If a word is worth a coin,
Silence is worth two.
When tragedy strikes,
Especially true.
Aharon’s silence
When losing his sons
May have seemed stoic;
But at the height of his grief,
It was heroic.
Moshe said, “My brother,
I was told at Sinai
By G-d, that He would sanctify
His House, through one great,
That is why
I thought it would’ve been
You or I.
Nadav and Avihu’s fire
Was pure and zealous,
It consumed them;
For they were greater than us!
Aharon seeing it G-d’s will,
His sons were gone,
Stilled his weeping
To inaugurate
Hashem’s Mishkan.
Moshe asked Hashem,
In the Agadah,
To see the reward
Of Rabbi Akiva.
He saw Akiva,
Whose brilliance
Still lights the study halls.
His flesh weighed out
In the market place stalls.
Moshe cried, “Such Torah!
“Such reward!”
He is silenced,
It is decreed by the L-rd.
“VaYidom,” “was silent,”
Is said once more.
When Yehoshua
Leads Israel in war.
He commands:
“Sun, halt in Giv’on,
And moon in the Valley
Of Ayalon!”
Just as the sun stops
To give Hashem praise,
It suspended its mission,
Halted its ways.
Showing Israel’s victory
Was by G-d’s will.
The sun was silent,
That day it stood still.
The greatest king, David,
Silenced his soul.
Through his life’s highs and lows,
Equanimity his goal.
Tzadikim, and all people,
Endure trouble and strife.
Axiomatic, our frailty,
Transitory, our life.
In silence we transform
Our suffering
Into affirmation of time.
Continuing
Speech signifies
Our power to be silent,
Which brings special closeness
With the infinite.
Like Aharon and David,
May we learn to be still.
Learn the power of silence,
The verdict, G-d’s will.
May HaKadosh Baruch Hu
Strengthen us,
For in Him, is no wrong.
May He bring us from silence
To times of glad song.
By Sharon Marcus