Who girds Israel with strength

Three Silences there are: the first of speech,

The second of desire, the third of thought;

This is the lore a Spanish monk, distraught

With dreams and visions, was the first to teach.

These Silences, commingling each with each,

Made up the perfect Silence, that he sought

And prayed for, and wherein at times he caught

Mysterious sounds from realms beyond our reach.

O thou, whose daily life anticipates

The life to come, and in whose thought and word

The spiritual world preponderates.

Hermit of Amesbury! thou too hast heard

Voices and melodies from beyond the gates,

And speakest only when thy soul is stirred!

(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; The Three Silences of Molinos)

We acknowledge our ability to catch the "Mysterious sounds from realms beyond our reach," which has given us the great strength to survive the devastating challenges of exile.

By: Rabbi Simcha Weinberg