Ponderings of the Perkei Avot 1:17

RaYBaSH’s Ponderings of the Perkei Avot

Chapter 1:17

By: Yehudah ben Shomeyr

“His son, Shimon, would say: All my life I have been raised among the wise, and I have found nothing better for the body than silence. The essential thing is not study, but deed. And one who speaks excessively brings on sin.”

Silence is golden. Think before you speak. Engage your brain before you open your mouth. Don’t be dippling and dappling when you don’t know what’s happening. Talk is cheap. Actions speak louder than words. All these clichés sum up verse 17. Learn and absorb all you can before you try and jump in the conversation. As another saying goes, it’s better to be a fool and be silent than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. Proverbs tell us that even a fool is thought wise if he keeps his mouth shut.

Why does it lead one to sin? Because one usually ends up lying by being all talk and no action, or lying unknowingly because one talks about what they have no knowledge of.

Besides Torah is not just something you talk about, it’s something you do!

Shalom,

-- Yehudah ben Shomeyr