נַדְנֵדָה
נַד, נֵד, נַד, נֵד
רֵד, עֲלֵה, עֲלֵה וָרֵד!
מַה לְמַעְלָה?
מַה לְמָטָּה? –
רַק אֲנִי,
אֲנִי וָאָתָּה;
שְׁנֵינוּ שְׁקוּלִים
בַּמֹּאזְנָיִם
בֵּין הָאָרֶץ
לַשָּׁמַיִם.
Teeter-Totter
Hayyim Nahman Bialik
Translation: Jeremy Schwartz
Teeter-totter, totter-teeter,
going higher, going deeper.
What’s above and what’s below?
Only me, me and you.
On the scales, we two are even
Between the earth and the heavens.
Bialik is asking a question forbidden by some of the rabbis:
(א) אֵין דּוֹרְשִׁין בַּעֲרָיוֹת בִּשְׁלֹשָׁה. וְלֹא בְמַעֲשֵׂה בְרֵאשִׁית בִּשְׁנַיִם. וְלֹא בַמֶּרְכָּבָה בְּיָחִיד, אֶלָּא אִם כֵּן הָיָה חָכָם וּמֵבִין מִדַּעְתּוֹ. כָּל הַמִּסְתַּכֵּל בְּאַרְבָּעָה דְּבָרִים, רָאוּי לוֹ כְּאִלּוּ לֹא בָּא לָעוֹלָם, מַה לְּמַעְלָה, מַה לְּמַטָּה, מַה לְּפָנִים, וּמַה לְּאָחוֹר. וְכָל שֶׁלֹּא חָס עַל כְּבוֹד קוֹנוֹ, רָאוּי לוֹ שֶׁלֹּא בָּא לָעוֹלָם:
(1) One may not expound the laws of forbidden sexual relations before three people, nor the account of Creation before two, nor the Divine Chariot before one, unless he is wise and understanding from his own knowledge. Anyone who looks into four things would be better off if he had not come into this world: what is above, what is below, what is before, and what is after. And anyone who has no consideration for the honor of his Maker would be better off if he had not come into the world.
(י) רַבִּי יוֹנָה בְּשֵׁם רַבִּי לֵוִי אָמַר, לָמָּה נִבְרָא הָעוֹלָם בְּב', אֶלָּא מַה ב' זֶה סָתוּם מִכָּל צְדָדָיו וּפָתוּחַ מִלְּפָנָיו, כָּךְ אֵין לְךָ רְשׁוּת לוֹמַר, מַה לְּמַטָּה, מַה לְּמַעְלָה, מַה לְּפָנִים, מַה לְּאָחוֹר, אֶלָּא מִיּוֹם שֶׁנִּבְרָא הָעוֹלָם וּלְהַבָּא.
(10) Rabbi Yonah said in the name of Rabbi Levi: Why was the world created with a "bet" (ב)? Just as a bet is closed on all sides and open in the front, so you are not permitted to say, "What is beneath? What is above? What came before? What will come after?" Rather from the day the world was created and after.
Who else in our tradition is suspended between heaven and Earth? Some Biblical and MIdrashic sources:
אבשלום נתגאה בשערו וכו' ת"ר אבשלום בשערו מרד שנאמר (שמואל ב יד, כה) וכאבשלום לא היה איש יפה וגו' ובגלחו את ראשו (וגו') והיה מקץ ימים לימים אשר יגלח כי כבד עליו וגלחו ושקל את שער ראשו מאתים שקלים באבן המלך תנא אבן שאנשי טבריא ואנשי ציפורי שוקלים בה לפיכך נתלה בשערו שנאמר (שמואל ב יח, ט) ויקרא אבשלום לפני עבדי דוד ואבשלום רוכב על הפרד ויבא הפרד תחת שובך האלה הגדולה ויאחז ראשו באלה ויותן בין השמים ובין הארץ והפרד אשר תחתיו עבר [שקל ספסירא בעא למיפסקיה] תנא דבי רבי ישמעאל באותה שעה נבקע שאול מתחתיו (שמואל ב יט, א) של עולם
Absalom was proud of his hair. The Sages taught (Tosefta 3:16): Absalom rebelled due to his hair, as it is stated: there was none as Absalom for his beauty; And when he shaved his head, as it was at every year’s end that he shaved it; because the hair was heavy on him, therefore he shaved it, and he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels, by the king’s stone” (II Samuel 14:25–26). The Sages taught: A stone with which the people of Tiberias and the people of Tzippori weigh . Therefore, he was hung by his hair, as it is stated: “And Absalom chanced to meet the servants of David. And Absalom was riding upon his mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great terebinth, and his head caught hold of the terebinth, and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth; and the mule that was under him went on” (II Samuel 18:9). He took a sword and wanted to cut his hair. The school of Rabbi Yishmael taught: At that moment, the netherworld opened beneath him
... וַיַּרְא הָעָם כִּי בשֵׁשׁ משֶׁה, מַהוּ כִּי בשֵׁשׁ, בָּאוּ שֵׁשׁ שָׁעוֹת וְלֹא יָרַד, לָמָּה, שֶׁהִתְנָה עִמָּהֶם לְאַרְבָּעִים יוֹם אֲנִי מֵבִיא לָכֶם אֶת הַתּוֹרָה, וְכֵיוָן שֶׁבָּאוּ שֵׁשׁ שָׁעוֹת וְלֹא יָרַד משֶׁה, מִיָּד (שמות לב, א): וַיִּקָּהֵל הָעָם עַל אַהֲרֹן, רַבָּנָן אָמְרֵי הַשָֹּׂטָן מָצָא אֶת יָדָיו אוֹתָהּ שָׁעָה, שֶׁהָיָה משֶׁה נִרְאֶה תָּלוּי בֵּין הַשָּׁמַיִם וְהָאָרֶץ וְהָיוּ מַרְאִין אוֹתוֹ בָּאֶצְבַּע וְאוֹמֵר: כִּי זֶה משֶׁה הָאִישׁ.
...“The people saw that Moses was late….” What is “was late – voshesh?” “Va’u shesh sha’ot – six hours passed” and he didn’t come down. Why? Since he assured them that ‘in 40 days I will bring you the Torah’ and when the sixth hour came and Moses didn’t come down, immediately “the people congregated upon Aaron.” Our rabbis say: The Satan ‘found his hands’ at that moment, for Moses was seen to be suspended between heaven and earth, and they were pointing their fingers at him and saying, “for this man, Moses….”