Rabbi Shimshon Dovid Pinkus
It is written in the Book of Job (26:7): “(The Almighty) hangs the earth on belimah (emptiness).” The word belimah, translated as “emptiness,” literally means: beli mah — on nothing. From this our Sages teach: “The world exists only thanks to someone who restrains (bolem, a verb derived from belimah) himself during a quarrel, as it is said: ‘hangs the earth on belimah (here—“on self-restraint”)’.”
The Almighty “hangs the world” (that is, makes the world's existence depend) on a person who remains silent during a quarrel. Such a person is the foundation of the entire world's existence.
Here we discover greatness attained in a completely unexpected way: without laboring in Torah and mitzvot, simply by remaining silent during a quarrel. This is like what the Sages said: “Anyone who sat and refrained from sin is rewarded as though he had fulfilled a mitzvah.”
We need to understand the greatness inherent in silence, in holding back words that were already on the tip of the tongue.
We know that angels sing a song. What is the angels' song? “Holy, holy, holy,” and “Blessed is the glory of the L-rd mimkomo (from its place).” However, there is another kind of angel called chashmal (mentioned in Ezekiel's prophecy). The Vilna Gaon explains that this word is made up of two words—chash (to be silent) and mal (from memallel—to speak). As it says in Tractate Chagigah: “Sometimes they are silent, sometimes they speak,” and the Gaon adds that this refers to the chazzan's repetition of the Amidah prayer.
When praising the Almighty, it is essential to attain this perfection of song—speech together with silence. The Amidah prayer recited by the chazzan is a song, and the silence of the other worshippers is also a song. Together, they form a special, wondrous song whose essence is: chash – mal.
There are two ways to sing to the Almighty: there is the melody of “Holy, holy, holy” and “Blessed is the Glory of the L-rd mimkomo (from its place),” and there is the melody of silence.
It follows that silence is more than simply refraining from sin. Silence is, in essence, itself a song.
The account of the prophet Elijah includes a description of the angels' song: “And (the Almighty) said to him: Go out and stand on the mountain before the Creator… and behold, the Almighty passes by, and a mighty wind… the Creator is not in the wind… and after the wind—a noise; the Creator is not in the heart… and after the fire—a voice of gentle stillness” (1 Kings 19:11-12). The culmination of this song is “a voice of gentle stillness,” as it says in Psalms: “Praise to You is silence.” The greatest praise is quiet.
Imagine: if a great Torah scholar enters a yeshiva, everyone lowers their voice and begins to whisper. But if he is the greatest Torah sage, the leader of the generation, everyone simply falls silent, and quiet reigns in the hall!
Silence is the greatest song, greater than the most beautiful song that exists.
And our Sages say: What song sustains the world? “He hangs the earth on belimah (self-restraint)”—when a person knows how to remain silent for the glory of Heaven. When he is ready to burst with the desire to say even one word, to sting someone else, to show that he is more important. Yet he cries out—in silence—for the glory of the Almighty. This is the highest form of greatness!
prepared by Mrs. Leah Shukhman