Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Mga Kawikaan 15:30

We need to understand the structure of this verse in which three (senses) attributes of man, each one superior to the following one are described. First we are told about the ability to speak, an ability connected to the soul, the ability to express what the soul feels. The opposite of this ability is to be a dumb, silent person. The second (sense) attribute the Torah mentions is the ability to hear, (a passive attribute). This ability is rated as superior to the (sense) attribute of sight. Here the Torah contrasts פקח and עור, someone possessing sight with someone who is blind. Solomon (Proverbs 15,30) writes: “enlightenment gladdens the heart, good news (received by the ear) puts fat on the bones.” Solomon made it clear that whereas the sense of sight expands the heart, the sense of hearing does something more tangible for man’s bones. In other words, the sense of hearing bestows greater benefit on man than the sense of sight. Our sages (Baba Kama 85) confirm this when they ruled that if one robs someone of his eyesight he has to pay compensation for the eye. If one robs someone of his hearing he has to pay compensation as if he had caused total disability. Seeing that the Torah had indicated that the ear is superior to the eye, Solomon continues (Proverbs 15,31) “the ear that listens to life-giving discipline will abide with the scholars.”

When he was speaking with the emperor, a messenger came from Rome and said to him, the emperor in Rome has died and you have been elected in his place. At the time he was putting on his shoes and when he wanted to put on his second one he could not put it on. When he wanted to take the first one off, he could not take it off. He said: what must this be? Rabbi Johanan said: my lord emperor, do not be upset, since this is nothing. It is that you have heard the good news that you have become emperor and you have become fat, as Scripture says, “good news puts fat on the bones” [Proverbs 15:30]. The emperor said: What should I do that my other shoe will fit? He said: Let somebody go before you that you hate, then your foot will become thinner since we learn from Scripture that when someone sees before him an enemy, his limbs become thin. He did so and was able to put the shoe on. The emperor said: if you are so smart, why did you not come to me long ago? He responded: I’ve already told you, because of the scoundrels. The emperor said: I’ve also already told you: you should have broken the walls. Now I have to leave, but I will send someone else in my place. However, I will do this for you. Whatever you desire, I will do for you. He said: give me the city of Yavne and the sages who live there, that you should not destroy it and allow the family of Rabban Gamliel, who is descended from King David, to live. Give me also physicians who will heal Rabbi Zadok. Rabbi Zadok’s intestines had shrunken from great fasting. He fasted that the Temple should not be destroyed. However, Rabbi Akiva said that our Lord God had also taken away his reason, since he should have rather prayed that Jerusalem should not be attacked. However, perhaps he thought that if I ask for such a great thing, He would not even do a small thing for me. He would get angry. I would rather ask for a small thing, since He would surely give it to me.

Allein ebenso unzweifelhaft und noch bei weitem häufiger begegnen wir נר und אור, Lampe und Licht, als metaphorischem Ausdruck für die Quelle des Gedeihens und des Lebens, der Entwicklung und der Blüte, des ungetrübten Fortschrittes und des Glückes, der Heiterkeit und der Freude. "Wer", klagt Hiob, "gäbe mir wieder der Vergangenheit Monde, die Tage, wo Gott mich schützte! Wo seine Lampe über meinem Haupte strahlte und bei seinem Lichte ich durchs Dunkel wandelte!" (Hiob 29, 2-3) "Dort lasse ich wachsen Davids Horn, habe dort geordnet eine Lampe meinem Gesalbten", spricht Gott von Zion (Ps. 132, 17). "Wie lange aber dauerts, verlischt die Lampe der Bösen und Unglück kommt über sie" (Hiob 21, 17). So das Erlöschen der Lampe" Ausdruck für Aufhören des Glückes: (Prov. 13, 9; 20, 20; 24, 20). Dagegen ist "Licht gesäet für den Gerechten und für die Geraden Freude" (Ps. 97, 11). "Das Licht der Gerechten ist heiter, während der Bösen Lampe verlischt" (Prov. 13, 9). "Das Licht der Augen erfreut das Herz" (Prov. 15, 30). "Das Licht ist süß" (Eccl. 11,7). Job "hoffte auf Gutes und es kam Böses, auf Licht und es kam Finsternis" (Job 30, 26; Jes. 59, 9; Jirm. 13, 16). Den Jehudim ward Licht und Freude, Wonne und Würde (Esther 8, 16). "Gott erlöst den zum Bessern Gewandten von dem Weg ins Grab, daß seine Seele noch ins Licht schaue, daß er noch bestrahlt werde vom Lichte des Lebens (Job 33, 28 u. 30). "Deine Toten leben auf, meine Leichen erheben sich — wachet auf und jauchzet, Staubesschläfer! Denn Tau des Lichtes ist dein Tau, während die Erde Hingeschiedene zu Boden wirft" — (Jesaias 26, 19) u. a. m.