전도서 4:18의 Quotation

One of the foundations of Torah morality is the duty to offer protection to the weak and helpless such as widows, orphans, the newcomers within the community, and the dead. These obligations are emphasized because they offer the one who protects the helpless a special opportunity to experience a relationship with God. No direct reward is anticipated from the powerless, for they lack the resources to repay the kindness. Therefore, the reward can only come from God, and such rewards can be expected to derive from the world which is not under the sun. In Biblical code, these duties are often marked by the phrase, "Remember that you were strangers in Egypt, I am the Lord your God." Compare the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Berachot, p. 19a, and its discussion of the obligation to bury an unclaimed corpse.

All of a person's actions, both good and bad, are motivated by instinctive urges which characterize the world of under the sun. Jealousy can be channeled into the development of great skill, into thievery, into scholarship and perhaps even into philanthropy. However, the perspective of what is done under the sun only sees that these instinctive urges (yetzer ha'rah) are the source of futile and destructive actions, that every good action is contaminated by its venal motivation. However, there is another perspective which recognizes that without jealousy, greed, ambition, or desire for fame, not very much would get done. The urgent pressure of hunger, cold, fear or desire for recognition can also motivate a person to accomplish worthwhile objectives.

The Talmud in the Chapter of Fundamentals (Pirke Avot, 4.1) makes the connection between wisdom and capacity for learning. "Ben Zoma says, 'Who is wise? He who learns from all men,' as it is said, 'From all my teachers I gained wisdom (Psalms 119.99).'" Wisdom is not the accumulation of learning, but the capacity for learning. In this sense, the wisdom of the child may exceed the wisdom of an old king.

The old and foolish king is not cautious because his power has blinded him to the underlying uncertainty of things. Even though he may have access to every pleasure under the sun, he is not so well off as the poor child who is full of potential and capable of learning.

Good derives from limitation, constraint and respecting guidelines. Wickedness is related to unfettered power, arrogance and licentiousness. The paradox of Kohelet is that the beneficial system of guidelines and constraint derives from our relationship with what is beyond our grasp, and not completely demonstrable or self-evident. Hence, the child who has no rigid perception eventually will grow into power, and the ruler who is rigid will eventually cause his kingdom to live in poverty.

The inability to identify with posterity is a defect which is characteristic of living only under the sun. The alienation from ancestors and from succeeding generations results from the narrow focus of getting and spending, for living only under the sun. The first mitzvah in the Torah is to be fruitful and multiply, that is to dedicate our efforts for succeeding generations. Like all of the mitzvot, having and rearing children is a pathway for moving beyond what is under the sun.

However, without his [first reaching a spiritual level at which] the Commandments are nullified and no longer need apply to him, it is impossible for [the great man] to upturn the Decrees into Commandments. For example, all the negative Commandments like do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal - warnings which are not applicable to [the great man] in relation to the breaking of his lustful pursuit of all the physical attributes [since] he'd never use them for his personal needs whatsoever, but [rather] only for God. All actions for his personal needs are abhorrent to him as mud and feces, from which we need not warn any man to distance himself as he would in any case do so out of disgust. In this vein, King David, peace be upon him, said "and my heart is void within me". For a person of this ilk, for whom the Commandments need not apply, to him is revealed the reasoning of the Decrees, and the Decrees thus become as though Commandments. And this is what they of blessed memory meant that in the days of the Messiah the Commandments will be nullified "for the Land will be filled with Understanding of God", and they will possess a different Torah from the Decrees which will become as Commandments. And when a person goes from strength to strength, higher and higher, until he reaches and stands before the root of the whole Torah and Commandments which is "I am HaShem your God...", simple unity and infinite, he then crimps the wings of all the Commandments and Decrees, and they are all nullified. And this is the nullification of the Evil Inclination and elevation of it [back] to prior to the beginning of creation. For from where [else] does the Evil Inclination come? In truth, in the beginning and prior to the creation is the positive [Commandment(s)] "I am HaShem your God..." and [only] afterward the negative [Commandments]. But in [human] perception of the Commandments [the order] must be reversed - in the beginning to 'abandon evil' (negative commandments) and then 'do good' (positive commandments). For a man in his beginning is [in the aspect of] "a wild ass is born a man" - his [spiritual] level is very low and he needs to add from the mundane onto his holiness, higher and higher, until [he reaches] "I am HaShem your God..." And this is [the meaning] of the convert who came to be converted and wanted to learn the whole Torah [standing] on one leg. Meaning, [the whole Torah] in one self-sustaining construct. And in truth his lesson [should have been] that indeed the source of all is "I am HaShem your God" (as above). But the convert could not have understood the apprehension of [the positive] "I am..." if not by way of the negation prior ("And you shall not have"), in order that it be on his level, which begins very low. And this is why he said "The rest is commentary. Go study"; for the [actual] Commandment is [the positive form] "Love thy neighbor..." and the negated [form] "that which is hateful to you, do not do to another" - they are the Commandments "I am..." and "You shall not...", [respectively]. And in accordance with Rashi's understanding, this is "And these are the generations of Isaac the son of Abraham" for it is the order of creation and the meaning is that Isaac, who is the constriction (TzimTzum) and the boundaries (Gevurot), is the son of Abraham who is loving-kindess (Chesed) and simple unity. And from these, they propagated to the entire world. And this is what Rashi of blessed memory explained in that 'the generations are Jacob and Esav who are spoken about in the Section'. For as Rashi explained about Esav "he was made and fully developed with hair" on the day he was born. And as the Zohar states on the verse "When an ox or a sheep or a goat is born", immediately upon the day it is born it is called an Ox, in contrast to a Man. Although in reality [only] a man's materialistic attributes are [in fact] fully developed on the day he's born, as is said 'Sin couches at the door...of the elderly king and the fool'. And so on the day of his birth he was called Esav. Afterward Jacob's hand held onto Esav's heel, the meaning of which is that 'his hand' is [Jacob's] perception which is Lower Wisdom [represented by the letter] YuD - and this is YaDo/Hand. And afterward, from [the Lower Wisdom] he reaches Upper Wisdom and the Commandment "I am..." which is the simple unity. He who is of understanding will understand.