A major theme in this week’s parsha is silence. There is endless talking, but it is – as Simon and Garfunkel would have it – “people talking without speaking.” There is an elephant in the room: What happened on the fateful day that Joseph disappeared? Why did Jacob not look for him, and why did Joseph not let his father know that he was alive and well? These questions are avoided and ignored. What happens when this silence “like a cancer grows”? Rabbi Dov Linzer explains more.