The Art of Hearing What You Already Know
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The Art of Hearing What You Already Know
Two non-Jewish figures merited having entire Torah portions named after them. Yitro. And Balak. Both were exposed to the greatness of the Jewish people. Both witnessed the miracles, the signs, the unmistakable hand of Hashem guiding and protecting Am Yisrael. And both responded with action. But pay close attention to the difference between the two. Yitro draws conclusions, and comes to convert, coming close to the Shechinah. Balak also draws conclusions, and what are his conclusions? “Come, curse this nation for me. Perhaps I can fight them and drive them out.” Same information. Same exposure. Opposite reactions. Why? Because by Yitro it says: “Vayishma Yitro” Yitro heard. And by Balak it says: “Vayar Balak” Balak saw. Yitro hears. Balak sees. And that difference changes everything.
Seeing can be done from a distance. In fact, the farther you are, the wider the view, the more panoramic the scene feels. But hearing? Hearing is internalized when it is personal, the closer you are, the more meaning it has. Hearing, when it is personal, it has more meaning, and that meaning demands a response. Hearing from close means, this involves me. Allow me to explain.
Hearing something that means nothing to you, means you did not really hear it. We encounter this exact idea at the end of Tractate Nedarim. The Mishnah teaches that a father has the power to annul his daughter’s vows. When? On the day he hears about them. That day, until sunset, is his window of opportunity. But, if a father hears that his daughter made a vow, and he does not know that halacha grants him the authority to annul it, so he does nothing… The day passes, days go by. Maybe months. One evening, he attends a Mishnah class between Mincha and Arvit, and suddenly he discovers, to his shock, that the Torah did give him veto power over his daughter’s vows. But it’s too late, right? The day of hearing has long passed. Chazal teach something astonishing: He can annul the vow now. How is that possible? Didn’t he already hear about the vow back then? The answer is: No! He didn’t! If a person hears information but does not understand that it is relevant to him, that it demands action from him, it is not called hearing. Only now, when he realizes that the vow concerns him, that he has responsibility and power of veto, now it is called “the day he heard.”
What does this tell us? You can absorb information from morning until night. You can know everything. But if you don’t grasp that it applies to you, if you don’t realize that you are being addressed, then you haven’t heard anything at all. If growth feels like “general advice,” it won’t move you. If it feels like “this is on me,” it will. And this is precisely the story of Yitro. Yitro heard, and he came. When Yitro heard about the splitting of the sea, he understood that this information was speaking to him. If the sea split, then there is a Creator. If there is a Creator, if Hashem reveals such love and faithfulness to His chosen nation, then I, too, can choose to belong. If I heard this news, that means, G-d is calling upon me.
Yitro wasn’t the only one who knew about the miracles. Everyone knew. “Then the chiefs of Edom were terrified, the leaders of Moab were seized with trembling; all the inhabitants of Canaan melted away.” They were updated. They were informed. They were shaken. But none of them “heard”. No one internalized that this knowledge required something of them. Balak saw, but he did not hear. He witnessed miracles that should have driven him to conversion. Instead, he tried to fight reality. That means he didn’t hear what he was supposed to hear.
Let me give you a painfully familiar example of what it means to see without hearing. Have you ever attended a funeral? Have you ever stood near a deceased person? Tell me, did you hear anything? Nothing? Are you sure? Because the Gemara says that when a soul leaves the body, its voice pierces from one end of the world to the other. Not a quiet sound. A sound that’s deafening. So how is it that no one hears anything? Who hears that voice?
A body lying in the funeral home, the simple fact that a person who was alive a few hours ago is no longer here, that reality itself is a proclamation that screams across the universe. What is it declaring? “Hello, shoppers at the mall. What are you buying? It won’t come with you.” “Hello, you who takes everything personally… Don’t. None of this lasts.” “Don’t over-upgrade. Don’t over-invest. Don’t exhaust yourself.” Everyone ends up in the same place. No luggage. Not even socks.
Does anyone argue with the message announced by every funeral? And yet, does that stop even one person from rushing back to life to upgrade their lifestyle? No. Why don’t we hear this silent booming voice? Because we are only seeing, without hearing. We all see. We all know. We are fully aware that no one leaves this world alive. But does it change how we live? That is the sound that pierces the world, and no one hears it.
Yitro teaches us: Seeing is not enough. Balak, you saw, but you didn’t hear. Hearing means internalizing. Hearing means drawing conclusions. Hearing means realizing: this demands something from me. As Messilat Yesharim begins his book of how to live like a Jew, there are no new ideas that you don’t know, that you haven’t yet heard, that can change your life. Nothing in his book is novel. We already know everything. The only question is: do we hear this in a personal way, in a way that obligates us?
We all know, from kindergarten: There is a Creator. There is accountability. Hashem listens to prayers. Hashem loves you. These phrases are familiar. Almost worn out. But maybe, it’s time we actually hear them. To let them enter, not just our ears, but our hearts. To stand up and do something with them. Because as research has proven: repetition of ideas, without action leads to desensitization, not motivation.
People often mistake watching growth content for doing growth. But you can remain a spectator forever. Watching change feels like change, but it isn’t. A University of Pennsylvania study found that passive consumption of reading, watching, or listening, creates a false sense of progress, reducing the likelihood of action by up to 30%. Information changes minds, not lives. People who take action within 24 hours of insight are five times more likely to follow through long-term. Insight that waits becomes entertainment.
Research in behavioral psychology shows that over 90% of people already know what would improve their lives: sleep, exercise, boundaries, focus, and proper diet. Yet fewer than 10–15% act consistently. Roughly 80% of New Year’s resolutions fail by February. After major events, accidents, illness, loss, people often promise change, but revert back. Within six to twelve weeks, over 70% of people return to original habits.
Why?
Shock, New Years, pain, etc… wakes people up. But only “meaning” and “owning” keeps them awake. The event was seen, felt even, but not personalized, so it was not integrated into daily identity. Once a person stopped “listening”, the person stops changing. The question isn’t whether you know. The question is: do you hear? Are you listening with the intention to act, to own, to see what this means to you? Because if you hear, really hear, you won’t be able to stay the same.
So, let me ask you: What is just one idea the inspired you, but then quietly expired?
