Middat Shtikah/Silence: Listen to Creation

Hear, O Israel! יהוה is our God, יהוה alone.

“The Lord said to Aaron: Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. He went, and he met him at the mountain of God and he kissed him” (Exodus 4:27). “The Lord said to Aaron: Go into the wilderness to meet Moses” – that is what is written: “God thunders marvelously with His voice” (Job 37:5)... Another interpretation: “God thunders marvelously with His voice” – Rabbi Levi said: Three sounds carry from one end of the world to the other, and creatures are between them and do not hear anything, and these are they: The day, the rains, and the soul at the moment that it leaves the body. The day, from where is it derived? Rabbi Yehuda bar Rabbi Ilai said: This is the star that moves stealthily in the heavens, but is actually like a saw [variant reading, like a nail] that cuts into wood. The rains, from where is it derived? It is as it is stated: “Depth calls to depth at the sound of your watercourses” (Psalms 42:8). How so? There is a tree whose roots descend twenty cubits, another [whose roots descend] thirty [cubits], another fifty, and some descend only three handbreadths. If the rains from above irrigate [to a depth of] only three handbreadths, those [whose roots descend] fifty cubits will die. If those of fifty cubits are irrigated, it will destroy those of three handbreadths. Rather, the upper depth calls to the lower depth and says to it: ‘Ascend, and I will descend.’ And the lower says to it: ‘Descend and I will ascend.’ The upper descends and irrigates those of three handbreadths, and the lower ascends and irrigates those of fifty cubits. Come and see how far it is between these and those and they call to each other, and people are in the middle but do not hear. That is: “God thunders marvelously with His voice.” The soul, at the moment that it leaves the body [also makes a very loud sound], and the people sitting with him do not hear. That is: “God thunders marvelously with His voice.” Rabbi Reuven said: When the Holy One blessed be He said to Moses in Midyan: “Go, return to Egypt” (Exodus 4:19), the speech was divided into two voices and assumed two forms. Moses heard in Midyan: “Go, return to Egypt,” and Aaron heard: “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses” (Exodus 4:27). That is: “God thunders marvelously with His voice.”

The voices of five (objects of creation) go from one end of the world to the other, and their voices are inaudible. When people cut down the wood of the tree which yields fruit, its cry goes from one end of the world to the other, and the voice is inaudible. When the serpent sloughs off its skin, its cry goes from one end of the world to the other and its voice is not heard. When a woman is divorced from her husband, her voice goeth forth from one end of the world to the other, but the voice is inaudible. When the infant || comes forth from its mother's womb. When the soul departs from the body, the cry goes forth from one end of the world to the other, and the voice is not heard. The soul does not go out of the body until it beholds the Shekhinah, as it is said, "For man shall not see me and live" (Ex. 33:20).