This was such a great post. Though I love music, I too find the silence to be filled with rhythms and timbres that have melodies of their own. Melodies I would not want to mask with external sounds.

I look forward to listening to these podcasts. Thanks so much!

Here’s the story, with a little background.
Hebrew nouns are generally built on patterns known as mishkalot (singular, mishkal). One particularly common pattern is to prefix a מ to a root. Another is to put the vowel /u/ between the second and third letters of the root. There are many more.
After the pattern is built, vowels are added according to rules.
In the case of a prefix מ, the מ before the first two letters of the root normally creates three consonants at the beginning of word, which almost always causes the vowel /i/ to be inserted between the first and second consonants of the trio. Finally, the default vowel /a/ is inserted before the final consonant. So, for example, from G.D.L, we get MGDL then MIGDL then MIGDAL (“tower”). Similarly, MISHKAL, MIVNEH (with no /a/ at the end because one isn’t needed). Also, MAQOM (with no /i/ because there are only two consonants at the beginning of the word). And so forth.
In the case of the /u/, normally no more vowels are needed. So we have ZVUV (“fly”). But a SHVA under an א at the start of a word normally becomes /e/. So we get ELUL. (This is the same /e/ we find in, for example, ECHTOV [“I will write”].)

I hope this helps.

For further context, Michael Totten’s recent post is very worth reading.
http://pajamasmedia.com/michaeltotten/2011/09/11/egypt’s-botched-revolution/

He argues, and I’d agree, that Sadat and Mubarak were just as anti-Israel as Nasser, but needed Camp David for the army’s own interests.

Of course, the army still rules Egypt and is unlikely to allow much to change, other than to come to a more stable understanding with the Muslim Brothers.