Midrash su Ezechiele 36:26

(Gen. 41:1:) NOW IT CAME TO PASS AT THE END OF TWO FULL YEARS THAT PHARAOH DREAMED. This text is related (to Job 28:3): HE PUTS AN END TO THE DARKNESS, AND HE SEARCHES OUT EVERY LIMIT. ¹Gen. R. 89:1; Gen. R. 97, New Version, on Gen. 49:13 (= p. 1221 in the Theodor-Albeck edition). There is an end to everything: to the mountains, the hills, the wind, and the waters, even to empty words, even to the darkness. Where is it shown for mountains? Where it is stated (in Is. 40:12): WHO WEIGHS MOUNTAINS WITH A BALANCE AND HILLS WITH SCALES. Where is it shown for the wind? Where it is stated (in Job 28:25): TO FIX A WEIGHT FOR THE WIND. And where is it shown for the waters? (Ibid., cont.:) AND HE HAS FIXED THE WATERS BY MEASURE. Where is it shown for darkness? (Job 28:3:) HE PUTS AN END TO THE DARKNESS. Every single thing, when it comes to a person, even afflictions, has an end. Thus it is stated (ibid., cont.): AND HE SEARCHES OUT EVERY LIMIT. So the Holy One sits and searches out whether afflictions are required for < a person > or not, as stated (ibid.): AND HE SEARCHES OUT EVERY LIMIT. Resh Laqish said: Who has been the cause of this person having afflictions {and deep darkness} come upon him? [(Ibid., cont.:) A STONE OF DARKNESS AND SHADOWY DEATH.] A STONE: This is the evil drive (yetser hara) because it is comparable to the stone of which it is stated (in Ezek. 36:26): I WILL REMOVE THE HEART OF STONE FROM YOUR FLESH.²Suk. 32a. Ergo (in Job 28:3): A STONE OF DARKNESS AND SHADOWY DEATH.

From the parashah of the <Red> Heifer:¹The two sections in this supplement come from Buber’s second Oxford MS., Hund Donat 20 Uri Heb CXVI, No. 153; cf. A. Jellinek, Bet ha-Midrasch (Leipzig: Vollrath, 1853-1877), vol. 1, pp. 79f., 92ff, in midrashim entitled “Midrasch der zehn Gebote” and “Midrash vom Ableben Aharon’s” respectively. Jellinek’s versions are reprinted in J. D. Eisenstein, Ozar Midrashim (New York, 1915), vol. 2, p. 457ab, and vol. 1, pp. 13b-14b, respectively. See further in the Buber edition of the Tanhuma on Numbers, pp. 151-152, n. 1; also in his introduction to this edition, p. 123. There was a story about R. Matthew bar Heresh. Now he was wealthy, feared Heaven, practiced virtuous beneficence, pursued good deeds of charity, and entertained the disciples of the sages from his own assets. Moreover, orphans and widows were always found at his table. All his paths were in uprightness, and like his master, R. Meir, he was occupied with the Torah all his days. So the radiance of his countenance shone like the brightness of the sun; and they said of him that at no time in his life had he ever looked at anyone's wife or at any other woman. On one occasion he was sitting and occupied with the Torah, when Satan passed by. Upon seeing him, he was envious of him. He said: Is it possible for a righteous person to exist in the world without sin! Immediately he went up on high, where he stood before the Holy One and said: Sovereign of the World, how does Matthew ben Heresh stand before you? He said to him: Completely righteous. He said to him: Give me permission to test him. He gave him permission. Immediately he went and found him sitting and occupied with the Torah. He became like a beautiful woman, whose beauty had not been equalled since the the days of Naamah, the sister of Tubal Cain (of Gen. 4:22), through whom the ministering angels went astray. It is so stated (in Gen. 6:2): THE SONS OF GOD SAW HOW BEAUTIFUL THE HUMAN DAUGHTERS WERE <AND TOOK WHOMEVER THEY CHOSE AS THEIR WIVES>. When <Matthew ben Heresh> saw her, he turned his face away. Again Satan went opposite his face. He turned his face to another side, but Satan was opposite his face. When he saw that she was turning to <face him on> all sides, he said in his heart: I am afraid that the evil drive may prevail against me. So what did that righteous man do? He called one of his students to attend him. He said to him: Go, my son, and get me fire and pins! When he had brought them, he ignited <the pin> in the fire and stuck them in his eyes.²See Matthew 5:28-29; 18:9. When Satan saw that, he trembled in dismay. So he went away from him, ascended on high, where he said: Sovereign of the World, thus and such happened. Immediately the Holy One called Raphael (rt.: RPh'), Prince of the Healing Arts (rt.: RPh') and said to him: Go and heal (rt.: RPh') the eyes of Matthew ben Heresh. The angel Raphael went and stood by him. R. Matthew ben Heresh said: Who are you? He said to him: I am Raphael, the angel of the table of the Holy One, who has sent me to heal (rt.: RPh') your eyes. He answered him: I do not want <healing>. What happened happened. Raphael returned to the Holy One and said to him: Matthew ben Heresh told me thus and such. The Holy One said to him: Go, say to him: From this day on do not fear. I am standing surety for you in this matter, that the evil drive will never prevail against you all the days of your life. When he heard this from the mouth of the angel, he accepted his healing and was not afraid. Here is the origin of what the sages have said: Whoever does not look at another woman will not have the evil drive prevailing against him. Moreover, in the world to come the Holy One will remove the evil drive from us and set his Holy Spirit within us. It is so stated (in Ezek. 36:26–27): THEN I WILL REMOVE THE HEART OF STONE FROM YOUR FLESH AND GIVE YOU A HEART OF FLESH, AND I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT WITHIN YOU.

And so you find that Israel did everything that he had said to them in the days of the judges, as stated (in Jud. 10:6): <AGAIN THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL DID WHAT WAS EVIL IN THE EYES OF THE LORD> AND SERVED THE BAALS AND THE ASTARTES. So also Jeroboam, as stated (in I Kings 12:28–29): SO THE KING TOOK COUNSEL AND MADE TWO CALVES OF GOLD <….> THEN HE SET ONE IN BETHEL AND THE OTHER HE {SET} [PUT] IN DAN. Moreover, he did not allow Israel to go up to Jerusalem. Instead he said: These are your Gods, O Israel. So also Ahab sinned and made Israel sin more than all he wicked ones who came before him. (I Kings 16:30:) AND AHAB [BEN OMRI] DID MORE EVIL IN THE EYES OF THE LORD THAN ALL WHO <HAD COME> BEFORE HIM. You yourself know that he sold himself to idolatrous worship, as stated (in I Kings 21:25): <INDEED THERE WAS NO ONE> LIKE AHAB WHO SOLD HIMSELF TO DO EVIL IN THE EYES OF THE LORD. He also made them forget the name of the Holy One. How? He blotted out the references <to the Divine Name> and wrote in their place, <e.g.,> "And Baal spoke," "In the beginning Baal," "And Baal said." And for all the whole Torah he did likewise. That is what the prophet says (in Jer. 23:27): THE ONES WHO INTEND TO MAKE MY PEOPLE FORGET MY NAME. But Menasseh did more than all of them, as stated (in II Chron 33:7; cf. II Kings 21:7): AND HE SET UP A SCULPTURED IMAGE <WHICH HE HAD MADE IN THE HOUSE OF GOD>…. (II Chron. 33:6 // II KINGS 21:6): AND HE HAD HIS SONS PASS THROUGH FIRE {FOR MOLECH} IN THE VALLEY OF BEN-HINNOM. HE ALSO PRACTICED SOOTHSAYING, AUGURY, [SORCERY,] NECROMANCY, AND WIZARDRY. [HE DID MUCH EVIL IN THE EYES OF THE LORD TO PROVOKE HIM TO ANGER.] And how <did he do it>? Molech was in the valley of Ben-hinnom.⁶Cf. Lam. R. 1:9 (36). It took place outside of Jerusalem and in a remote place. There was also an image <there> with the face of a calf and with its hands extended like a human [whose hands are open to receive] something from one's friend. Then they heated it until its hands became like fire. It also had seven latticed gates,⁷Qanqalim. Probably from the Gk.: kingklis, or the Lat.: cancelli, but Buber, n. 5, suggests the word comes from coenacula, which means “upper rooms.” with <the image> behind the innermost of them. Each and every one would enter in accordance with his offering. Whoever offered a bird entered the first lattice gate. With a goat he entered the second lattice gate; with a lamb, the third; with a calf, the fourth; with a bullock, the fifth; with a bull, the sixth. To whoever was offering his child the idol priests would say that there is none higher than that. He entered within the seventh lattice gate. Then he went and kissed it, as stated (in Hos. 13:2): THOSE WHO SACRIFICE A HUMAN BEING KISS CALVES. Then the idol priests would take his child from him and put the young child⁸Tinoq. “Young child” rather than “infant” here, because a parallel description in Lam. R. suggests that the offering might be an offspring somewhat older than an infant. upon the hands of Molech, while they took the drums and beat on them, so that the father would not hear the voice of his child. Then they pressed the young child's entrails upon it, while the young child screamed until <its spirit> left its body in the hands of <the idol>. R Judah the Levite said: That is what is written (in Jer. 7:31): AND THEY HAVE BUILT THE HIGH PLACES OF TOPHETH, WHICH ARE IN THE VALLEY OF BEN-HINNOM <TO BURN THEIR SONS AND THEIR DAUGHTERS IN THE FIRE>. What is the meaning of TOPHETH? That they beat on their drums (tuppim, sing.: toph). What is the meaning of HINNOM? That the idol priests said to Molech, when the young child screamed (rt.: NHM): May it be pleasing to you! May it be appealing to you! Look at how fervent they were for idolatry! The Holy One said: It is on account of the evil drive (yetser hara) that you have sinned and gone into exile; but in the age to come I am rooting it (i.e., the evil drive) out of you,⁹Cf. Deut. R. 2:30. as stated (in Ezek. 36:26): I WILL REMOVE THE HEART OF STONE FROM YOUR FLESH AND GIVE YOU A HEART OF FLESH.