What Really is Silence?

Silence plays a role of communication between Reb. Saunders and his son Danny. Danny expresses this when he began to talk to Reuven about his father. He says, "he taught me with silence. He taught me to look into myself, to find my own strength, to walk around inside myself in company with my soul." (pg.265) Danny further explained what his father taught him. "And it is important to know of pain he said. It destroys our self- pride, our arrogance, and our indifference toward others. Only slowly, very slowly, did I begin to understand what he was saying." (pg.265) Reb. Saunders told Reuven of a time when he was crying and Danny noticed and asked why he was crying. Reb. Saunders explains that Danny did not understand it. As Danny got older Reb. Saunders began to communicate with him less through verbal communication instead he use silence.

As time went on Danny befriended Reuven and this had a major impact in Danny life. Reb. Saunders express the fact he was happy when he found out that Danny was friends with Reuven because he knew Reuven had soul and this what he wanted for his son. Reb. Saunders did something that got between them. This causes Reuven to have great anger toward Reb. Saunders even to the point of hating him. Danny expressed this when he said; " I hated the silence between us and thought it unimaginable that Danny and his father never really talked. Silence was ugly, it was black, it leered, it was cancerous, and it was death."(pg.220)

Danny Reuven couldn't understand silence because he and his father always talk thing out. Silence finally took its toil on Danny truly understanding his father way of silence. It also helps Reuven to understand silence and thus put aside his hate for Reb. Saunders. Danny showed that he understood silence when he said, "I've begun to realize that you can listen to silence and learn from it. It talks to me sometimes. I feel myself alive in it. It talks. And I can hear it."(pg.249) He further expressed what he was talking about. "You have to want to listen to it, and then you can hear it. It has a strange, beautiful texture. It doesn't always talk. Sometimes -sometimes it cries, and you can hear the pain of the world in it. It hurts to listen to it then. But you have to." (pg.249)

Danny and Reuven didn't know how profound his words were into they were in a room listening to Reb. Saunders. Reb. Saunders began to explain that how when Danny was a boy he knew he didn't have soul. This was his biggest agony because he knew Danny had a powerful mind but no soul and he knew with that type of structure he would not become a rabbi. Reb. Saunders continue with silence, which cause Danny pain that he felt Danny needed. Danny began to cry this he knew was part of silence from what he understood it to be. Reuven also showed how he now understood silence, " he held his face in his hands, and his sobs tore apart the silence of the room and racked his body. I went over to him and put my hand on his shoulder and felt him trembling and crying. And then I was crying too, crying with Danny, silently, for his pain and for the years of his suffering, knowing that I loved him, and not knowing whether I hated or loved the long, anguished years of his life."(pg.268)

Danny understood silence more in depth when he began to cry. He showed his emotions, which came through suffering from hiding things from his father. Danny finally realized now that he had his father approval. Reuven also showed that he understood silence because he didn't say anything to Danny but he felt for him. He even began to cry, silently, to the point were Danny knew that he loved him despite him saying so.

Second Part

David Malter- " A father can bring up a child any way he wishes. What a price to pay for soul. David Malter was showing how he had respect for Reb. Saunders. He believes that one can raise their child as they saw fit. David Malter didn't really favor the way Reb. Saunders was raising Danny in silence because this was not the way he raised Reuven. Malter raised Reuven with the source of verbal communication, which serves as a guidance through Reuven life. On the contrary, he stated, "what a price to pay for a soul". Malter also showed how he cares for Danny. He didn't believe that he should have to go through the torture of pain before he could have soul. Malter figured that if the line of commutation was open then Danny could express himself more fully to Reb. Saunders. The quote also shows how wise Malter was because he was talking to Reuven in that quote and Reuven wanted to know what he meant by it. Malter didn't tell him the answer because he knew in time he would know the answer to his question.