Musar do Hioba 19:26

One can properly say that every man wise of heart and every rational man can understand the mysteries of the upper world from the illustrations of this lowly world¹⁰Altmann, ibid., p. 18 in discussing the Delphic Maxim, "Know Thyself", quotes from the Zohar Hadash, where there is a coupling together of knowing oneself and knowing one’s Lord, and makes the following comment: "The text continues: "And to make himself aware who he is"—this is the question we met twice in Moses de Leon—"and how he was created; whence he comes and whither he goes"—quoting the well-known passage in Abot 3, 1 which reflects Gnostic influence, as S. Lieberman has shown (95) "and how his body has been arranged (tiqquna de-gufa he’akh ittaqen)!—This reflects a philosophical motif which will be more fully discussed below (pp. 23, 25, 27): from the arrangement of his body man can infer the wisdom of his Maker. The term "tiqquna" used in our passage has a precedent in, for example, Samuel ben Nissim Masnut’s Ma’yan Ganim (twelfth century), where the meaning of Job 19:26, "From my flesh I behold God", is explained: "From the formation of my limbs and from the arrangement of my body (we-taqqanat gufi)—contemplating them—I behold God" (ed. Buber, 61)." He also observes, ibid., p. 24-25, "Abraham bar Hiyya closely follows Bahya in interpreting Job 19:26 to mean that "from the formation of your body (literally, ‘flesh’) and the arrangement of your limbs you can see and understand the wisdom of your Creator." This theme becomes a popular topic in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Samuel ben Nissim Masnut, who lived in twelfth-century Aleppo, quotes Job 19:26 as meaning to say that "From the formation of my limbs and from the arrangement of my body—contemplating them—I behold God (that is, the wonders of the Creator) ; for by seeing the created, man knows the wonders of the Creator, in the way in which it is said, ‘The heavens declare …’ (Ps. 19:2), which the Targum renders, ‘Those who contemplate the heaven tell the glory of the Lord.’ " . For we find that most matters of this lowly world are similar to the matters of the world above, just as we know that the forms of this world are contained in the same principle¹¹An allusion to prime matter which is a substratum. . Just as we see that the forms of a tree’s branches, flowers, and blossoms are found mainly under the earth, and even though they cannot be seen and cannot be found except through reason, we know that they are there. For an apple will not grow on a nut-bearing tree, nor will almonds grow on it, for that is not found in its root. Only that which is found in its root can come forth in its branches. There can come forth only nuts from a nut-bearing tree. If there were such a power in the roots of the tree, such a power that would bring forth apples or almonds, it would be evident in its fruit. For as they came up from the earth, there would be seen in them the forms of nuts. For there cannot grow forth from the branches anything except that which is found in the roots. Thus, we can understand that everything which is in this world comes from the strength of the other world, for the upper world is like a root¹²A Platonic notion that the idea comes first. In Midrashic thought, Torah, the idea comes first, then God’s throne of glory, then Israel, then Olam Ha’ba, the future eternity.... . This world is like branches, and therefore, through the mysteries of the lowly world, we can understand the secrets of the upper world.

Adam ruined this state of affairs by interfering with the סוד היין, the mystical properties of the grapes. [I suppose that this is based on the tree of knowledge having been a grape bearing tree. Ed.] He followed an evil path by squeezing a cluster of grapes (and consuming its juice). Had he not done so, that "wine" would have remained in the state of what our sages call the יין המשומר בענביו, "the wine that remained preserved within its grapes (compare Berachot 34).” In that event he would have been like "the cistern that does not lose a single drop” [hyperbole for total recall, see Avot 2,11. Ed.]. He would have retained all the holiness that had been his when he was created. When Adam sinned, he did not only lose some of his former glory, fall from a "high roof" (to the ground), but he fell into a "very deep pit" (below the ground). This was a בור רק, an empty pit [allusion to the pit Joseph had been thrown in. Genesis 37,24], since it did not even contain the ingredients for the survival of the species. The species was wiped out at the time of the deluge as a direct consequence of Adam having polluted that "drop of sacred semen," and made it "evil smelling." Due to G–d's personal intervention, Noach was saved seeing he was righteous, and the righteous are the foundation of the universe. The present universe was founded by him as a result.

Rabbi Yaakov said that such a person diminishes G–d's image in the world His statement presupposes that Torah is the imprint of G–d, and that Israel is the imprint of the Torah. The scriptural allusion to this state of affairs is: ומבשרי אחזה אלוקה, "but I would behold G–d while still in my flesh" (Job 19,26).

Rabbi Yochanan looks at the chain reaction which follows performance of the first מצוה and deems it as sufficient to attract blessings from G–d. He presumably took his cue from Job 33,23: אם יש עליו מלאך מליץ אחד מני אלף להגיד לאקדם ישרו, "If he has a representative (angel), one advocate against a thousand, to declare the man's uprightness." In line with the tradition that every מצוה performed results in the creation of a "good" angel, Rabbi Yochanan feels that such an advocate is already something substantive. When the Torah speaks about the curse in 11,28, it makes certain that the words לא תשמעון are followed immediately by the words וסרתם מן הדרך, "you depart from the path," a reference to action. While G–d grants blessing for a good intention even when it could not be translated into action, He does not curse for the mere failure to listen to the commandments, to Torah lectures. Only once such non-study and non-preparedness to listen results in violation of the commandments will the punishment take into account the attitude displayed which led to the violation. Midrash Shmuel on Avot 3,1 "then you will not commit a sin," points out that Akavyah does not speak about the sin coming to you but about you coming to the sin. With the right attitude you can stop yourself even when the sin has come quite close to you. The Torah uses the word ראה in the singular, instead of ראו, plural which would have matched the rest of the verse, in order to underline the importance of the performance of even a single commandment.