יום ד Date: 5 Nisan, 5775 (3/25/15) – Kesuvos#51 {Tani}

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MEANINGFUL SILENCE

[51b middle] Shmuel’s father heard an argument from Rav (to which he had a valid response), and he chose to remain silent. Rav cited the verse, [Iyov 29:9] “Ministers would withhold their words, and place their hands to their mouths.”

Prac-T-cal Tidbits: All too often, people are way too quick to respond emotionally. Many times, it is much wiser to choose to hold back and remain silent. Pirkei Avos explains, “A fence for wisdom is silence.” Words have ways of biting our tongues back, while causing stress in the moment and creating needs to apologize in the future. “There is no better trait than silence,” and the GM’ Megillah [18a] exclaims, “A word is worth one coin, but silence is worth two.”