Pemikiran Yahudi Yeremia 9:22: Yesod Mora VeSod HaTorah, Akeidat Yitzchak, Guide for the Perplexed & Sefer HaIkkarim

Furthermore, there are commandments that are not obligatory for everyone, but only one individual can fulfill them on behalf of the public. For example, sounding the shofar on Yom Kippur and Memorial Day, the daily burnt offering, additional offerings, the public Torah reading, and similarly, one judge is sufficient to rectify all the perversions in a public setting. Each person is obligated to improve themselves, recognize the commandments of the Creator who formed them, and understand their own actions. Then they will know their Creator. Thus, Moses said, "Show me Your ways, that I may know You" (Exodus 33:13), and the prophet said, "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom" (Jeremiah 9:22), indicating that true wisdom is to know God. It is written in the Torah, "You shall know this day and consider it in your heart" (Deuteronomy 11:2), and David said, "Know the God of your fathers and serve Him with a whole heart" (1 Chronicles 28:9), for this is why humanity was created. And after one has rectified themselves, they may rectify others if they are able. Our ancient sages, may their memory be blessed, knew the secrets of the Divine Chariot (Merkavah) and the measurement of celestial heights. However, it should be emphasized that they only expounded upon these matters. Their words require interpretation, just as the words of the Torah do, as it is written, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness" (Genesis 1:26). In the prophecy of Ezekiel, it is described as "the appearance of a man from above" (Ezekiel 1:26), and it further states, "in the likeness of the appearance of the glory of the Lord" (Ezekiel 1:28). At the end of it all, this book [the Sefer Yetzirah] alludes to this secret.

When Bereshit Rabbah 48 tells us that Abraham sits at the entrance of purgatory and prevents any circumcised Jew from being consigned to that detination, the meaning is that between the combined effects of circumcision, (physical) and Torah (spiritual), the fate that is reserved for the uncircumcised could not possibly be in store for circumcised Jews. Rabbi Eleazar in the opening statement quoted refers to the triple effect of speech, mind, and hearing, and that is the reason he quotes the three verses from scripture. The first verse refers to the lack of power of speech, someone who boasts of the wrong attributes (Jeremiah 9,22). The second, Goliath, lacks brains or he would not blaspheme (Samuel I chapter 17). The third are the daughters of the uncircumcised who refuse to listen to the voice of mussar, moral instruction, and who rejoice when they hear that the representative of moral values (Saul) has been slain (Samuel II chapter 1). As a diamond sparkles best when in a suitable setting, so the purest soul unless placed in a superior body cannot perform at optimal ability. This is why a baal mum, a physically blemished person must not perform temple service. Otherwise, his physical blemish might affect his soul, thus preventing him from drawing down from on high all the blessings that the priest ought to channel to his people. Because it is the purpose of the commandments to refine those who perform them, man was not born circumcised, so as not to deny him the effects performance of that mitzvah would have on the development of his personality.

The prophets have likewise explained unto us these things, and have expressed the same opinion on them as the philosophers. They say distinctly that perfection in property, in health, or in character, is not a perfection worthy to be sought as a cause of pride and glory for us: that the knowledge of God, i.e., true wisdom, is the only perfection which we should seek, and in which we should glorify ourselves. Jeremiah, referring to these four kinds of perfection, says: “Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me” (Jer. 9:22, 23). See how the prophet arranged them according to their estimation in the eyes of the multitude. The rich man occupies the first rank; next is the mighty man; and then the wise man; that is, the man of good moral principles: for in the eyes of the multitude, who are addressed in these words, he is likewise a great man. This is the reason why the three classes are enumerated in this order.