Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Mga Kawikaan 5:1

First we need to understand the meaning of the word, beni, “my son,” as its usage here is unclear. In Proverbs, [Solomon,] through Divine inspiration, conveys statements uttered by the mouth of wisdom,⁵For example, see Prov. 5:1: “My son, take heed of my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding.” and thus it is well understood that wisdom and understanding [in Proverbs] are represented by em, “mother.” As it states in Tractate Berachos 57a, “One who cohabits with his mother in a dream may expect to obtain understanding, for it is written, ‘ki im – for if – you call out to understanding.’”⁶Prov. 2:3. It is clear [from what the She’iltos states] in the hashmatos⁷Hashmatos means omissions. The Netziv used other manuscripts in order to supplement missing portions of the She’iltos. See Pesah Ha’amek, Section 3, os 3, where the Netziv refers to how he received additional manuscripts of the She’iltos from Paris and Vienna. of the Torah passage Mishpatim⁸See Sh’iltah 58, os 15. that [this exegesis] was inferred from im being written with the vowel tzereh, such that it is to be pronounced as em, [meaning “mother]. This is recorded by our master in his [original] handwriting. [That is, by vocalizing im as em, the verse reads, “As em [a mother] you shall call understanding”]. It is for this reason that [one could argue that in the Book of Proverbs], understanding is personified as one, [a mother] who expresses longing for Israel, as represented by the word, beni, “my son.” However, Ecclesiastes, which relates to the investigations of Koheles [in the natural sciences], and [based on the context of] the [above-mentioned] concluding verse [of Ecclesiastes], there is no room for suggesting [that beni expresses] longing.