Cytowanie Komentarza do Psalmów 104:24

זאת החיה אשר תאכלו מכל הבהמה אשר על הארץ, “these are the creatures which you may eat from among all the animals on earth:” If you will take a good look at this paragraph and at the paragraphs following them, you will realize that there is an overall pattern to the sequence in which they have been written. They correspond to the four basic elements of the universe which we explained in connection with Genesis 1,2. Here the Torah proceeds in an ascending manner. You are aware that in Genesis they appeared in a descending manner. The four basic materials of terrestrial earth are: fire, wind (atmosphere), water, earth. This is also the order in which Solomon arranged these four basic components of our terrestrial universe in Proverbs 30,4. He writes: “Who has ascended heaven and come down? Who has gathered up the wind in the hollows of his hand? Who has wrapped the waters in his garment? Who has established all the extremities of the earth?” In the paragraphs before us the order of these phenomena and allusions to them has been reversed, so that their identifying symbol instead of being ארמ'ע has been reversed to become עמר'א. Here the Torah commenced with the element earth, dust, when it wrote: “these are the creatures on earth that you may eat.” In the second paragraph the Torah speaks of the element water, telling us what creatures in the water we are allowed to eat. In the third paragraph the Torah speaks about the atmosphere, telling us which birds (categories) must not be eaten. The Torah tells us which birds or winged creatures we must abhor (11,13). In the fourth paragraph the Torah alludes to the element fire which is the fourth element, the least substantive of all. The paragraph (11,29) begins with the words: “these are the contaminated ones, (ritually impure) among the teeming animals that teem upon the earth.” Among the categories listed is the צב which consists of two groups including the salamander. it is alluded to in the word למינהו, “according to their kinds,” an expression not found with the other seven of these contaminated creatures. According to an ancient tradition this salamander has its origin in fire; it is the product of a furnace which has been heated for seven years consecutively both by day and by night. This enabled the salamander (dragon?) to mature during all this time. If it were to separate from the fire even for a moment it would die, just as fish die when they are removed from their element, i.e. water. [Our author bases himself on the Sifra of Talmudic times. Tosafot Chagigah 27, speak of such creatures which we think of as strictly belonging to mythology, Ed.] When Rabbi Akiva came to the verse והצב למינהו (verse 29), he exclaimed: “how great and marvelous are Your works o Lord, You have created them all with wisdom; You created huge monsters in the sea, huge animals on land, If the ones in the sea would be placed on land they would die at once, whereas if the huge land animals like elephants were to be placed in the sea they would drown at once. You created great creatures with fire and large creatures in the atmosphere. If the ones which thrive on fire would be placed in the atmosphere they would die immediately, whereas if the ones whose habitat is the atmosphere were to be put to the fire they would burn to death immediately. This then was what David had in mind in Psalms 104,24 when he wrote the words quoted above” (compare Sifra Shemini 8,7).

[Ps. 104:23]: “Man goes forth to his work”: the attribute of day; “and to his work unto evening”: serving the attribute of night. That is why it says here “and it was good” [Gen. 1:18], for the lights were kindled to receive the power of the soul. Thus far the completion of the fourth day, including the attributes of day and night. It is said that all creatures are attached and bound to these, the source of all that they bring forth. These rule, as master rules over servant, one over the day and the other over the night. Thus the passage concludes: “How many are Your works, O Lord, You have made them all in wisdom,¹⁸³Both tiferet, the sun or power of day, and shekhinah, the moon or power of night, rule by the power of hokhmah, source of the flow that animates them. the earth is filled with Your creations” [Ps. 104:24].

Reading of the Rome ms. Venice: אבסקטא, but in Avodah zarah 1:9, the Venice text is equal to the Rome text here. Greek ἀβάσκαντα, “secure against witchcraft, free from harm” (D. de Lara in כתר כהונה). In the Babli, Avodah zarah 20a/b, Rabban (Simeon ben) Gamliel is reported to have quoted a verse (Ps. 104:24): “How great are Your works, o Eternal!”