שתק כך עלה במחשבהSilence and the Melody

shtok, kakh alah ba-machshavahIn Gamatria ↗

Where no words reach, a melody still can.

God created through speech, and speech draws boundaries. The empty space has no letters, so its questions belong to silence. When Moses asked about Rabbi Akiva's death he was told: 'Be silent, so it arose in thought' (Menachot 29b). Only a tzaddik like Moses, 'heavy of mouth,' may study these confusions, so he can lift up souls who have sunk into them. He does it with melody. Every kind of wisdom has its own tune, heresy included: Acher's Greek song never left his lips (Chagigah 15b). Above them all is the tune of faith in the Infinite, and every other melody flows from it.

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