What does “say little and do a lot” mean?
By Rabbi Shalom Landau.
Rabbi Landau teaches that the Sages’ words “Emor me’at va’aseh harbeh,” say little and do a lot, are not about silence being holy. They are about this: “speech kills action. The more you talk, the less you do.”
In A Soul at Peace, he asks why the saying doesn’t just say “do a lot.” His answer is that the two halves depend on each other. Say little so that you will be able to do much. Talking a problem through releases the inner pressure that was meant to fuel action, and with it the power to act drains away.
That is why, he says, “a conversation is not a solution.” Nothing is real until something moves.
Related concepts: Inspiration has to become a deed · Discipline
In A Soul at Peace: Say Little, Do Much
Going deeper: Rabbi Landau's teaching, level by level
Surface claim
Speaking less is the condition for doing more.
Deepest human truth
In the book Rabbi Landau writes that doing is not the last stage of a process. It is the main thing.
More questions from this teaching
More answers: Wisdom, Perception, and the Inner Life · All questions · Questions about Rabbi Landau and Rivnitz