Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav, a Chassidic teacher who died in the same year Rabbi Yisrael Salanter was born (1810), provides the basis for a kabbalah for silence by recommending that every person set aside a daily “dead hour” during which to be “dead to the world.” This meant being unavailable for business or social obligations or family duties or small talk – or cell phone or email or FaceBook or anything! He said that by spending time devoted to silent introspection, to quiet probing, to contemplation in utter stillness, this dead hour would make the whole day worth living by giving space for the ordinarily repressed soul to come forth.

Set aside a period of the day to be your “dead hour.” The practice does not require that you be mute, just sufficiently disconnected from the ordinary chatter that fills most of our lives so that the mind is freed from intrusions. One of the keys to Mussar practice is to start out with a challenge that is manageable for you: if an hour seems too long, you could do 10 minutes the first day, 15 the second, 20 the third and so on, for as long as you are engaged in the practice of silence.

In order that this unusual part of your day not get squeezed out or forgotten, set yourself a specific time of day and a place in which you will engage in this practice. It’s like you make a fixed appointment with silence that you would no more overlook than you would any other committed engagement on your calendar.

What to do in that set-aside time? Well, the principal guideline is what NOT to do. As fasting is a withdrawing from eating, so is this fast defined by withdrawal from any sort of verbal interaction. Don’t “receive” words either, by shutting yourself off from television, radio and even reading in this time. If you have some experience meditating, you may want to meditate. Or if you have not meditated before, this may be your opportunity. Whatever you do, just be quiet with yourself.