In tribute to my late wife Sarah bas Tzvi Yosef a”h
The following words have been penned in tribute to my late wife, Sarah bas Tzvi Yosef a”h, an eishes chayil who all her life embraced the virtue of silence with wisdom
“Shimon, his son, says: ‘All my life I was raised among the Sages, and I found nothing better for the body than silence’ ” (Pirkei Avos 1:17).
The Shimon quoted here is the son of the nasi, Rabban Gamliel, whom he succeeded during the tumultuous era preceding the destruction of the Second Beis Hamikdash. Shimon ben Gamliel’s advice is surprising in that it diverges from the words of the previous sages; he’s not discussing only the need or importance of silence, nor is he sufficing with his observation that a person would do well to learn the art of silence, in the style of the other sagely advice given in these chapters.
Rabban Shimon tells us how he reached this conclusion. It seems that more than he wanted to teach us to hold our tongues, he wanted to focus our attention on the Sages and their silence. Because really, we don’t learn the value of silence from wise men but from fools! It’s through their mindless chatter that we are able to discern the tremendous harm caused by one extraneous word, or by the thoughtless perception of events that distort concepts and realities.
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