Vous m’expliquez ce monde avec une image. Je reconnais alors que vous en êtes venus à la poésie: je ne connaîtrai jamais
Albert Camus, Le Mythe de Sisyphe
You explain this world to me with an
image. I realise then that you have been
reduced to poetry:
I shall never know.
(ט) ח֭וֹחַ עָלָ֣ה בְיַד־שִׁכּ֑וֹר וּ֝מָשָׁ֗ל בְּפִ֣י כְסִילִֽים׃
(9) As a thorn comes to the hand of a drunkard, So a proverb to the mouth of a fool.
(4) Do not answer a fool in accord with his folly, Else you will become like him.
(5) Answer a fool in accord with his folly, Else he will think himself wise.
And, the Gemara continues, the Sages sought to suppress the book of Proverbs as well because its statements contradict each other. And why did they not suppress it? They said: In the case of the book of Ecclesiastes, didn’t we analyze it and find an explanation that its statements were not contradictory? Here too, let us analyze it. And what is the meaning of: Its statements contradict each other? On the one hand, it is written: “Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him” (Proverbs 26:4), and on the other hand, it is written: “Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes” (Proverbs 26:5). The Gemara resolves this apparent contradiction: This is not difficult, as this, where one should answer a fool, is referring to a case where the fool is making claims about Torah matters; whereas that, where one should not answer him, is referring to a case where the fool is making claims about mundane matters.
In matters of Torah, what is the case with regard to which the verse said that one should respond to a fool’s folly? As in the case where Rabban Gamliel was sitting and he interpreted a verse homiletically: In the future, in the World-to-Come, a woman will give birth every day, as it says: “The woman with child and her that gives birth together” (Jeremiah 31:7), explaining that birth will occur on the same day as conception. A certain student scoffed at him and said: That cannot be, as it has already been stated: “There is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Rabban Gamliel said to him: Come and I will show you an example of this in this world. He took him outside and showed him a chicken that lays eggs every day.
ותו יתיב רבן גמליאל וקא דריש עתידה ארץ ישראל שתוציא גלוסקאות וכלי מילת שנאמר יהי פסת בר בארץ ליגלג עליו אותו תלמיד ואמר אין כל חדש תחת השמש אמר ליה בא ואראך דוגמתן בעולם הזה נפק אחוי ליה כמיהין ופטריות ואכלי מילת נברא בר קורא:
And furthermore: Rabban Gamliel sat and interpreted a verse homiletically: In the future, the World-to-Come, Eretz Yisrael will produce cakes and fine wool garments that will grow in the ground, as it is stated: “Let abundant grain be in the land.” A certain student scoffed at him and said: There is nothing new under the sun. He said to him: Come and I will show you an example in this world. He went outside and showed him truffles and mushrooms, which emerge from the earth over the course of a single night and are shaped like a loaf of bread. And with regard to wool garments, he showed him the covering of a heart of palm, a young palm branch, which is wrapped in a thin net-like covering.
The World-to-Come is not like this world.
In the World-to-Come there is no eating, no drinking,
no procreation, no business negotiations,
no jealousy, no hatred, and no competition.
Rather, the righteous sit with their crowns upon their heads, enjoying the splendor of the Divine Presence, as it is stated:
“And they beheld God, and they ate and drank” (Exodus 24:11), meaning that beholding God’s countenance is tantamount to eating and drinking.
Maimonides, Introduction to Perek Helek from the Commentary on the Mishnah
In this passage the expression ‘with their crowns on their heads,’ signifies the immortality of the soul being in firm possession of the Idea which is God the Creator. The ‘crown’ is precisely the Idea which great philosophers have explicated at length. The expression, ‘they delight in the radiance of the Divine Presence,’ means that the souls enjoy blissful delight in their attainment of knowledge of the truly essential nature of God the Creator, a delight which is like that experienced by the holy angels who know his existence first hand.
The ultimate good, the final end is to achieve this supernal fellowship, to participate in this high glory in which the soul is forever involved with the existence of God the Creator, who is the cause and source of its existence and its goal. This has already been explained by the earlier philosophers. This is incomparably good, for how could that which is eternal and endless be compared with anything transient and terminable.
The resurrection of the dead is one of the cardinal principles established by Moses our Teacher. A person who does not believe in this principle has no real religion, certainly not Judaism. However resurrection is only for the righteous. This is the meaning of the statement in Bereshit Rabbah (ch. 13) which declares: “The creative power of rain is for both the righteous and the wicked, but the resurrection of the dead is only for the righteous.” How, after all, could the wicked come back to life, since they are dead even in their lifetimes? Our sages taught: “The wicked are called dead even while they are still alive; the righteous are alive even when they are dead” (Berakhot 18b). All men must die and their bodies decompose.
Nor does one often find persons who distinguish between the ultimate good itself and the means which lead to the ultimate good. What everybody always wants to know, both the masses and the learned, is how the dead will arise. They want to know whether they will be naked or clothed, whether they will rise in the same shrouds with which they were buried, with the same embroidery, style, and beauty of sewing, or in a plain garment which covers their bodies.
The truth has no other purpose than knowing that it is truth. Since the Torah is truth, the purpose of knowing it is to do it. A good man must not wonder, “If I perform these commandments, which are virtues, and if I refrain from these transgressions, which are vices which God commanded us not to do, what will I get out of it?” This is precisely what the child does when he asks, “If I read, what will you give me?” The child is answered in some such way because, when we know his limited understanding and his desire for something other than a real goal, we answer him on the level of his folly, as it is said in Proverbs 26:5: “Answer the fool according to his folly.”
In those days [of the Messiah] it will be very easy for men to make a living. A minimum of labour will produce great benefits. This is what the sages meant when they said: “In the future, the land of Israel will bring forth ready baked rolls and fine woollen garments” (Shabbat 30b). This is rather like what people say when someone finds something ready for use. […] The Talmud records the irritation of one of the sages with a student whose objection to this passage showed that he did not understand his teaching on it because he understood the verse literally. The sage replied to him incorrectly, in accordance with the student’s inadequate understanding of the matter. The reason for the sage’s refusal to give a true answer is found in the verse “Answer not a fool according to his folly” (Proverbs 26:4).
Maimonides, Essay on the Resurrection
[T]he individuals who will return to their bodies will eat, drink, marry, and procreate, and they will die after a long life, like those who will live during the messianic age. The life, however, that is not followed by death, is life in the world-to-come, since it will be bodiless. It is my view, a valid assumption with every intelligent person, that the world-to-come is made up of souls without bodies, like the angels [...] It thus becomes clear that the existence of the entire body is needed for certain ends, nourishment for its maintenance and reproduction of the like for its continued presence. Now, since these ends are discarded and unneeded in the world-to-come. The reason being, as the sages have all made clear, that there is no eating in it, nor drinking nor intercourse – it is obvious there is no body. God creates absolutely nothing in vain, makes things only for things. Far, indeed, far be it from Him that His sophisticated acts bear any similarity to the work of the makers of idols.
(יא) על כן יוסיף אומץ. ומעשה בחכם אחד שראה אדם אחד דואג. אמר לו: אם דאגתך על עולם זה – ימעט השם יתעלה דאגתך. ואם דאגתך על עולם הבא – יוסיף השם ברוך הוא דאגה על דאגתך.
(11) A man should strengthen his determination (to resist evil). There is a parable about a wise man who saw a certain person who was worried, and said to him, "If your worry is about this world, then may God lessen your worry. But if your worry is about the coming world, then may God, Blessed be He, add to your worries."
Aviezer Ravitzky, 'Maimonides: Esotericism and Educational Philosophy'
Scriptures address the reader by way of parables and metaphors. On the one hand, this literary form was designed to serve an esoteric need: It presents the secrets of the Torah in a suppressed and obscure manner, concealing them from the unqualified reader. On the other hand, it fulfils a didactic need: It concretizes abstract ideas, making them more intelligible to the attentive reader. So our concern is not with truth versus necessity or intellect versus imagination. An image is not a sham; it concretizes truth and makes it accessible […] not only does teaching by parable satisfy a didactic imperative, it also answers a philosophic need: Symbols and metaphors are used for imparting metaphysical ideas not given to verbal expression through normal means. It reflects the limitations of language and the elusive nature of truth. Either way the parable does not divide the society into two groups; it may simultaneously address all of its members at the particular level of every person.
Davidson, Donald, ‘What Metaphors Mean’
Metaphor is the dreamwork of language and like all dreamwork, its interpretation reflects as much on the interpreter as on the originator. The interpretation of dreams requires collaboration between a dreamer and a waker, even if they be the same person; and the act of interpretation is itself a work of the imagination.
Maimonides, Perek Helek
I hope to write a book collecting all the sages’ teaching on this subject from the Talmud and other works. I shall interpret them systematically, showing which must be understood literally and which metaphorically, and which are dreams to be interpreted by a wakeful mind. (Italics mine)
Yoma 87b
The Gemara asks: What is the closing of the gates, i.e., the ne’ila prayer? Rav said: It is an added prayer of Amida. And Shmuel said: It is not a full prayer but only a confession that begins with the words: What are we, what are our lives?
Further Reading
Maimonides, Moses, ‘Introduction to Perek Helek (Sanhedrin, Chapter Ten)’ in A Maimonides reader ed. by Isadore Twersky (New York : Behrman House, 1972), pp. 401-423. Available online at https://goo.gl/EqV73K (Maimonides Heritage Center website)
Maimonides, Moses, Essay on the Resurrection, in Araham Halkin and David Hartman, Crisis and Leadership: Epistles of Maimonides (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1985), pp.209-245.
Davidson, Donald, 'What Metaphors Mean’ in The Essential Davidson, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006,) pp. 209-224.
Gillman, Neil, The Death of Death: Resurrection and Immortality in Jewish Thought (Woodstock: Jewish Lights, 1997)
Ravitsky, Aviezer , 'Maimonides' esotericism and educational philosophy' in The Cambridge Companion to Maimonides. ed. by Kenneth Seeskin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005)
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John Heyderman 22.08.18 Blog: philosophicalbibliotherapy.wordpress.com |
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