A Short Tribute

Listen, my friend. Know that hearing something first-hand is better than reading it…This is because speakers will change the level of their voice, raise and lower it, and give a sense to their words using their facial expressions and gaze, in keeping with the moment and according to need. And since those people listening may be standing, speakers will make the effort to have their words sound agreeable reach their public, and use a triumphant voice to make a greater and more powerful impression on their listeners... Just as Rabbi Bina wrote, that at times things written in a book, with all due sanctity, may be but the bare bones of a matter and have little vitality, have little effect and make no lasting impression on readers nor stir their hearts. But hearing those who teach and preach when they are present, alive and moving, adds to the power of speech beyond the actual contents of the matter, and is felt deeply by listeners, leaving them in wonder and moving them to action…for such reprimand coming from the living penetrates the inner being of the wise and settles within it, leaving them with a powerful impression that is not easily dispelled.