Silence: The power of quiet before fate and the mysteries of the soul

Source: Formative silences: from Aaron to Esther

Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, each took his fire pan, put fire in them, and laid incense upon it. They offered strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. And fire came forth from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. Moses said to Aaron: This is what the Lord spoke, saying, 'Through those near to Me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.' And Aaron was silent.

"Esther did not reveal her origins" (Esther 2:20): This teaches that she adopted silence for herself, like her ancestor Rachel who adopted the practice of silence; all the greatest of her descendants stood in silence. Rachel adopted the practice of silence: she saw her wedding gifts in the hands of her sister, and remained silent. Benjamin her son adopted silence: know that his stone in the breastplate was the jasper (yashfeh), meaning he knew of the sale of Joseph and remained silent. Yashfeh — he has a mouth (yesh peh) and is silent. Saul, her descendant (1 Samuel 10:16): "but concerning the matter of the kingship, he did not tell him." Esther — "Esther did not reveal her origins or her people."

(Leviticus 10:3; Esther Rabbah 6:12; Image: "The Punishment of Nadab and Abihu", James Tissot, 1896)

Explanation: The dynasty of silence of Rachel and her children

The verses and midrashim set several momentous biblical silences before us. Aaron is silent at the sight of his dead sons during one of the most significant moments in Israel's history: the dedication of the Tabernacle, a home of worship for the God of Israel. Rachel remained silent and did not reveal that Leah stood beneath Jacob's wedding canopy instead of her; Joseph does not reveal to his father what his brothers did to him; King Saul does not disclose to his uncle that he had been anointed king of Israel just moments earlier; Esther keeps silent and does not reveal that she belongs to the Jewish people. Aside from Aaron, all of these figures are descendants of Rachel, from the tribes of Joseph and Benjamin.

Perspective: Different shades of silence: between self-effacement and respect

Not all silences are alike. Aaron is silent, and his silence expresses self-effacement before God, or perhaps protest; Rachel remains silent so as not to humiliate her sister, as does Joseph, who does not want to shame his brothers. Saul acts with modesty and does not tell his family he was anointed king, perhaps also out of fear of mockery and disbelief on their part; and Esther keeps silent at Mordecai's command and does not disclose her origins for political reasons, out of fear. The midrash does not hint at whether these silences were positive or negative, right or wrong—that is beside the point. The midrash gathered the silences of Rachel and her descendants to evoke the Rachel whom the prophet Jeremiah (chapter 31) describes: Rachel standing in Ramah of Benjamin (or Ramah of Ephraim, according to other views), weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted. Rachel only weeps; she does not speak, she does not even pray, she only weeps. The primacy among the Jewish people was taken by Leah's sons, led by the tribe of Judah, yet Rachel is remembered in Jewish history as the one who made room for her sister Leah through her silence, and through her weeping saved her children.

Going Deeper: Halakhic silence: honor and awe tested by fate

Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Rebels 6:7:

"How far does honoring one's father and mother extend? Even if they took a pouch of his gold coins and threw it before him into the sea, he must not shame them, nor show distress before them, nor become angry with them; rather, he must accept the decree of the Scripture and be silent. And how far does reverence for them extend? Even if he were wearing fine garments and sitting at the head before the public, and his father and mother came and tore his garments, struck him on the head, and spat in his face, he must not shame them; rather, he must be silent and revere and fear the King of kings of kings, who commanded him thus."

This halakhic silence is the silence of Aaron and Joseph, and the silence of Rachel and Esther. It is silence within the family, a silence of humility before fate, and a silence of respect in the face of injustice. Just as before God, so too before one's parents, a person must stand in silence and accept their lot. This is not about accepting the verdict in the sense of resignation to fate and an understanding that this is how things ought to be; rather, even when there are good reasons for anger and protest, and even when we do not accept the verdict, one must still stand in silence—in order to honor and revere, not necessarily to concede.

Culture: A mute Synagoga: the power of silence in Western culture

These two figures are Ecclesia and Synagoga. The one on the left represents the synagogue, Judaism: her eyes are blindfolded, her head is covered, her book is slipping, and the staff in her hand is broken. The other is the proud Church, casting her gaze toward the horizon, her royal staff intact and held high. Judaism is mute, lost; Christianity is strong and dominant. Like Rachel standing in Ramah, her voice silenced and only her weeping heard, so too is Synagoga, with no words in her mouth and her book slipping away; yet both were answered in the end, and their children return to their borders. Christianity has also had a change of heart and no longer portrays Synagoga as wretched and weak, even in sculpture. In Pennsylvania, a new statue of the two was erected, this time presenting them as equals, with respect (photo from Wikipedia, entry 'Ecclesia and Synagoga').