?
R. No, if we're talking about the right dispute, the true one, for the sake of heaven as it is called, then we will need to learn how we do it for the sake of heaven. Clarify the opinion of the upper.
22. S. (32:00) The question is if we're clarifying our different views then we can go for this and if we have a dispute then we have to stop ourselves. This relates to the fight and they don't understand the clarification of truth, so what's the advice here?
R. There's nothing to do about it. We need to bring it to a state and to a level, the two of them will be interested in and clarify the truth, otherwise there's no end to it but then it's worthwhile to move away from that dispute, then it's called a dispute.
S. If we can't clarify because it's not a dispute?
R. I don't want to hear more. I gave you the discernment so don't start, okay, that's it. This is exactly the example where it is written that a person stops himself during a time of fight.
23. S. (33:20) The thoughts each time are ruling us each time the ego is stronger both in the ten and in this environment and the whole ten will go through the states. How do we strengthen, how do we get stronger and rule over the ego?
R. How to strengthen and how to control the ego only through us clarifying the reason for the dispute. We calm ourselves down and we don't get closer to a fight. A dispute is not a fight. It's like an example of Shimei and Gilel. We can be in disagreement. I don't agree with him or we disagree as scientists. We disagree with one another. This is a dispute to clarify the truth. The truth in the meantime doesn't belong to anyone on any side of this disagreement between the sides and then they're searching for facts so that through clarifying the facts, they can come to a conclusion of this disagreement and then what's important is not who's right or who is wrong. Then we get to the truth but truth, Emet, is one of the highest names of the Creator, one of the highest names. If we unite with the Creator, if we want to be with Him in unity and Oneness, then we reveal what's called Emet, truth. On the same level, it's unimportant to us who's right and who's wrong. What's important is that we achieve the state in which we have contact with one another and with the Creator all together.
24. S. (35:50) In silence there's often this thing like manipulation of silence and of close people that I don't speak with you. How through the silence do we not turn to this means of ignoring something?
R. This is not what we're talking about completely. We are talking about clarifying between the people who want to attain the truth. We shouldn't be scared of saying something that would be unpleasant to others. I'm not talking about being harsh. Here we need to understand precisely what we're talking about. The Torah talks about people who want to clarify between them their relationship between them and with the Creator in order to attain the goal of creation. This is what's meant by the word Machloket or dispute and not that we're clarifying in the family or with someone else, none of this is taken into account by the Torah.
S. Let's say for example yesterday I was silent but the friend can see it in a way that I'm ignoring him?
R. You have to understand this and take this into account.
25. S. (37:45) I don't understand well what's the meaning of Machloket. That if we're not integrated with him is nothing of value. Can you explain it to me again?
R. This means to slow down, to break, to mute, to bring something to halt or make something still, if someone stops themselves it says, “not to enter an empty disagreement.”
26. S. (38:55) Singing songs together or reading the sources together, are these actions can they be considered this common silence?
R. Yes.
27. S. (39:09) After a fight when I've done something bad, is it correct to ask for forgiveness from a friend, or do I simply need to educate myself and not do it again?
R. To educate yourself.
28. S. (39:40) We learned that truth is an absolute, that we reach after correction then we reveal it to an extent that we were in a lie. What does it mean that I come to clarify the truth? What needs to be in it for us to truly clarify the truth and not just everyone comes with their own lie and nothing comes out of it?
R. We have to be, all in all, try to be patient and always be in clarifications, discernments with ourselves, inside the group, and to understand for us, the main thing is for us to clarify the truth.
29. S. (40:45) How during silence do we not get distracted with other thoughts but for the silence to be really beneficial?
R. To immerse yourself in the problem, to get deeper in the problem.
30. S. (41:10) I don't quite understand, what do you intend when you say we need to clarify the truth between us, what truth are we talking about exactly?
R. One of the sides towards the correction.
Excerpt #6. (41:40) Maimonides, Mishneh Torah- One should keep mostly silent.
31. S. (43:11) Silence allows me to see the force that comes, is it even stronger than the word that's being spoken?
R. More than that, it said that it equals twice as much, if a word is worth $1 then silence costs $2. (Excerpt #11)
32. S. (44:01) The Creator is demonstrating silence through people and situations and I feel bad that there is this silence somewhere, what quality in me does the Creator want to correct in this way?
R. He wants you to find the correct connection with him. What you're lacking is talking to the Creator?
S. I simply feel that sometimes words can hurt and at the same time a different situation, silence can hurt. It's very hard for me to accept silence as something positive in certain situations, so I'm trying to understand what does the Creator want of me? What is He showing me by this?
R. You have to talk with Him. You have to talk with the Creator, He's ready.
33. S. (45:26) I need to pay attention to my silence. It could be accepted as ignoring, so I've got those tasks when I separate it and turn to the Creator and then I see the reason behind these things and that I'm not quiet. Can I turn to the friend?
R. Of course you can, that's why you have friends so that you can talk, laugh and cry.
34. S. (46:35) How can we make such a correction that we will use silence such that my speech with others will be as a means to connect them with the Creator?
R. This we need to learn. We need to learn, but this is a good thing.
35. S. (46:56) It's written in the excerpt, that the words of Torah and the words of wisdom let one's words be few and their matters many. What does it mean?
R. Everything depends on how balanced a person is. When he asks, demands this needs to bring him to balance.
36. S. (47:41) When the inner silence is deeper one feels a sense of peace, for everything that is outside and also when counting everything as if everything is the Creator's actions is only for our good. Is this, the true reality in this, precisely where we ask Him to serve humbly?
R. Start it in this way and you will advance in the right way.
37. S. (48:37) In the excerpt it's written in the words of wisdom he needs to be silent except for in words of wisdom or in one's bodily matters, so not just in words but in all our actions as well?
R. Yes, yes.
S. These words are what we form, is that how it turns out?
R. Yes.
38. S. (49:13) This excerpt talks about the words of Torah and wisdom that they'll be few and there let their words be few and there matters many. In all the lessons that were in, basically we were not silent, we're constantly clarifying something. It turns out that what this excerpt is doing is more that we were supposed to so things are not quite in line with silence?
R. Try to engage yourself and silence and you will see how much more you profit than if you talk. In general, it's like this.
S. Contradiction here?
R. There's no contradiction.
39. S. (50:39) In order to clarify the truth we need to take into account a certain amount of concealment since it's not known to us?
R. No, we clarify the truth not from our qualities, we clarify the truth through correct behavior. This is what we need to learn in the Torah.
40. S. (51:31) It's written that we need to speak only about things that are necessary for one's bodily life, what are these things in our work?
R. We'll talk about this more and then you'll understand.
41. S. (52:47) About the words let words be few and matters many, at one time we already did this scrutiny inside and we quietened ourselves down. What matters are we talking about there?
R. When we help each other to get closer to the goal of creation, closer and closer to the general connection inside of which we are hoping to reveal the Creator.
42. S. (53:25) Regarding the Congress you're always saying there's an opportunity, there's an opportunity, so how can I hug everyone in this Congress?
R. In your heart, open your heart so that everyone enters your heart.
S. I don't know if you need to help me.
R. I'll help you. We'll open your heart and will enter it. I'm expecting you, waiting for you to come.
43. S. (54:42) How do we combine this silence with speaking with the Creator?
R. We're speaking with the Creator from the heart and this silence is when we don't open our mouth, that is it.
S. In silence, speaking with the Creator is the same thing?
R. Yes.
44. S. (55:11) How can we know if we're in the truth?
R. When we come to the truth you'll feel that you are. In the meantime we're on the way. I hope at the Congress we will come to a certain degree.
45. S. (55:58) There are such periods of yearning, let's say during Yom Kippur. In silence is there a different value during such days?
R. If we're being silent then the question is the following: Do I want to come to a state where I hear what my heart speaks about, what my friends heart speaks about? What does the Creator want to say to me? What is this quietness? What do I want to hear through quietness, the silence? Then in this way, we can get closer to each other. I already spoke about this when Rabash came to us, when we took a place where we sat on the first floor. He used to sit down and say, “Let's be quiet today, let's be silent.” Sometimes it was more than an hour, we used to sit, someone would close his eyes, someone was sitting with open eyes but everyone was silent and this was very powerful.
S. During the Congress we're preparing these moments of silence is this correct?
R. Correct but not one moment but five minutes we’ll say.
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