Shalom u'vrachah, Reb Noach! The Kollel is very happy to hear from you!

Chazal tell us that the words, "v'Domu Sela" -- "And be silent forever" (Tehilim 4:5), refer to the day of a person's death when he is silenced (Berachos 5a, and Rashi there). Another verse reads, "The dead cannot praise G-d, nor can those who descend to Dumah" (Tehilim 115:17). These verses, however, are referring to the physical aspect of a person and there is no proof that the Neshamah cannot speak (although, of course, the Neshamah does not have the physical aspect of speech).

The Gemara in Berachos 18b discusses a Chasid who went to sleep in a cemetery and heard the Ruchos talking to one another. A "Ru'ach" is a lower form than Neshamah; the Ru'ach stays near the body of the dead but it is not physical yet it can still talk.

As for your question regarding the answers to the questions which the Neshamah will give, the Ba'al Shem Tov explained that a person is Noge'a b'Davar -- he has a personal bias and cannot judge himself, so Hash-m brings another person in a similar situation before him and asks the question. When he answers, Hash-m says that he is referring to himself, in the same way that Nasan ha'Navi asked David a question about a rich man who took away a poor man's only sheep, in order for David to realize on his own what he did with Bat-Sheva. Thus, the person himself is the one who decides his own Din without realizing it. This is the meaning of the Mishnah (Avos 3), "Nifra'in mi'Da'ato v'she'Lo mi'Da'ato."

Rav Nachman (Torah #113) explains that if a person always judges others favorably, in this situation, too, he will judge favorably and then his own Din will end favorably as well.

Yoel Domb