SEFER SHMIRAS HALOSHON ? Best of All ?
Shimon his [Rabban Gamliel¡¯s] son says: ¡°All my days I have been raised among the Sages and I found nothing better for oneself than silence¡± (Avos?1:17).
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R¡¯ Shimon is, in effect, saying: ¡°I was reared among the Sages and had the opportunity to glean from all their precious, sacred qualities. And of all those qualities, the art of silence is most outstanding.¡¯¡¯
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Alternatively, R¡¯ Shimon may have meant the following: The Sages were the wisest of men and surely did not engage in pointless conversation. Nevertheless, there was nothing, aside from speaking words of Torah, which they found more beneficial to themselves
than silence.
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R¡¯ Shimon was precise in saying: ¡°and I found nothing better for oneself ...¡± Man¡¯s corporeal existence in this world makes it virtually impossible for even the purest of souls to ensure that his every utterance is without flaw. This is why silence is so desirable.
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If such was true of the generation of R¡¯ Shimon, whose Sages were accustomed to speaking only words of true wisdom, then what of ourselves, whose minds are preoccupied with matters devoid of substance and meaning? If one¡¯s mouth will not be restrained by the
harness of silence, then invariably it will speak in the way that it has been accustomed since one¡¯s youth, and the loss will outweigh the gain many times over.
