Halakhah sobre Provérbios 30:34

Further, I will ask you, my brother, about the wiles of the evil inclination (for [my asking you this] is not in the category of lashon hara). Look into yourself: If it were known to you of a certainty that one publicized about you that you were not wise (and the like in the area of negation of eminence), how resentful you would be of him for this! You would think: "What signs of folly did he see in me? He is nothing other than an evil-hearted person and a speaker of lashon hara, whose desire is only to demean his friend and to degrade him!" And yet, when you yourself do this to your friend, who in many things is much better than you to the L–rd and to people, you do not see this as a sin at all! See the great blindness in this! And, in truth, when you reflect upon this, you will find in this instance of the varieties of the issur of lashon hara many more [elements] than in the others. This is so because in other instances of his saying about his friend that he transgressed an issur both in the area of "between man and his Maker" or in the area of "between man and his neighbor," it very often happens that his sole intent is zeal for the L–rd. And though this is of no avail for the din [it still being considered lashon hara (viz. Principle IV, section 2, and also section 1), still his intent was not for evil; as opposed to this instance, where his sole intent was to demean his friend and degrade him, an egregiously bad trait, as explained in the Sha'arei Teshuvah of Rabbeinu Yonah. And also, in terms of the hearer. For in the other aforementioned instances of lashon hara, his [the speaker's] words are not immediately accepted. And, of a certainty, many listeners will say: "So long as we do not see it with our own eyes, we will not believe it. And certainly, in what you have said, even if it is true, there must have been some mitigating circumstances which led him to act in this manner, for, as it was told, we cannot believe such things of him." And if it develops afterwards that what he said is false, the speaker will be an object of scorn and shame to all, for having spread a false report of his friend. But in this instance, if he degrades his friend and publicizes him as a fool and a simpleton to all, as a result of which all the townspeople will make him an object of shame and scorn, it often happens, in our many sins, that not one of the hearers will say: "Speak less and pity the honor of Israel. Why do you have to shame him so much!" — as if the speaker had done no wrong thereby. And of such a speaker it is said (Mishlei 30:20): "She ate and wiped her mouth and said: 'I have done no wrong.'"

And the world of souls, this is what is called ‘Garden of Eden’ (gan aden) among the sages, and they called it this by way of an allegory, using the example of how the body takes delight (mitaden) in a garden, and so it is written about the Garden of Eden in the land, ‘He set him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it,’ (Gen 2:5) – this heavenly Garden of Eden is the world of souls comparable but in contrast to it, and it is call ‘Garden of Eden’ too, and it is the reward for doing the mitzvot in which the soul takes delight, using the image of the body taking delight in a garden. And to the extent that the Torah does not specify explicitly anywhere the matter of the Garden of Eden being destined for the soul as a reward for the mitzvot, but does specify the bodily things destined for Israel when they return most certainly to their land, when they will have “all their rains in their season”⁹³Lev 26:4. and with the abundance of blessing and happiness – this matter is because the Torah was given to the masses of all of Israel, and the masses would not be able to understand the destined intellectual things. So even if the Torah would come to tell about this in brief, they would not find in it any way in to understand it, they wouldn’t be up to it, and it would be for them like a dream without an interpretation. And if the story of this went on at length in Scripture, wouldn’t more doubts be raised, the more was written about it? So for this reason, the Torah did not want to go down this road, neither in brief nor at length, because the masses wouldn’t believe in any of it, until they would see a sign or confirmation of it with their own eyes, and therefore the wisdom of the Torah comes in a story about physical rewards destined to come, to go on at length about them since they are preparation for the soul’s recompense, which is her “Garden of Eden,” and since they are a sign and confirmation for what they wouldn’t understand. And for this reason the Torah did not mention it explicitly in the story of the Garden of Eden, and by concealing it lest doubts multiply and confusion in understanding them ensue, but did mention openly what is the sign and confirmation of it. So this reason is correct and sufficient to all who understand and discern that the Torah was given to the masses. However, the “engaged intellectual” [maskil nilvav⁹⁴This expression from R. Bahya ibn Pakuda’s Duties of the Heart -(Hovot ha-Levavot), Sha’ar Yihud Chapter 1, plays on the connection to “heart”, and refers to someone philosophically trained but also “with a heart” – that is, emotionally engaged, not intellectually distant. He says the “maskil nilvav will strive to strip the shells of the words and their materiality from the subject.” In other words, it is out of emotionally longing to connect to God, that he will use philosophy to strip away the linguistic and material obstacles to that connection.] who delves deeply into it, will find everything in the Torah, “as milk under pressure produces butter”⁹⁵Prov 30:33. – whoever is found engaged in the Torah, the milk he suckles from the breast of his mother will produce the “butter” of Torah.⁹⁶Chavel thinks R. Bahya has in mind this midrash on Prov 30:33 in b. Berakhot 63b: “‘As milk under pressure produces butter’ – In whom do find the butter of Torah? In him who spits up the milk he suckled from his mother for it.” And so you who are an engaged intellectual – “Turn it and turn it because everything is in it!”⁹⁷M. Avot 5 (end). I think R. Bahya means by this analogy that the baby “churns” his mother’s milk in his mouth and turns it into butter, and similarly the engaged intellectual “churns” Torah by “turning it and turning it” and so turns it into “the butter of Torah.” Similarly, medieval Christian monastic educators described the active process of reading as “rumination.” You will find in the matter of Enoch that “And Enoch walked with God”⁹⁸Gen 5:24: va-yithalakh Hanokh et ha-elohim. And this “walking with God” is as the Targum translated it into Aramaic, “And Enoch walked in fear of the Lord.”⁹⁹Targum Onkelos Gen 5:24: Ve-halikh hanokh be-dahalta’ d’YHVH. Enoch was a “righteous man who rules in the fear of God,”¹⁰⁰2 Samuel 23:3.as it is said, “for God took him,”¹⁰¹Gen 5:24. – it is known that the “taking” was because of his virtue and goodness, because he was a righteous man. And if so, from here we get the explanation of the matter of “the Garden of Eden” for the soul of the righteous. And you will also find in the Torah in parashat “Im be-hukotai” that it is promise for the future, the world to come, for it is written there, “I will look with favor on you,¹⁰²Lev 26:9.” and this means that “My goodwill [ratzon]will be attached to you,” and the “goodwill” of Ha-Shem (may He be blessed) is the life of the world to come. This is what is referred to in what is written: “hayyim birtzono” – “When He is pleased, there is life,”¹⁰³Ps 30:6. and thus it is also written there, “I shall walk about – hithalakhti – in your midst.”¹⁰⁴Lev 26:12 And what is destined here is not to be understood in the category of things destined for the body, but rather from things destined for the soul in the world to come, which is what is referred to when it is written: “moving about – mithalekh – in the breezy part of the day.”¹⁰⁵Gen 3:8: “They [Adam and Eve] heard the sound of the Lord God moving about [mithalekh] in the garden at the breezy time of the day.” And our sages interpreted this in a midrash:¹⁰⁶Sifra Be-Hukkotai Chapter 3.”‘Va-hithalakhti be-tokhekham -I will walk about in their midst.’ In time to come the Holy One Blessed be He will stroll around with the righteous in the Garden of Eden.” And similarly they said, “In time to come the Holy One Blessed be He will arrange a “greenbelt”¹⁰⁷Mahol- untilled land surrounding a vineyard (Jastrow). However, mahol has the additional connotation of a chorus of singers and dancers, so R. Bahya may also be alluding to the “Mahanayyim dance” he mentioned in the First Gate. In any case, the main point of this image is that it is circular, with God in the center. The “choreography” of the souls of the “Garden of Eden”, is that they will be arranged in a circle with God in the center, as R. Bahya goes on to explain. for the righteous in the Garden of Eden, and His Presence will be among them.”¹⁰⁸B. Ta’anit 3a. The achievement of this joy for the souls is compared to an endless eternal “greenbelt,” because the circle goes around a point, and the point is in the center, which is why the Talmud says “His Presence will be among them –beynahem.” And similarly the Torah specified “in your midst – be-tokhekham,“¹⁰⁹Lev 26:12. because Israel is compared to circle, and He himself to the center point. And after it said, “I will walk about in your midst,” it said, “I will be your God,” ¹¹⁰Ibid. and our sages z”l interpreted this in a midrash,¹¹¹B. Taanit 31a. “And each and every one of them will point to Him with their finger, as it is said, ‘Behold! This is our God!”¹¹²Is 25:9. The word “this” is an allegory for nearing complete intellectual conception, like someone who has knowledge of something that exists and recognizes it clearly, and understands it as distinct from other things. And you should not understand “this” literally, like what you would mean if you were standing in front of a person and pointing them out, but rather, it is like what is meant when the Torah said, “For this man Moses…”¹¹³Ex 32:1: “When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, the people gathered against Aaron and said to him, ‘Come make us a god who shall go before us, for this man Moses, who brought us from the land of Egypt – we do not know what happened to him”who was not standing among them, but about whom they had specific knowledge. From here¹¹⁴From the expression “I shall walk about in your midst” in Lev 26:12. it should be clear to the enlightened that the world of souls is the “Garden of Eden” for the soul, but Scripture mixes it in the general list of things destined for the body, and depended on the intellect of the enlightened to discern it from them, that it would not be hidden from him as it would be from the masses.

The truth is that Scripture mentions the heavens and the earth because they form one globe, with the heavens like the circumference and the earth like the point at the center.¹³ Ibn Ezra is of the opinion that the “heavens” spoken of in Genesis refer to the lower sky, the atmosphere that is immediately above the earth. Genesis does not speak of the spheres of planets and stars that encompass the earth. See Ibn Ezra’s commentary to Genesis 1:1–2. Now the earth was covered with water from all sides, as it is written “they will not return to cover the earth” (Psalms 104:9), and the wind surrounds the waters.¹⁴ Thus the lower world consists of four spheres, each one encompassing those below it. Their order from innermost to outermost is: earth, water, air, and fire. The ancients believed that everything in the lower world, the world below the moon’s sphere, is composed of four elements – fire, air, water, and earth. This lower world is the subject of Creation in the book of Genesis. These are the four elements, namely, the heavens, earth, wind and water, for the heavens correspond to fire. Similarly we find “To make a weight for the wind and He counted the waters by measure” (Job 28:25), “For He gazes to the edges of the earth, under all the heavens He sees” (ibid. 28:24). Similarly, “Who measured the waters with his fist and counted the heavens with a span, and all the dust of the earth in a measure… who counted the wind of God” (Isaiah 40:12–13). Again, “Who ascended to the heavens and descended” (Proverbs 30:4), and the other three follow the word “heavens.”¹⁵ The verse reads: “Who ascended to the heavens and descended, who gathered wind in his fists, who bound the waters in a garment, who erected the ends of earth” (Proverbs 30:4). Here again, the four basic elements are enumerated. Also, “The sun shines” (Ecclesiastes 1:5) corresponds to the heavens, “and the earth remains forever” (ibid. 1:4), “round and round goes the wind” (ibid. 1:6), “all the rivers go to the sea” (ibid. 1:7). Since the circumference, which is the heavens, and the center, which is the earth, were created, so too all that is between them was created.

R. Judah said in the name of Rav, "If a man found a nest in the sea, he is bound to let the dam go since it is written, 'Thus said the Lord who makes a way in the sea' (Isaiah 43:16). Then, in the like manner, if a man found a nest in the sky inasmuch as it is written, 'The way of the eagle is in the sky' (Proverbs 30:19) he should also, should he not, be bound to let the dam go?" [The sky] is referred to as the "way of the eagle" but never simply as a "way."

(Hay-Nun) ‘Behold man is the one’ in which there is one shrine, as we have elucidated in most of the sections of this introduction of ours. And [it is] as it is [found] in the Zohar, Parashat Korach 94 (3:176a-b), “The One only dwells among the one.” See there. And the unity that [comes] as a result of the commandments permitted the Divine Presence to dwell among Israel through the twenty-two letters of the Torah. As included in it are the six hundred and thirteen commandments – the three hundred sixty-five positive commandments and the two hundred and forty-eight negative commandments – corresponding to the sinews and limbs of a man.⁹⁷Targum Yonatan on Genesis 1:27; Zohar 1:170b. And so was it explained in Paragraph Tzaddi in explanation of the verse (Isaiah 59:2) “But your iniquities have been a barrier between you,” that [the Jews] are united through the commandments and divided one from another through sins.⁹⁸This specific verse is not explained in our text. However the topic is broached in Paragraph Tsadi, and it is possible that this is the reference here, and not Paragraph Bet, as appears in the printed editions. However, it is even more likely that the reference is to Binah Le’Etim (Drash 48) of Rabbi Azariah Figo, as per the correction found in the New York Shivelei David edition, as both the verse and the idea are found there. (Hence the notation Si. Bet, which was understood as a reference to Siman Bet, should have been S. Bet, which could mean Sefer Binah Le’Etim.) And this was the intention of Hillel who said to the convert, “[‘And you shall love your neighbor as yourself’ (Lev. 19:18)] – that is the entire Torah, and the rest is its explanation. Go study.”⁹⁹Shabbat 31a. [Its] explanation is that the other commandments are explanations of the unity through which Israel joins together and becomes one. And this is also elucidated in the midrash (Vayikra Rabbah 13:3) that says, “What does the Holy One, blessed be He care if he slaughters, etc.? Behold, [the commandments] were only given to refine (letsaref, which can also mean, unite) the creatures, as it is stated (Prov. 30:5), ‘the word of God is refined.’” [Its] explanation is that through the commandments, the Children of Israel will be unified. And also there in Midrash Rabbah on Parashat Vayechi,¹⁰⁰The reference seems to be to Bereishit Rabbah 98:3. Differing versions of the midrash are brought in several other places such as Midrash Tanchuma, Vayehi 8:2. “Yaakov said to his sons, ‘Maybe because you come from four mothers, you have a tinge of idolatry?’ They said to him, ‘It is written (Num. 1:20), “according to the house of their fathers” – just like there is only One in your heart.’” And the author of the Yafeh Toar¹⁰¹A commentary on Bereishit Rabbah by Rabbi Shmuel Yafeh Ashkenazi (Turkey, 16th century). did not know its explanation. But it appears to me that [it can be explained] according to what [Maharal] writes in Netsach Yisrael¹⁰²See Netsach Yisrael, Chapter 32 (p. 153 in London edition). – [that the] reason that Rachel gave the signs to Leah¹⁰³In Bava Batra 123a, the rabbis write that Yaakov had given Rachel a type of code (signs) in case an impostor be sent to his tent in her place on their wedding night. When Rachel found out the plot to have Leah be that impostor, she gave Leah the signs to prevent her from being embarrassed. was because she knew that it was not fitting for Yaakov to father all twelve of the tribes from one woman. And had it been so, they would have all been one, whereas that is not fitting for this lowly [world] – as its nature inclines away from the way of oneness. And this causes sin in Israel until the future to come (messianic times) speedily in our days. See there. And this is [the meaning of that which Yaakov said to his sons, “Maybe because you come from four mothers, it is impossible that you will be unified; and sin caused it, as the One can only dwell among one.” But they answered him, “It is written, ‘according to the house of their fathers’ – and there is one Father to all of us and there is One in our hearts. And God, may He be blessed, will be unified through us.” And it is as our teacher Rabbi Yitschak Abarbanel writes in explanation of the verse (Gen. 2:24), “and they shall become one flesh,” like Rashi explained – through the embryo that is created from both of them. And the portion of each one is in the many limbs. Even though the embryo loves itself; yet through this the father and the mother [also] love each other, as a branch produces love in [its] roots. And this is the intention of the statement of [the Sages], may their memory be blessed, “‘And you shall love [the Lord your God], etc.’ (Deut. 6:5) – [that the name of the Heavens be loved through you¹⁰⁴This is the text found in the Talmud, and it is possibly what was written by the author. However, most versions of the Shev Shmat’ta have, “both of them will be beloved through the Torah scholar,” possibly relating to the mother and father.]” (Yoma 86a). And that means that the higher forces become unified, as all of them gave their portion to man and he is a branch from them – and love will sprout from the roots. And hence one should have intention for this unification before every [Torah] study [session] and good deed, as a fulfillment of the commandment of “and you shall love your neighbor, etc.” And [then] all of Israel will be one, and also all of the ones that gave birth to them will love each other and be unified.¹⁰⁵The author returns here to the theme with which he began this essay in the introductory paragraph and Paragraph Gimmel. And with what I have elucidated, their statement at the end of Tractate Eduyot is understood, “[Eliyahu] will not come to make distant or to bring close, but to make peace [among them], as it is stated (Mal. 3:23-24), ‘Behold, I will send, etc. [He shall bring back the hearts of the children to their fathers’” (Mishnah Eduyot 8:7). [This is] meaning that [the children] will be called by the name of their fathers, but there is [only] one Father to us all. And the world will then be fit for it. And then we shall see the joy of Zion and the building of Jerusalem, speedily in our days. Amen, Selah.

The root of this commandment is revealed to all that see the sun: that it is a great benefit within the nation that we have a mechanism to remove suspicion about our wives from our hearts and to truly know if she was unfaithful from her husband, which is impossible for any nation or country to have [something] like this among them. And about them, it is stated (Proverbs 30:20), "she eats, wipes her mouth, and says, 'I have done no wrong.'” As who will reveal 'about their daughters if they have been unfaithful, and about their daughters-in-law if they have been adulterous.' But our nation is sanctified with every matter of sanctification, and [so] God gave us a sign to know this matter which is hidden from the rest of the nations. And through this, love and peace between a man and his wife will be augmented and our seed will be holy. And [for] what [reason] should I write at more length about the details of these matters, as all of it is revealed to the heart of anyone with understanding. And therefore in that the reason of the matter is a miracle with our people and a great honor for them, it stopped from the time they became corrupted by sins; as they, may their memory be blessed, said (Sotah 47a), "From when adulterers proliferated, the sotah waters stopped; as it is stated (Hosea 12:4), 'I will not punish your daughters when they are unfaithful, etc.'" And the understanding of the verse is to say that He will [no longer] do this great miracle for them, that the waters should test whether the woman was unfaithful.

And Rambam, may his memory be blessed, wrote in explanation of this commandment (Guide for the Perplexed 3:48, and some have the textual variant, Ramban in his commentary to the Torah here) and of 'him and his child,' [that] it is because animals have great distress in seeing the pain of their children, like people. As the love of the mother for the child is not a matter that follows the intellect, but rather it is from the effects of the power of thinking that is found in animals, [just] as it is found in people. And Rambam, may his memory be blessed, wrote about this matter, "Do not answer me with words from the statement of the sages [in] which they say, 'To the bird's nest, etc.' since this is the reasoning of the one to whom it appears that there is no explanation for the commandments, except for them being the will of the Creator. But we maintain the second reasoning, which is that there is an explanation for all of the commandments." And [Ramban] challenged him from that which is found in Bereishit Rabbah 44a, "And for what would the Holy One, blessed be He, care if an animal is slaughtered from the [front of the] neck or from the back? Behold, the commandments were only given to refine the creatures with them, as it states (Proverbs 30:5), 'Every word of God is refined.'"

And Rambam, may his memory be blessed, wrote in explanation of this commandment (Guide for the Perplexed 3:48, and some have the textual variant, Ramban in his commentary to the Torah here) and of 'him and his child,' [that] it is because animals have great distress in seeing the pain of their children, like people. As the love of the mother for the child is not a matter that follows the intellect, but rather it is from the effects of the power of thinking that is found in animals, [just] as it is found in people. And Rambam, may his memory be blessed, wrote about this matter, "Do not answer me with words from the statement of the sages [in] which they say, 'To the bird's nest, etc.' since this is the reasoning of the one to whom it appears that there is no explanation for the commandments, except for them being the will of the Creator. But we maintain the second reasoning, which is that there is an explanation for all of the commandments." And [Ramban] challenged him from that which is found in Bereishit Rabbah 44a, "And for what would the Holy One, blessed be He, care if an animal is slaughtered from the [front of the] neck or from the back? Behold, the commandments were only given to refine the creatures with them, as it states (Proverbs 30:5), 'Every word of God is refined.'"