ייִדישער מחשבֿה אויף משלי 1:7

Blessed be the Creator and exalted be the Former, who created His world with wisdom and fashioned man, the crown of creation, in His image. As it is written: ‘In the beginning God created’. The Jerusalem Targum translates: ‘With wisdom God created. And what the Targum left general, the holy Zohar explained: Rabbi Yehudai said: What is Bereishit? This is Wisdom, upon which the world stands, elevated within hidden supernal secrets (Zohar, Introduction 3a). What is Reshit (‘beginning’)? It is Wisdom. It is the inner point, of which it is said: ‘All the glory of the king’s daughter is within’ (Tehillim 45:14). And this is Yirah (awe/reverence), which is the first commandment. About it, it is said: ‘The fear of Hashem is the beginning of knowledge’ (Mishlei). (Tikkunei Zohar, Tikkun 30). And so said the sweet singer of Israel in his psalms: ‘How manifold are Your works, Hashem! All of them You made with wisdom; the earth is full of Your possessions’ (Tehillim 104:24).

If it is true that the status of the craftsman rises and falls with the quality and value of the materials upon which he exercises his craft, then dinim, social laws, would occupy a very low place in the scale of values. Our sages tell us that he who deals in spices is to be hailed, not so he who tans hides. This clearly reflects the view that an occupation can demean the person who practices it. (Kiddushin 82) Religious philosophy is held in high esteem because it concerns itself with the most noble subject. Next in line would be astronomy, inasmuch as it concerns itself with the mysteries that have a profound influence on nature and the universe. The dispensation of justice amongst people seems a far less worthy occupation, concerning itself with neither the abstract and therefore close to the Divine, nor with the everlasting and therefore related to the Divine by reason of the enduring nature of the subject.

But, if he who is morally sick be not aware of his illness, imagining that he is well, or, being aware of it, does not seek a remedy, his end will be similar to that of one, who, suffering from bodily ailment, yet continuing to indulge himself, neglects to be cured, and who in consequence surely meets an untimely death. Those who know that they are in a diseased state, but nevertheless yield to their inordinate passions, are described in the truthful Law which quotes their own words, “Though I walk in the stubborness of my heart, in order that the indulgence of the passions may appease the thirst for them.”⁵Dt. XXIX, 18. This means that, intending to quench the thirst, it is, on the contrary, intensifed. He who is ignorant of his illness is spoken of in many places by Solomon, who says, “The way of the fool is straight in his own eyes, but he who hearkeneth unto counsel is wise”.⁶Prov. XII, 15. This means that he who listens to the counsel of the sage is wise, for the sage teaches him the way that is actually right, and not the one that he (the morally ill) erroneously considers to be such. Solomon also says, “There is many a way which seemeth even before a man; but its ends are ways unto death”.⁷Ibid., XIV, 12. Again, in regard to these who are morally ill, in that they do not know what is injurious from that which is beneficial, he says, “The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know against what they stumble.”⁸Ibid., IV, 19. Cf. H. Deot, II, 1, “What is the remedy for those whose souls are diseased? Let them consult the sages who are the physicians of the soul, who will cure their disease by teaching them those characteristics by which they may return to the moral path, and recognize their evil traits. Concerning those who do not seek the sages in order to be cured, Solomon says, ‘wisdom and instruction fools despise’ (Prov. I, 7)”. The conception of a spiritual healing originated neither with Aristotle nor with M. There are many biblical passages based on such a comparison with the healing art, as Jer. III, 22: ארפה משובותיכם; Hos. XIV, 5: ארפא משובתם Ps. XLI, 5: ארפאה נפשי כי חטאתי לך, etc. Rosin, Ethik, p. 78, n. 4, refers to similar passages in Hebrew, Greek, and Arabic literature. The art of healing the diseases of the soul will, however, form the subject-matter of the fourth chapter.