Halakhah su Geremia 10:78

And know indeed that the status of the souls in the world of souls comes right as one dies, while the world to come is after the resurrection. And it is the hope of all hopes, it cannot be compared or likened to anything in this world, nor pictured in the mind, because its image cannot be comprehended in the heart of “anyone artistically skillful,”⁸⁷“Kol hakham lev,” any “artistic genius.” R. Bahya uses an expression from Ex 31:3-5 that describes the great architect and builders of the mishkan, Bezalel and his assistants: “I have filled him [Bezalel] with a divine spirit of skill [hakhmah]…to make designs…and work in every kind of craft. Moreover I have assigned to him Oholiab…and I have granted skill [hakhmah] to all who are skillful [kol hakham lev]…”surpassing their ability to picture its essence and quality – what it is like and how the souls take delight in it. The reason for this is because of our being sunken in the world of thick and coarse bodies, which is totally thickness and coarseness, while the upper world is totally elevation, refinement, and purity. Indeed, the two are opposites; it’s impossible to think of what we are diametrically opposed to. Just as for fish, because they exist in the element of water, and need it to exist and live, it would be impossible for them to turn to the element of fire because it is its opposite, so these two worlds are opposites, and “every man is proved dull, without knowledge”⁸⁸Jer 10:14. of the quality of the world to come while in this world, and even the wisest of the wise are fools about this. And you already knew that our rabbis z”l said that even the prophets didn’t prophesy about it due the fact that it was hidden for the most part, which is what they said in Sanhedrin:⁸⁹B. Sanhedrin 99a. “All the prophets prophesied all the good things with regard to the days of Messiah; but as for the world to come ‘No eye has seen, O God, but You.'” However, we know in general through what we can infer through reason and from the Torah “which makes wise the simple”⁹⁰Ps 19:8. that just as the body enjoys and takes delight [mitaden] in a pleasant aromatic meal according to the body’s standards of pleasure, so the soul will enjoy and take delight in this upper world. However, its way of taking delight there is not measured like bodily things, which have measures and dimensions, but the upper beings have no measure and dimension, because their status is great, beyond conception, and their way of taking delight deeper than any measure. And even though the power of the body is weak and unable to picture in the heart the existence of the upper beings and their delight that is without measure, the power of the upper beings and their perfection is not diminished by lesser beings, composed of matter, who are unable to conceive of them, just as the human wisdom and virtue is not diminished by a fool or beast who cannot imagine or conceive of it.

However, we are distinguished by our regimen of pleasures [dat sha’ashu’im] from the nations who err, rebel, and sin. For we found our Rock in the desert in the land of souls, and there He set for us a table against the nations, and thus David, said, ‘Set before me a table against my enemies’ [Ps 23:5). There the Lord gave us an abundance of charity and good things. There He gave us a marvelous portion of the bread in our law, bread from heaven through no toil. There He showed us through great love something like the world to come—where the divisions of His marvelously formed angels are fed without toil, hewn from flames and awesome fires; and the planting of the Lord of Hosts. Our holy race is lovely because our heart was tested in the desert. We rose up like sweet-smelling incense to thank the Lord and said a blessing over the table. As it is written regarding the manna: “In the morning you shall have your fill of bread and you shall know that I the Lord am your God.”¹⁹Ex. 16:12. Even while we were in the land of our enemies bearing our punishment,the manna soothed our dry and shriveled gullets,²⁰Nu. 11:6. while the flowering vines of our enemies spread heavy on the ground. Even without temple or altar, no medicine-making; the Torah of the Lord with us will save us from breaking. Marked as we are by our circumcision, fringes, and shaving–– the food on our table will help us recognize and remind ourselves to respect His greatness. Let us bless over the table of Him whose food we have eaten.²¹An allusion to the wording of the grace after meals. It is not so with the wicked, whose sins have earned them aninextinguishable fire;²²Ps. 14:4. their table lies before them like mire. Rising early in the morning they devour food and they do not call to the Lord; their hearts and eyes they raise to what delights them, but toward the One above not even the slightest look. Such is the sentence of the nations, that they are a vile and foolish nation filled with folk devoid of sense. Unlike those other nations is Jacob, for he will bless the sacrifice and then eat it.²³Jer 10:16; I Sam 9:13. All his fruit shall also be set aside for jubilation before the Lord;²⁴Lev 19:24. he will withdraw his right hand until the blessing is drawn back into the ‘palace that is before Me.’²⁵I Kg 6:17 [heykhal lifnay], usually translated as ‘the front part of the House’ (i.e., the Temple). Bahya reads lifnay as “before Me,” in order to allude to the mystical idea that saying a blessing returns the vital energy in what is eaten back to its source in the heavenly realm. This is among the ways of wisdom to keep the heart of man straight upon the path of the Lord’sbright lights, to prevent one straying from the service of his God; so that the temptationsof pleasure would not draw our purpose away from being drawn to Him, nor our sinfulinstincts seduce us from serving our Creator,²⁶An untranslatable wordplay here on yetzer and yotzer. from waiting for Him at the doors of His gates.²⁷Prov. 8:34.

And because I saw that this was how things were, as someone bereft of knowledge a sad and worthless worm, a trampled doormat,³⁴Jer. 10:14. my heart compelled me to write about this in brief in a book, and to include in it some sacred words so that it could be at your table, by your right hand, for you to read in it all that is required at your meal. And if at the time you are eating, your faith is reassured by this book of mine, and according to its words, you will be sure attain the level of the pious ones who are perfect in their qualities, who wage “the wars for the Lord” and stand up against all their desires.³⁵“Wars for the Lord:” the whole phrase is Ha-lohmot milhamot Ha-Shem – idiomatically, “those who wage holy wars.” However, R. Bahya has chosen this expression for its multiple connotations. Though this is a technical medieval Hebrew expression for “holy war,” R. Bahya also plays on the pun between lehem – “bread” or food in general, and the Hebrew noun for war – milhamah – and the verb “to wage war” – l.a.h.am. That these “holy wars” are directed internally against one’s animal desires is strikingly similarity to the idea in Islam of “the greater jihad.” See for example Ghazz¯al¯i, “An Exposition of the Merit of Hunger and a Condemnation of Satiety,” the seventh chapter in On Disciplining the Soul = Kit¯ab Riy¯adat Al-Nafs, & On Breaking the Two Desires = Kit¯ab Kasr Al-Shahwatayn: Books XXII and XXIII of The Revival of the Religious Sciences = Ihy¯a’ ‘ul¯um Al-D¯in (Cambridge, UK: The Islamic Texts Society, 1995). And because it’s through my lips that the topics of the table and its requirements are expressed; the title “The Table of Four” is how I think my book should be addressed – and this is for several reasons:

“Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, And maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven” (Job 35:11). “Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth,” (tells) a man to teach his son to be more faithful than a dog that is faithful to its master.¹Horayoth 13a. “And maketh us wiser than the fowls of the heaven,” (this verse) tells a man to learn from the hoopoe, the hen of the prairie. Because, in the time of Solomon, it (hoopoe) did not fulfill its faithfulness to the ruler of the sea involving the “shamir” put in its charge, it choked itself.²Louis Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews (7 Vols.; Philadelphia: Jewish Publications Society, 1909-1938), VIL 299, note 85. Therefore let the remainder of Israel apply to itself the syllogism and take a lesson from the hoopoe which does not receive reward for guarding its faithfulness, or punishment for not safeguarding it. You, however, who are punished when you lie, is it not a matter of course, that you should not commit wrongdoing, speak lies, or let deceit be found in your mouth, one thing in your mouth another in your heart, but rather only truth, which is the seal of the Holy One, blessed be He.³Shabbath 55a. And so did the sages say, “a just hin” (Lev. 19:36), your “yes” should be yes, and your “no” no. ⁴Baba Metzia 49a. The gestures of a person and the hintings should be just, also the movements of the head. When he bends his head and says “No” he moves his head to the sides, also let all his limbs be true.⁵Shebuoth 31a. (And so is it written) “Sincerely do they love thee” (Cant. 1:4). Rav Tavid said, “If they were to give me the vaulting of the world I should not change my words.” ⁶Baba Metzia 49a. Anyone who varies from his word is regarded as if he worships idolatry,⁷Sanhedrin 92a. for it is said, “And I shall seem to him as a mocker” (Gen. 27:12), and it is written, “They are vanity a work of delusion” (Jer. 10:15). And so is the punishment of liars, even when he speaks truth they do not listen to him.⁸Ibid., 89b. But each one who speaks truth and does not speak or even think falsehood, his words are fulfilled, he decrees below and the Holy One, blessed be He, fulfills it from above. Concerning this it is said, “Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee” (Job 22:28).⁹Ketuboth 77b.

12. In these days, all holy scriptures are saved from a fire and read from [publicly], even if they are written in any language and even if they are written with dye or red paint (meaning types of paint) or anything else. Similarly, a set of blessings that the Sages established [i.e., a siddur] should be saved from a fire or from any "turpah" (meaning an open and vulernable place). Similarly, a translation written in Hebrew like "Yagar Shahaduta" [Genesis 31:47] or "Thus shall you say to them" [Jeremiah 10:11, in Aramaic], or Hebrew written in Aramaic or in another language that the people are proficient in, or a Torah scroll that has 85 letters part of full words or has the name of God; all of these are saved.