Cytowanie Komentarza do Lamentacje Jeremiasza 2:14

Between Paran and between Tophel. The phrase between… and between gives me room to add my own hand and explain it about that which occurs between the 17th of Tammuz and the ninth of Av. For “Paran” refers to the incident of the spies, where they cried needlessly, and crying was established for generations on the night of the ninth of Av. And “Tophel” refers to the golden calf that they made. For what Rashi explained, that they complained about [made “taflu”] the manna, has no parallel in Scripture. It would have been more appropriate if Rashi had explained it from the language Can that which is tasteless [tafeil] be eaten without salt? (Job 6:6), for anything without taste is called “tafeil,” and this would have agreed with Rashi’s words.
But according to our approach, it makes more sense that “tophel” alludes to the incident of the golden calf, because we find this term used for idolatry in several places. In Jeremiah (23:13) it is written: And in the prophets of Samaria I have seen folly [tiflah]; they prophesied by Baal, etc. And it is written (Lamentations 2:14): Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive [tafeil] visions, etc. And similarly, Ezekiel called them plasterers of folly [tafeil] (13:11). And so said the makers of the golden calf, These are your gods, O Israel (Exodus 32:4). With this, they attributed falsehood [tiflah] to God, and this occurred on the 17th of Tammuz, and on that same day the tablets were broken. And the breaking of these stones was established for generations, for on the 17th of Tammuz the wall of the city and its stones were breached.
And between these two boundaries, Israel lies crouching between the borders, and this is the meaning of between… and between mentioned here, as it is written (Lamentations 1:3): All her pursuers overtook her between the straits. For between the sin of the golden calf and the sin of the spies, [Israel] crouched and bowed down, and they could not rise, because naturally there is no salvation from the distress of the enemy except in one of two ways, or both together: Either through the providence of God, who saves all who cling to Him, even if they are not naturally strong, nevertheless when they fulfill you shall love the Lord your God, which causes attachment to God, then He saves all who cling to Him; or naturally, when they fulfill love your neighbor as yourself. Then each person helps his fellow, even if they are sinners and God has departed from them. Still, they have some hope naturally if the heavenly orchestration does not oppose them.

and pours great scorn on Zophar's philosophy. He argues that man's mind was created with the ability to attain clear perceptions; his sense-perceptions are real perceptions and are the essential qualities of things. Man was not created to be made a fool of; a dreamer in an imaginary world. He is a citizen of the real world. It is inconceivable that his Creator made him for a joke and a prank;²⁰Below, in the Introduction to the Seventh Oration, Malbim reasons that the covariance of human observations—the fact that different independent observers of an event agree with one another, or can be reconciled with one another—is proof of their truth. When discussing whether or not objective reality is an illusion, Descartes had maintained that though it is only through our mind's interpretations of our sensory experiences that knowledge of a world external to us comes, they are not all that exists: 'God, being perfect, would not be a deceiver; He would not make us believe in the existence of a material universe if it were not real' (M. Kline, p.7).
Spinoza too had asserted the absolute reality and adequacy of human knowledge: Mens humana adaequatum habet cognitionem aeternae et infinitae essentiae Dei. (Ethics, Prop.XLVII, Part 2). And so, according to Spinoza, all that exists, including God Himself, is immanent and accessible to our senses and intellect.
In his Investigation of the Laws of Thought (p.40), Boole states:
...if the laws in question are really deduced from observation, they have real existence as laws of the human mind, independently of any metaphysical theory which may seem to be involved in the mode of their statement. They contain an element of truth which no ulterior criticism upon the nature, or even upon the reality, of the mind's operations, can essentially affect.
However as regards metaphysics he adds:
…as respects both the determination of the laws of thought, and the practical use of them when discovered, we are, for all really scientific ends, unconcerned with the truth or falsehood of any metaphysical speculations whatever. for pointless burdens and hallucinations (Lamentations 2:14), emptiness and chasing the wind (Ecclesiastes 1:14).