잠언 24:37의 Halakhah

The one who breaks the bread when he breaks it should grasp the loaf in his two hands with ten fingers because of his love for the blessing [over the bread]. And thus you will find ten words in the blessing “ha-motzi.” And likewise the verse [from which it is derived]: “You grow grass for cattle, herbage for man to work to bring forth bread from the earth.”⁶⁴Ps 104:14 in Hebrew is ten words: Matzmi’ah hatzir le-behemah va-esev le-avodat ha-adam le-hotzi’ lehem min ha-aretz. And we find ten mitzvot that were given regarding produce: (1) “You shall not plow [with and ox and ass together];” (2) “You shall not muzzle [an ox while it is threshing];” ⁶⁵Dt. 22:10; Dt 25:4. (3) terumah for the priest; (4) the first tithe for the Levite; (5) the tithe of the tithe that the Levite gives to the priest; (6) the second tithe; (7) the tithe for the poor; (8) gleaning; (9) “the forgotten sheaf;” and (10) leaving the corners of the field for the poor.

And when one is breaking the bread, he finishes the blessing and then breaks it. This is out of respect for a king. And accordingly it is necessary to put pleasing the Holy One Blessed Be He first before pleasing a king of flesh and blood or pleasing oneself, as it is said, “Fear the Lord, my son, and the king.”⁶⁹Prov. 24:22, i.e., in that order. Granted, here the addressee “my son” comes before the king, which seems to contradict R. Bahya’s sequence. However, he may be implying that one best looks out for one’s own interest by showing public deference to the king of flesh blood. And whoever breaks the bread before he blesses or before he finishes the blessing – he is called a glutton. About him it is said, “the greedy man [botze’a’] reviled [barekh] and scorned the Lord,”⁷⁰Ps. 10:3. R. Bahya is playing on the double meanings of the words botze’a’ – which means both “break bread” and “be greedy,” and barekh, which means both “bless” and “curse” in Biblical Hebrew. that is to say, he breaks and afterwards then says the blessing, and so “has scorned the Lord.”

And when one is breaking the bread, he finishes the blessing and then breaks it. This is out of respect for a king. And accordingly it is necessary to put pleasing the Holy One Blessed Be He first before pleasing a king of flesh and blood or pleasing oneself, as it is said, “Fear the Lord, my son, and the king.”⁶⁹Prov. 24:22, i.e., in that order. Granted, here the addressee “my son” comes before the king, which seems to contradict R. Bahya’s sequence. However, he may be implying that one best looks out for one’s own interest by showing public deference to the king of flesh blood. And whoever breaks the bread before he blesses or before he finishes the blessing – he is called a glutton. About him it is said, “the greedy man [botze’a’] reviled [barekh] and scorned the Lord,”⁷⁰Ps. 10:3. R. Bahya is playing on the double meanings of the words botze’a’ – which means both “break bread” and “be greedy,” and barekh, which means both “bless” and “curse” in Biblical Hebrew. that is to say, he breaks and afterwards then says the blessing, and so “has scorned the Lord.”

One should not engage in conversation after the cup of blessing, and one should not say the blessing over a “cup of tribulations.” What is a “cup of tribulations”? A second cup. The reason for this is that pairs are bad luck. As they taught in a baraita, “Whoever drinks double – that is, a pair of cups – should not say the blessing, because of the verse “Be proper to meet your God, O Israel.”³²³Am 4:12: “Prepare to meet your God, O Israel!” (JSB), but this midrashic use of the verse picks up on the connotation of nakhon – being proper or correct – from the root of the imperative verb hikon “prepare.” And the reason for prohibiting pairs is because of witchcraft and beings composed of two who rule over anyone who eats and drinking something in pairs. And another reason to distance oneself from “twos” is that that are separated from the power of One, for pairs come from the power of “twos.” So in order to fix one’s heart on unity and distance oneself from dualistic faith, like what is alluded to in Scripture, “Do not mix with shonim,”³²⁴Pr 24:21: “Do not mix with dissenters” (JSB). However, R. Bahya is clearly playing on the connection between “shonim” – literally, “those who differ” and shnayim – “two. In other words, he reads the verse as, “Do not mix with dualists.” The Talmudic prohibitions on pairs probably had something to do with their Babylonian cultural context, i.e., the dualistic Zoroastrianism of the Sassanid Persian empire. those who believe in twos or more. Therefore they prohibited pairs even for things eaten and drunk, for it is appropriate for natural matters to be a sign and symbol of appropriate practices and beliefs,³²⁵Literally, “appropriate matters.” But some mss. of R. Bahya’s text read “intellectual and spiritual matters,” making his point clearer. in that you already knew that true beliefs thus require actions. And you see that in the story of Creation, it was not said, “that it was good” on the second day.³²⁶That expression ki tov, which appears after the descriptions of what was created on the other five days in Genesis 1, is conspicuously absent at the end of the account of day two. For we follow what they said in Genesis Rabbah, that on it dissent and Gehennah were created, and without a doubt, with things like these created on it, it is a dangerous day, on which it is prohibited to begin any work, as our rabbis z”l said, “One does not begin things on the second day, because whoever adds something to one, there’s no good in him [or it], and thus it was called yom sheni – “day two,” which is from the expression shinui – “change.” For in One there is no change, which is what is written: “For I am the Lord, I have not changed.”³²⁷Mal 3:6. But the second day was the beginning of change, and from then on, change in what was created is desirable, and on the rest of the days after it we have found basis for an accusation against all of them, e.g., on the third day God said, “Let the earth bring forth fruit trees,” but it actually brought forth only “trees bearing fruit.”³²⁸Gen 1:11,12. R. Bahya picks up on the slightly different phrasing: “fruit tree bearing fruit” (1:11) vs. “tree bearing, to imply that the earth did not do exactly as God commanded. Similarly on the fourth day the moon made an accusation saying, “It isn’t fair for two kings to use one crown.”³²⁹B. Hullin 60b. This is the midrash told there:
And God made the two great lights? but later it says: “the great light and the small light”! The moon said before the Holy One: Master of the world, is it possible for two kings to use one crown? God said to her: Go and diminish yourself! She said before God: Because I asked a good question, I should diminish myself? God said: Go and rule both in day and in night. She said: What advantage is that? A candle in the daylight is useless. God said: Go and let Israel count their days and years by you. She said: They use the daylight [of the sun] to count seasonal cycles as well…Seeing that she was not appeased, the Holy One said: Bring a (sacrificial) atonement for me that I diminished the moon! This is what R. Shimon ben Lakish said: What is different about the ram of the new moon that it is offered “for God” (And one ram of the flock for a sin offering for God…Numbers 28:14). Said the Holy One: This ram shall be an atonement for me that I diminished the moon. And likewise on the fifth day, God killed the male Leviathan,³³⁰Though in his commentary to the Torah on Gen 1:4, R. Bahya uses the version of this midrash found in b. Bava Batra 74b: God castrated the male Leviathan and killed the female Leviathan. For had they mated with one another, they would have destroyed the world. which can be interpreted as He hid the heavenly light. And likewise on the sixth day, Adam sinned and changed the will of Ha-Shem, and about this it is said, “altering his face, you sent him out.”³³¹Job 14:20, which R. Bahya interprets as “you (Adam)– changed God’s face, and so ‘made” Him (God) send you out of the Garden of Eden.” See how the second day is the cause behind all of this, because all of these things come from its power and follow it. To the extent it said “Prepare to meet your God, O Israel,”³³²Am 4:12. who is one, and it added “O Israel,” who is the one singular nation of the one God, as it is said, “And who is like Your people, one nation on earth,”³³³I Chr 17:21. you should prepare and direct yourself to meet the One. So you should not eat or drink things in pairs, so that you will not think dualistic things in your heart.

He who shuts his eyes against the ransoming of captives transgresses the negative precepts, "Thou shalt not harden thy heart",²Deut. 15:7. and, "[Thou shalt not] shut thy hand";²Deut. 15:7. also this, "Neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor",³Lev. 19:16. and this, "He shall not rule with rigor over him in thy sight";¹Lev. 25:53. and he neglects the positive precepts, "Thou shalt surely open thy hand unto him",²Dent. 15:8. and, "that thy brother may live with thee,"³Lev. 25:36. The Hebrew text permits the rendition “Let thy brother live,” etc. and, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself"⁴Lev. 19:18. and, "Deliver them that are carried away unto death."⁵Prov. 24:11.