גם בעל חי שומע, אבל אינו מקשיב. רק האדם הוא המקשיב כי רק הנשמה היא המקשיבה ולא הגוף- וההבדל בין אדם לאדם תלוי במדת הקשבתם. ואם אנו רוצים להבחין במדת קרבת ענין אל הלב, נוכל להבחין זאת מאופן הקשבתו של מי שהענין נוגע לו
Even animals HEAR but they don't LISTEN. Only a person listens because only a soul listens and not a body - The difference between people depends on the amount of listening they do. If we want to discern how close a matter is to one's heart we can do so by seeing how much a person listens to a matter that pertains to him.
Rav Yaakov Moshe Charlap אורי וישע
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There is a Jew in Ramot who is a hugely successful marriage counselor. He takes no money for his services and works completely לשם שמים and he is very popular and great at what he does. [You can ask me how he lives when he does everything for free and I will answer that the same question of "how does he make it" applies to half this country - myself included. The answer is miracles...:)]
I have a relative whose father lives nearby and is a big talmid chochom and wise man. He asked his father once "What is this man's secret. How does he help bring shalom bayis to so many couples?"
His father answered that this man has the ability to listen to someone talk for eight hours straight and not interrupt.
Do you want to help someone? Start by listening. I know people who have no understanding of what this means and it affects their marriages, their children and all of their relationships - and not for the good... They hear everything and listen to nothing. Saaaaaaaddddddd.
