잠언 8:17의 탈무드

The following are written with a he which is not pronounced: when I saw;²⁵Josh. 7, 21, written wa’er’eh and read wa’erë’. and I brought;²⁶ibid. XXIV, 8, written wa’abih and read wa’abi. the lion²⁷2 Sam. 23, 20, written ha’aryeh and read ha’ari. in the Book of Samuel;²⁸This excludes the parallel passage in 1 Chron. 11, 22 where ha’ari is both written and read. was he found;²⁹Jer. 48, 27, written nimẓa’ah but the reading is nimẓa’. and … saw;³⁰ibid. III, 7, written wattir’eh and read watter’ë’. this [city];³¹ibid. XXVI, 6, written hazzothah and read hazzoth. evil;³²Micah 3, 2, written ra‘ah and read ra‘. [the] evil;³³Jer. 18, 10, written hara‘ah and read hara‘. gone down;³⁴ibid. XV, 9, written ba’ah and read ba’. and he shall come;³⁵ibid. XLIII, 11, written uba’ah and read uba’. and a line;³⁶1 Kings 7, 23, written weḳaweh and read weḳaw. and a line;³⁷Zech. 1, 16, as in the preceding note. thoroughly;³⁸V incorrectly gives the keyword as wera‘. Ps. 51, 4, written harbeh and read hereb. them that love me;³⁹Prov. 8, 17, written ’ohabehah and read ’ohabai. and … friend;⁴⁰ibid. XXVII, 10, written were‘eh and read were‘a. deal;⁴¹Ruth 1, 8, written ya‘aseh and read ya‘as. open;⁴²Dan. 9, 18, written piḳḥah and read peḳaḥ. a lion;⁴³Lam. 3, 10, written ’aryeh and read ’ari. V incorrectly connects this with the next word joining them together as one. these;⁴⁴Ezra 5, 15, written ’elleh and read ’el. venison.⁴⁵V incorrectly reads ẓur. Gen. 27, 3, written ẓedah and read ẓayid.
The reverse is the case with the following:⁴⁶In the preceding a written he is not pronounced, but the following are spelt without a he which is to be pronounced. and multiplied;⁴⁷Josh. 24, 3, written wa’ereb and read wa’arbeh. on the housetop;⁴⁸1 Sam. 9, 26, written haggag and read haggagah. and they;⁴⁹2 Sam. 21, 9, written wehem and read wehemmah. be he;⁵⁰1 Kings 1, 37, written yehi and read yihyeh. and … shal be;⁵¹2 Kings 9, 37, written wehayath and read wehayethah. and behold;⁵²Isa. 41, 23, written wenerë and read wenireh. behold;⁵³ibid. LIV, 16, written hen and read hinneh. planted;⁵⁴In Jer. 17, 8, referring to yireh (shall … see) which is spelt without the final hei. Gedaliah;⁵⁵ibid. XL, 16, referring to ta‘aseh (do) which is without the final hei. and … she doted;⁵⁶Ezek. 23, 16, written watta‘gob and read watta‘gebah. the measure;⁵⁷ibid. XLV, 3, where ḥamesh (five) is written and ḥamishshah read. and I shall be glorified;⁵⁸Hag. 1, 8, written we’ekkabed and read we’ekkabedah. three;⁵⁹In Prov. 30, 18, we’arba‘ (yea, four) is written and we’arba‘ah read. she considereth;⁶⁰ibid. XXXI, 16, naṭa‘ (planteth) is written and naṭ‘ah read. she perceiveth;⁶¹ibid. 18, ballayil (by night) is written and ballayelah read. arise;⁶²In Lam. 2, 19, the same variant occurs as in the preceding. remember;⁶³ibid. V, 1, habbeṭ (behold) is written and habbiṭah read. turn Thou us;⁶⁴ibid. 21, wenashub (and we shall be turned) is written and wenashubah read. thou hast declared;⁶⁵1 Sam XXIV, 19, we’at is written and we’attah read. thou … hast cursed;⁶⁶Eccles. 7, 22, where the same variant occurs as in the preceding. Thou hast set;⁶⁷Ps. 90, 8, written shatta and read shattah. Thou hast made;⁶⁸Neh. 9, 6, written ’at and read ’attah. is sore affrighted;⁶⁹In Ps. 6, 4 the same variant occurs as in the preceding. the carved work thereof;⁷⁰ibid. LXXIV, 6, written we‘at and read we‘attah. with her harlotries;⁷¹In Ezek. 23, 43, written ‘at and read ‘attah. turn back;⁷²In Ruth 1, 12, lekna (go your way) omits the final hei. disclose;⁷³ibid. IV, 4, where we’eda‘ (that I may know) is written and read we’ede‘ah. Thou [hast] made an hedge;⁷⁴In Job 1, 10, ’at (Thou) is written and ’attah read. and [he] saw.⁷⁵ibid. XLII, 16, written wayyar and read wayyireh.

¹This chapter, known as Pereḳ Ḳinyan Torah, ‘The Chapter on the Acquisition of the Torah’, or as Pereḳ R. Meir, ‘The Chapter of R. Meir’, is an appendix to the tractate Aboth. Cf. Aboth, Sonc. ed., p. 78, n. 2. It is printed in P.B., pp. 208ff.BARAITHA. R. Meir said: Whoever occupies himself with the Torah for its own sake merits many things; nay more, the whole world is beholden to him. He is called friend,²Cf. Isa. 41, 8, where it is used of Abraham. beloved,³Cf. Prov. 8, 17, I love them that love me. a lover of the All-present and a lover of his fellow-creatures, one who gladdens⁴Cf. Judg. 9, 13, [wine] which cheereth God and man. The Torah is compared by the Rabbis to wine. the All-present and his fellow-creatures. It clothes him⁵Cf. Isa. 61, 10, He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. with meekness and reverence [of God]; it fits him to be righteous, pious, upright and faithful; it keeps him far from sin and brings him near to merit. From him men enjoy counsel, sound knowledge, understanding and strength; as it is stated, Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom; I am understanding, power is mine.⁶Prov. 8, 14. It gives him sovereignty,⁷A regal appearance. dominion,⁸An impressive personality. greatness and [the ability to be] searching in judgment, and to him are revealed the secret [meanings] of the Torah.⁹Cf. Ps. 25, 14; Amos 3, 7. He becomes like a well that never fails and like a stream which gathers strength as it flows on. He is modest, patient and forgiving of insults directed at him It makes him great and exalts him above all things.

‘He is called friend’ of the Divine Presence,⁸⁶Midrash Rabbah, Exodus, XXVII, 1 (Sonc. ed., p. 321): ‘Thine own friend (Prov. 27, 10) is the Holy One, blessed be He’. as it is written. For my brethren and companions’ sakes, I will now say: Peace be within thee.⁸⁷Ps. 122, 8. ‘Beloved’, as it is written, I love them that love me, and those that seek me earnestly shall find me.⁸⁸Prov. 8, 17. ‘One who gladdens the All-present and his fellow-creatures’: This teaches that a man should appear justified before his fellow-creatures as well as before the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is written, Then ye shall be clear before the Lord, and before Israel.⁸⁹Num. 32, 22. ‘Gladden the All-present’: as it is written, Behold, this is the joy of his way.⁹⁰Job 8, 19 interpreted of God. [‘Gladden] his fellow-creatures’: as it is written, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.⁹¹Isa. 49, 3.
‘It clothes him with meekness’: Who taught this? R. Joshua b. Levi who said:⁹²Cf. ‘A.Z. 20b (Sonc. ed., p. 107). Meekness is the greatest of them all. Since the last part reads ‘R. Joshua b. Levi said’, it must be deduced that the first part is not by R. Joshua b. Levi! Something is missing in the Baraitha and read it as follows: ‘[Meekness is] the greatest of them all, and further said R. Joshua b. Levi’. But perhaps the author of the statement is R. Meir? We do not find anywhere that R. Meir said, ‘Reverence is best’.⁹³The word ‘reverence’ seems to be an error for ‘meekness’, otherwise the answer is unintelligible. [Because in the Baraitha ‘reverence’ is linked with ‘meekness’, the answer may be that since R. Meir nowhere makes the statement with respect to the first, it cannot be his statement.]
‘It fits him to be righteous, pious’, etc. What is meant by ‘righteous’ and what by ‘pious’? ‘Righteous’ is one who does right actions; ‘pious’ is one who practises acts of loving-kindness. Since [the Baraitha] cites these [virtues], why does it mention ‘upright [and faithful]’? ‘Upright’ means one who is upright in his ways, ‘faithful’ denotes one who is faithful in spirit.
‘It keeps him far from sin’: even from the sin of others. ‘And brings him near to merit’: even the merit of others. ‘From him men enjoy sound knowledge’: What is meant by tushiyyah? The Torah. And why is it called tushiyyah? Because it weakens the strength of a man⁹⁴Cf. Sanh. 26b (Sonc. ed., p. 155) where the word is derived from the root תשש, ‘to weaken’. [through his constant study of it]. Another explanation: Because it was given in secret on account of Saṭan.⁹⁵Cf. Sanh. loc. cit. Saṭan opposed the Torah being given to Moses because he argued that the Israelites would later violate it by worshipping the Golden Calf. Cf. Shab. 89a, Tosafoth s.v. Torah quoting a Midrash. Another explanation: Because it is composed of chaotic matter which is the foundation of the world.⁹⁶תושיה is taken to be a combination of תו, i.e. תהו, ‘chaos’ and שיה, equated with שתיה, ‘foundation’.