First Beracha of the Amida (אבות) – Part 4 of 5 – Silence
How can we simple human beings give praise to the Master of the World? There is a certain absurdity to the notion that I can offer words of admiration to God. And yet, the basic structure of the Amida begins with the three blessings of שבח – praise1.
Bavli Megila 18a
Rabba bar bar Channa said in the name of Rebbi Yochanan: One who praises the Holy Blessed One too much will be uprooted from the world…
Rebbi Yehuda from the village of Guvraya and some say from the village of Gibor Chayyil: To you silence is praise – silence is the panacea. When Rav Dimi came, he said: They say in Israel, “A word is worth a sela, silence is worth two sela.”
This passage reminds us of the power of silence. There are many settings where people can benefit from the skill of sitting in quiet. Learning to listen is not a simple task, but it is important throughout our lives. This is true in a shivva house2, when meeting with friends for a cup of coffee, and in cultivating a sense of spiritual patience before God.
Prayer is hard, and we are not trained to work hard at davening. People are often told that, if you just say the words enough times, eventually something will happen. If you are lucky, you may have encountered a teacher who brought tefilla alive with joy, deeper explanation, meditation, intention, clapping, dancing or a guitar. Learning the cadence and rhythm of davening is important. Working on a reciprocal relationship with a being outside of ourselves is much harder and more essential.
The Talmud tells a story of a Rabbi who tried to use too many words:
Bavli Masechet Megillah, page 25a
A certain person went down (to lead the prayers) before Rebbi Chanina, he said: The Lord, the great, the mighty and the awesome, the powerful, the strong and the valiant.
Rebbi Chanina said to him: Have you completed the praise of your Master? Now, these three (praises) if Moshe had not written them in the Torah, and the men of the great assembly had not established them, we could not say them. And you said all of these? It is like a man who has thousands upon thousands of coins of gold and they praised him with one thousand coins of silver. Is this not disrespectful of him?
The person leading the prayers for Rebbi Chanina is expressing a human desire to praise God. When really feeling that connection there can be a natural out-pouring of more and more praise. Rebbi Chanina comes to teach us that divine praise must be bound or it will ultimately be endless.
The rabbis here again return to those three central adjectives of God – הַגָּדֹל הַגִּבֹּר וְהַנּוֹרָא, Great Mighty and Awesome – and understood that Moshe gave us a gift. Without the ‘permission’ granted from Moshe to recite these words, we could not stand before God and offer praise.