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Treatise Four. Section 1.
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Elohim is a term for any ruling or governing force. It may refer to the whole, when the Sovereign of the entire universe is meant. Or it may refer to a part, when a celestial force, a natural power, or a ruler among men is intended.
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This name was built in the plural from widespread usage current among the nations who used to take idols, each of which they believed to be a locus for celestial forces and the like. Each one of these was for them a god, so they called the totality Elohim and swore by it.
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These forces were held to govern them, multiplying as the forces governing the body and governing the universe multiply — for forces are a metonymy for the causes of motions, each motion arising from a force distinct from the force of any other motion. The sphere of the sun and the sphere of the moon do not move by a single force but by different forces.
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They paid no heed to the primary Force from which all these forces issued. Either they did not acknowledge It, claiming that the totality of these forces is what the term 'god' denotes — and likewise that the soul is nothing but the totality of the forces governing the body.
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Or they acknowledged God but deemed it inconceivable that worship of Him could be beneficial, claiming He is too pure and exalted to take cognizance of us, let alone to concern Himself with us — may God be exalted above what they say. So they ended up worshipping not one but many, calling the totality Elohim — a term covering all causes without specification.
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The precise and specific designation is the name written Yod-He-Vav-He, blessed and exalted be He. It is a proper name, pointing to Him through attributes rather than through place. Whereas He had been unknown when the general name Elohim was used, He came to be called the LORD (YHWH) specifically.
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If a questioner were to ask: which Elohim ought to be worshipped — the sun, the moon, the heavens, the zodiacal signs, one of the stars, fire, air, the spiritual angels, or something else? For each of these has an influence and a wisdom, and each is a cause of generation and corruption. Then the answer would be —
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— the answer is: the LORD (YHWH). This is like saying "So-and-so" — a proper name like Reuben or Simeon — once the true individual reality of Reuben and Simeon is understood from those names.
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Section 2. The Khazar said: How can one identify what has no visible pointer but can only be inferred from its traces?
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Section 3. The Rabbi said: Rather, He is pointed to through prophetic vision and inner sight. For rational inference leads astray, and from rational inference heresy and corrupt doctrines arise.
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It was only inference that led the dualists to assert two eternal principles. It was only inference that led the materialists to assert the eternity of the celestial sphere and that it is the cause of itself and of everything else. Similarly, inference led the fire-worshippers and sun-worshippers to their doctrines.
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But the paths of inference that led them differed — some were thorough, some were deficient, the most thorough being the inference of the philosophers. The paths of inference led them to assert a Lord who neither harms us nor benefits us, who is unaware of our prayers and our kinship bonds, our obedience and our disobedience, and that the universe is as eternal as He is.
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So none of them possesses a proper name for God pointing to Him. But one who has heard His address, His command and prohibition, His reward for obedience and punishment for disobedience — he calls Him by a proper name as a designation for the One who addressed him, having verified for himself that He is the Creator of the universe after its non-existence.
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The first of them was Adam, who could not have known God had it not been for His address, His reward and punishment, and His fashioning Eve for him from one of his ribs. It was thus verified for him that this is the Creator of the universe; he pointed to Him through speech and attributes and named Him the LORD (YHWH). Without this he would have remained at the name Elohim, with no certainty of whether He is one or many, or whether He knows particulars or not.
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Then Cain and Abel knew Him only after following their father through prophetic vision. Then Noah; then Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, down to Moses; and the prophets after him — all named Him the LORD (YHWH) from their direct vision. The people who followed them in imitation named Him likewise by imitation —
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— the LORD, inasmuch as His command and governance are connected to mankind. The elect among men are connected to Him until they behold Him by means of what is called glory (kavod), Shekhinah, sovereignty (malkhut), fire, cloud, image, likeness, the vision of the rainbow, and other such things.
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All of this indicates to them that they are being addressed from His presence, may He be exalted. They call this the glory of the LORD. Sometimes they called it the LORD itself, and sometimes they called the Ark the LORD — as in "Arise, O LORD" when it was lifted, and "Return, O LORD" when it was set down.
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"God has ascended with a shout, the LORD with the sound of the shofar" — and here they mean the Ark of the LORD. Sometimes they called the relationship and bond between Israel and Him the LORD — as when it is said: "Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD?" and "The enemies of the LORD" — or "the people of the LORD," "the covenant of the LORD," "the Torah of the LORD" — for He has no such bond with any other nation.
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For He only pours His light upon the elect, who are accepted by Him, and He is accepted by them. By this He is called the God of Israel, and they are called the people of the LORD and the people of the God of Abraham.
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Suppose that some nations have followed Him and worshipped Him by hearsay and imitation — where is the evidence of His acceptance of them, His connection with them, His pleasure in their obedience and His displeasure at their disobedience? We see them left to nature and chance, prospering and suffering ill-fortune by those alone — not by anything that could be confirmed as being purely the divine command.
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Hence we are distinguished by the verse: "The LORD alone guided him; no foreign god was with him" (Deut. 32:12). This name thus became ours alone, for no one else knows it with true knowledge. It is a proper name that does not admit the definite article he, as Elohim does when one says ha-Elohim. This name is among the distinctions with which we have been specially endowed, and its secret is concealed. As for the distinction of its letters —
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The distinction of its letters is that they are the vowel-bearer letters — Alef, He, Vav, Yod — which are the cause of the emergence of all letters, for no letter can be pronounced without the presence of one of their powers: the patah for Alef and He, the shuruk for Vav, and the hirik for Yod. They are like souls, while the remaining letters are like bodies.
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As for Yah, it is like an abbreviated form of this name. As for Ehyeh — it seems either to be from this name, or to be derived from hayah (to be). By it He intends to deflect minds from thinking about the true nature of the Essence, the knowledge of which is impossible.
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When they asked Him — "And if they say to me, What is His name?" — He answered saying: Why are they seeking what they cannot apprehend, akin to what the angel said: "Why do you ask my name? It is wondrous." Rather, tell them Ehyeh, whose meaning is: "I Will Be As I Will Be" — that is, the Present One who is present with you whenever you seek Me. Let them not seek a greater sign than My presence among them. Let them call Me so. So He said: "Ehyeh has sent me to you."
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He had already given Moses a proof of the same kind earlier, saying: "For I will be with you, and this shall be your sign" — meaning: I am your sender, I will be present with you in every place. He followed this with what accords with it: "the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob" — those renowned for the divine order that was always with them.
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As for "God of gods" (Elohei ha-Elohim), it is a metonymy for the fact that all active forces stand in need of a Master who orders and directs them. "Lord of lords" (Adonei ha-Adonim) is a synonym for it. As for El — it is derived from ayalut (might), and from it issued —
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— the forces; yet He is far above resembling them, and so the verse "Who is like You among the elim" (Ex. 15:11) is apt, elim being the plural of El. As for Qadosh (Holy) — it is a metonymy for transcendence and elevation above any attribute of created things applying to Him, even if such attributes are applied to Him metaphorically.
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For this reason Isaiah heard "Holy, holy, holy" — infinitely so — meaning He is transcendent, elevated, sanctified, and utterly free from any of the impurities of the nation in whose midst His light dwelled. For this reason Isaiah saw Him "upon a high and lofty throne" (Isa. 6:1).
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By Qadosh one denotes the spiritual, which takes no bodily form and which nothing related to corporeal things can adhere to. So "the Holy One of Israel" is a metonymy for the divine order connected to Him, and through Him to the generality of His progeny — a connection of governance and direction, not a connection of proximity and contact.
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It is not permitted for just anyone to say "my God" and "my Holy One" except metaphorically, by way of received tradition. In truth, only a prophet or a saint in whom the divine order is connected can say it. That is why it is said to a prophet: "Go, entreat the face of the LORD your God."
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The intention for this people was that their standing among the nations should be as the standing of the king among men — as it says: "You shall be holy, for I, the LORD your God, am holy" (Lev. 19:2).
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As for Adonai, written Alef-Dalet-Nun-Yod — it is as a pointing to something, even though in His true nature He is above being pointed to. For pointing —
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— is only toward one direction rather than another. So one may point to things that are affected by Him and disposed by Him with primary disposition — as one points to the intellect and says it is in the heart or in the brain, saying "this intellect" and "that intellect" — though in truth pointing is only to what occupies space.
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Since all the bodily members are disposed by the intellect, and this occurs by means of the heart or the brain, the primary tool through which one points and says "the intellect is there." Similarly one points to the heavens, because they are directed by His bare will alone, may He be exalted, without other intermediate causes between them.
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One does not point to any compound thing, for compound things are instruments operated through the mediation of other causes that form a chain back to Him, may He be exalted — for He is the Cause of causes. Hence it is said: "He who dwells in the heavens" (Ps. 123:1); "For God is in the heavens" (Eccl. 5:1). Sometimes it is said metaphorically: "fear of heaven," "God-fearing in secret," "from the heavens they shall be shown compassion."
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Similarly one points to the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud and prostrates toward them, saying that the Lord is there — because that pillar was directed by His bare will alone, unlike ordinary clouds and fires that arise in the atmosphere from other causes.
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Similarly one points to the consuming fire on top of the mountain that the common people saw, and to the spiritual form that the elect saw — "and under His feet as the work of sapphire pavement" (Ex. 24:10) — which was called the God of Israel.
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Similarly one points to the Ark of the Covenant and calls it "Lord of all the earth" — because of the manifest wonders that accompanied it and the absence of such wonders when it was not present. Just as the eye is called the one that sees, though what truly sees through it is another thing — namely, the soul.
One may also point to the prophets and the virtuous sages, for they are like primary instruments of God's will — they are disposed by His volition and do not deviate from —
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Wonders are manifest through them. And it is by such an allusion that the Sages taught: "You shall fear the Lord your God" — to include also disciples of the wise.
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It is fitting that one who attains such a rank should be called a man of God — a description composed of the human and the divine, as if to say: the divine human being.
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When addressing a divine thing that is pointed to, one says Adonai — aleph, dalet, nun, yod — as if saying: O my Lord.
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"Enthroned in Zion" and "Dwelling in Jerusalem" — the attributes multiply while the Essence remains one, on account of the diversity of the receiving locus, just as rays of light differ while the sun is one.
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Some expansion of discussion is unavoidable here, for it is a place of objection: how can location be pointed to for that which has no location?
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We shall give a thorough response to this. We say: the senses perceive from sensible things their accidents, not their essences.
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What do you perceive of the king whom you revere? You may see him in battle in one garb, then see him in the city in another garb, then see him at home in a third — yet you say that he is the king by judgment of the intellect, not by judgment of the senses.
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Perhaps you saw him first as a youth, then as a young man, then as a man in his prime, then as an elder; you saw him in health and then in illness. His appearance, his complexion, his humors, and his character have all changed — yet you judge that he is the very same person.
You judged this only because it is he who addresses you, commands you, and forbids you.
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That which belongs to him in this regard is only the intellect, or the rational soul. It has been established that this part of him is a substance without spatial extension — so there is no pointing to it — yet you have pointed to it and judged it to be the king.
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Rather, it is a body that whoever wills may set in motion, a body acted upon by contingencies of chance and will — like a cloud that happens to be in the atmosphere: one wind carries it, another drives it, one wind gathers it, and another disperses it.
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Whereas before, it had been a body that was moved only by the will of that king's soul — and it was then like the divine pillar of cloud, which the winds do not scatter.
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Another analogy: we see the sun as a flat disc the size of a shield, luminous, hot, and stationary. Yet the intellect judges it to be a sphere roughly 166 times the size of the earth, neither hot in itself nor stationary.
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The senses were not endowed with the power to apprehend the essence of things; rather, they were given a specific power to apprehend attendant accidents from which the intellect infers their essence and cause. The true nature and meaning of things can only be grasped by the sound intellect.
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Whatever is intellect in act — such as the angels — apprehends meanings and quiddities in themselves, without needing accidents to mediate them.
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As for our intellects, which are at first only in potency due to their immersion in matter — they cannot attain the true realities of things except through the subtle artistry of God (may He be exalted), by means of particular properties and powers He placed in the senses.
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My sight and yours do not differ in perceiving that the luminous, warming, circular disc is the sun — even though these attributes are negated by the intellect. This does not harm the inquiry, since we use them as inferential guides to what we intend.
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He says: "In such a place I saw two cranes" — and the sharp-sighted man knows that what he actually saw was the camel, though his near-sightedness made him think it a crane, and his squinting made him think it two. The sharp-sighted man profits from the testimony of the bleary-eyed one, and excuses his poor expression on account of his poor vision.
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Such is the standing of the senses and the imaginative faculty before the intellect. Just as the Creator (may He be exalted) exercised subtle art in establishing this relationship between the external sense and the corporeal sensible, so too did He exercise subtle art in establishing a relationship between the inner sense and the non-corporeal meaning.
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He gave to those whose nature is noble an inner eye that sees things in their very actuality, without variance — from which the intellect infers the meaning and the inner core of those things.
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He who was created with that eye is the truly clear-sighted one; he sees all other people as though blind, and so he guides and directs them.
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It may well be that this eye is the imaginative faculty, whenever it is in the service of the rational faculty — for it then beholds great and awe-inspiring forms that point to realities about which there is no doubt.
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The greatest proof of the reality of these visions is that all of that class — namely, all the prophets — agree upon those forms: they behold things about which they bear witness to one another, just as we do in our sense perceptions, mutually attesting to the sweetness of honey and the bitterness of colocynth.
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And if we see someone who contradicts us, we say he is outside the natural order. Thus these prophets, without doubt, behold the divine order with the inner eye; they see forms corresponding to their own natures and what they have grown accustomed to, and describe them with the corporeal attributes through which they apprehended them.
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These attributes are true relative to what imagination, fancy, and sense-perception seek — but they are not true relative to the Essence as sought by the intellect, as we illustrated with the king. For he who says "He is the tall, white-clad man wearing silk with the banner on his head" does not lie; and he who says "He is not that, but rather the rational, discerning commander and forbidder in such a land, in such an era, over such a people" does not lie either.
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The prophet beholds with the inner eye the most perfect of forms — such as the form of a king or judge seated upon a throne in the act of commanding, forbidding, appointing, and dismissing — and he knows that it is a form befitting a sovereign who is obeyed.
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And when he sees the form of one bearing arms, or of one carrying implements of writing, or of one appointed to execute some matter — he knows that it is a form befitting an obedient servant. Thus it is not difficult for him to employ human similitudes for the Creator.
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As for the perspective of the intellect: it likens Him first to light, because light is the most noble of sensible things, the most subtle, and the most encompassing and enveloping of all parts of the world.
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When one reflects upon the attributes that must be applied — whether figuratively or literally — such as: living, knowing, powerful, willing, governing, ordering, giving each thing its due, and just judge — one finds nothing in our experience more resembling Him than the rational soul.
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The rational soul is the complete human being. It is what he is insofar as he is a human — not insofar as he is a body, for in that he shares with the plant, nor insofar as he is an animal, for in that he shares also with the beasts.
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The philosophers have likened the world to a great human being, and the human being to a small world. If this is so, and if God is the spirit of the world, its soul, its intellect, and its life — as He is called Ḥai ha-ʿolamim, the Life of all worlds — then the similitude is valid on the path of the intellect.
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How much more so for prophecy, whose sight is clearer than rational inference — for that sight perceives the supernal host directly, and beholds the inhabitants of heaven from among the proximate spiritual beings and others in human form.
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It is to them that reference is made in His word (may He be exalted): "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness" — meaning: I have graduated creation and arranged it in the order of wisdom, from the elements to the minerals to the plants to the creatures of water and air, then to the land animals possessed of keen senses and wondrous intuitions. And after that rank there is none but a rank approaching —
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The divine, angelic genus — for He created Adam in the image of His angels, and those nearest to Him serve in terms of rank, not of place, since He is exalted above place.
On both analogies, it is impossible for the imagination to conceive of Him except as the image of the most exalted of men, from whom order and gradation issue for all people across their various ranks.
Just as from Him, may He be exalted, the ordering and governance of the world proceed — so one perceives Him, in the moment of removing and installing rulers and rendering judgment over kingdoms: 'thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took His seat' (Dan. 7:9).
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And in the moment of wrath and the resolve to punish: 'I saw the Lord seated upon a high and lofty throne, with seraphim standing above Him' (Isa. 6:1–2).
And in the moment of action, the chariot that Ezekiel beheld. All of this is apprehended by the imagination outside the place of prophecy.
For that place has a particularity: when a suitable recipient is present, fulfilling the prescribed legal conditions, those forms may be seen plainly with the (inner) eye, in a vision and not in riddles — as Moses saw the Tabernacle, the order of its service, and the land of Canaan in all its parts.
And the vision of 'the Lord passed before him' (Exod. 34:6), and the vision of Elijah in that very place.
These matters, which cannot be grasped by rational inference, were rejected by the Greek philosophers because inference led them to no such thing; yet the prophets affirmed them, for they could not deny what they had beheld with the spiritual eye by which they were distinguished.
They were many, from different eras, and collusion cannot be attributed to them; and the scholars who encountered them and witnessed them in the state of prophecy confirmed them.
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Had the Greek philosophers witnessed the prophets in the state of their prophecy and their miracles, they would have acknowledged them and would have sought rational explanations for how this rank could be attained by a human being.
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Some of them indeed did so — especially those philosophers who belong to the revealed religions. And to something like this refers the form of address with the name Adonai (alef dalet nun yod): a divine presence that, as it were, says to him, 'O my Lord.'
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And 'the angel of the Lord' is a metonym for the divine message. An angel may be a creature formed for the moment from subtle elemental bodies, or it may be one of the eternal angels — perhaps identical with the spiritual entities posited by the philosophers.
The question remains open regarding what Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel saw: whether it was from among created entities or from among the permanent spiritual forms.
The Glory of the Lord (kevod HaShem) is the subtle body that follows the will of God, taking on whatever form He wills in order to manifest to the prophet — this according to the first opinion.
According to the second opinion, the Glory of the Lord comprises the totality of the angels and the spiritual instruments — throne, chariot, firmament, ophanim, celestial spheres, and the like — all of which are permanent and enduring.
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It is called Glory just as the importance of a ruler is called his glory. And perhaps this is what Moses, peace be upon him, sought when he said: 'Show me, I pray, Your Glory' (Exod. 33:18).
This was granted to him on the condition that he guard himself from beholding the aspect that no mortal can bear — as it says, 'you will see My back' (Exod. 33:23).
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Within that Glory there is that which the prophetic sight can bear, yes; and among its attendants there is that which our own sight can bear — such as cloud and consuming fire, things familiar to us. Yet it grows increasingly subtle until it reaches a degree that even the prophet cannot apprehend.
And if he were to force his way to that degree, his constitution would dissolve — just as with the faculty of vision among us: one whose sight is weak can see only in dim light.
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At dusk, like bats; and those with dim sight can see only in shade; while one with stronger vision can see in sunlight. Yet the sun itself at the height of its brightness — the eye cannot look directly at it, and whoever forces himself to do so goes blind.
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Such, then, is the Glory of the Lord, the Kingdom of the Lord, and the Shekhinah of the Lord, in the terminology of the Law. These terms are sometimes used metaphorically for the natural order, as when it is said: 'The whole earth is full of His glory' (Isa. 6:3), and 'His kingship rules over all' (Ps. 103:19).
In the true sense, however, Glory and Kingdom are manifest only to His saints, His chosen ones, and His prophets, through whom the skeptic can come to acknowledge that God has a wise sovereign governance over the earth and knowledge of the particulars of human deeds.
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Then it is said in the true sense: 'The Lord is King,' 'the Glory of the Lord shall be revealed' (Isa. 40:5), 'the Lord your God reigns forever, O Zion' (Ps. 146:10), 'say to Zion: your God reigns' (Isa. 52:7), and 'the Glory of the Lord has risen upon you' (Isa. 60:1).
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Nor should one find strange all that is said: 'he beholds the form of the Lord' (Num. 12:8), 'they saw the God of Israel' (Exod. 24:10), and the 'Work of the Chariot' (Ma'aseh Merkavah) — yes, but not the 'Measurement of the Divine Stature' (Shi'ur Qomah), because of what the latter contains by way of inducing reverential awe in souls.
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Section 4. The Khazar said: Is it not the case that when the intellect grasps His lordship, His unity, His power, His knowledge, the emanation of all things from Him, the dependence of all on Him, and His independence from all — does not reverence of Him and love for Him arise thereby, rendering this anthropomorphism unnecessary?
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Section 5. The rabbi said: This is the claim of the philosophers. But what we observe about the human soul is that it is seized by awe in the presence of sensory terrors to a degree it is not seized when we merely speak of them — just as
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it is attracted to a beautiful form actually present and seen far more than it is attracted when that form is merely described to it.
Nor should you credit the rationalist who claims that his thought proceeds in an orderly, uninterrupted manner until he attains all the concepts needed in theology by pure intellect alone, without recourse to anything sensory or any stabilizing perception.
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That stabilization is found either in spoken word, or in script, or in a seen or imagined form. Do you not observe that you cannot secure the meanings of your prayer by thought alone, without reading?
Nor can you count to a hundred, for instance, by pure thought alone, without vocalizing — especially if you wish to compose the hundred from different numbers. Were it not for the senses that stabilize this rational order through representations and narratives, it would not be stabilized.
In like manner, there is ordered for the prophet: God's greatness, His power, His mercy, His knowledge, His life, His eternity, His sovereignty, His independence from all things, the dependence of all on Him, His uniqueness, and His holiness.
All of this is perceived by him at once, in a single instant, through the majesty and splendor of that created form — through the living beings and the instruments signifying power: the raised hand, the drawn sword, the fires, the winds, the lightnings and thunders all operating at His command.
And the speech issuing from that form — with its warnings and disclosures of what has been and what shall be; and the standing of men and angels before Him in submission; and the granting of all their needs from Him, enriching them and leaving them wanting for nothing.
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He exalts the lowly and humbles the mighty. He extends His hand to penitents, calling them: 'Who knows whether he will return and relent' (Joel 2:14). And He is distressed on account of the wicked; He removes and installs rulers; and before Him 'a thousand thousands serve Him' (Dan. 7:10).
All of this, and its like, the prophet beholds in a single moment, and thereby reverence and love become implanted in his soul for the rest of his life. He goes on as a passionate, entranced lover all his days, yearning for that vision to appear to him a second or third time.
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Indeed, it was considered a great thing for Solomon that this occurred twice, as Scripture says: 'Had not God appeared to him twice?' (1 Kgs. 11:9). Can such a thing be attained by a philosopher through thought alone?
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Section [6]. The Khazar said: That is impossible, for thought is like speech — one cannot describe two things simultaneously.
And even if it were possible, the listener could not grasp them together; for the particulars one might perceive of a city and its inhabitants in a single hour could not be contained in a large register.
Indeed, at a single moment I may feel love for a city or aversion to it, yet were that recorded in a register it would not be reproduced within me.
Especially since thought is disturbed by the intrusion of fancy and imagination regarding things that came before, so that nothing remains perfectly clear.
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Section [7]. The rabbi said: We are like the weak-sighted who cannot bear to look upon that light — so we follow those with keen vision who preceded us and were capable of beholding it.
Just as the keen-sighted person can only observe the sun and direct others to it at the heights of the day and from elevated places upon which the sun shines directly,
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so too the one with keen sight for the divine light has times and places in which he sees that light. The times are the times of prayer, especially during the Days of Repentance. And the places are the places of prophecy.
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Section [8]. The Khazar said: I see you, then, as appealing to masters of hours, days, and places — like the astrologers.
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Section [9]. The rabbi said: We have indeed been arguing against the celestial spheres having influence over terrestrial things. Rather, we acknowledge that the matter of generation and corruption comes from the sphere, but the forms come from its Governor and Director,
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who makes them instruments for the actualization of whatever He wills among existing things — without our knowing the details. The astrologer claims to know these details and to attain them; we deny this, and are certain that no human being can grasp such matters.
But if we find any portion of that knowledge supported by divine, revealed knowledge, we accept it — and thereby do our souls find peace in what is recorded of astrological knowledge among the Sages of blessed memory, hoping that it derives from divine power and is thus true. Otherwise it is all mere conjecture.
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And tearing the heavens is more truthful than tearing the earth. Therefore, whoever beholds those lights is the true prophet,
and the place in which the true direction of prayer is seen is a true direction — for it is a divine place, and the revealed law that comes from it is a true law.
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Section [10]. The Khazar said: Even the religious communities other than yours — when they acknowledge the truth and do not deny it — they all exalt that place, calling it the ascent of the prophets, the gate of heaven, and the place of the final gathering.
They hold that souls are gathered there, that prophecy rests with the Children of Israel by virtue of the distinction of their ancestors, and they acknowledge the account of Creation, the Flood, and most of what is in the Torah — and they make pilgrimage to that exalted place.
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Section [11]. The rabbi said: I would liken them only to proselytes who have not accepted all the branches of the law but only its roots — were it not that their actions contradict their words.
For their verbal exaltation of the place of prophecy is coupled with their turning toward places that were formerly sites of idol-worship — places where their multitudes happened to settle, in which no divine trace was ever found,
while they retained the customs of the ancient cults, their festival days and rites, changing only the outward forms that had been there — erasing those but not erasing their traces.
I am nearly moved to say that the verse 'And you shall worship there other gods, wood and stone' (Deut. 4:28) and its repeated occurrence is an allusion to those who venerate the wood and those who venerate the stone.
And we, as time goes on, will be transformed into them — because of our sins. Yet, to be sure, their belief is directed only to God, like the people of Abimelech and the people of Nineveh, as well as the philosophers.
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— in relation to God. And the founder of each of the two communities is said to have apprehended those divine lights at their very source, meaning in the Land of Israel,
and that from there he ascended to heaven and was commanded to guide all the inhabitants of the civilized world — and their direction of prayer was toward that land.
But it was not long before their direction of prayer shifted to wherever their masses happened to be.
Is this not like someone who wished to guide all people toward the place of the sun, but since they were weak-sighted and unable to reach it, nor did they know its course, he led them to the south pole or the north pole and said to them: 'Here is the sun, face it and you will see it' — yet they do not see it?
The first leader, Moses, peace be upon him, had stationed the multitude at Mount Sinai so that they might see the light he saw — had they been capable of it as he was capable.
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Then he summoned the seventy elders, and they saw — as it is said: 'And they saw the God of Israel' (Ex. 24:10). Then he gathered the second seventy, and upon them was bestowed from the light of prophecy what was appropriate to them — as it is said: 'He took of the spirit that was upon him and put it upon the seventy elders' (Num. 11:25).
Thus they bore witness to one another regarding what they saw and what they heard, so that ill suspicion would be dispelled from the nation — lest anyone think that prophecy is merely a claim made by individuals who claimed it for themselves.
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For such collusion could not apply to those multitudes — especially when they grew numerous and became communities who equaled Elisha in knowledge of the day of Elijah's ascent, peace be upon him, as expressed in the words: 'Do you know that today the Lord will take your master?' (2 Kings 2:3). And all of them bore witness to Moses, peace be upon him, confirming his law.
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. []. .
Section [12]. The Khazar said: Yet they are closer to you than the philosophers.
. []. . .
Section [13]. The rabbi said: Great is the distance between the man of revealed law and the philosopher. For the man of revealed law seeks the Lord for immense benefits — not least the benefit of knowledge of Him. But the philosopher seeks Him only in order to describe Him according to His true nature,
just as he seeks to describe the earth — that it lies, for instance, at the center of the greatest sphere and not at the center of the ecliptic sphere, and other such items of knowledge.
In his view, ignorance of God is no more harmful than the ignorance of one who says the earth is flat.
The benefit, in his view, lies solely in knowledge of things according to their true natures, whereby one becomes assimilated to the Active Intellect and thus becomes, as it were, the intellect itself — whether he be righteous or a heretic, he cares not, so long as he philosophizes.
Among the foundations of his belief: God does neither good nor evil. And he holds to the eternity of the world — he does not believe it was ever non-existent and then created; rather, it always has been and always will be.
And he holds that God, exalted be He, is its creator only in a metaphorical sense, not in the literal meaning of the word — by 'creator' he means only 'maker' in the sense that He is its cause and its ground.
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The effect is co-eternal with the cause: if the cause exists in potentiality, the effect is in potentiality; if it is in actuality, the effect is in actuality. God, exalted be He, is a cause in actuality — therefore His effect is in actuality, coeternal with Him as its cause.
Yet even though they have strayed so far, they are to be excused — for they had no access to divine knowledge except through the path of analogical reasoning, and this is what their reasoning led them to.
Indeed, the fair-minded among them say to the adherents of revealed religion what Socrates said: 'O people, I do not deny this divine wisdom of yours — I say only that I do not possess it; I am wise only with human wisdom.'
As for these religious communities, to the degree that they drew near they also drew far away. Otherwise, Jeroboam and his faction would be closer to us — and they were worshippers of idol-worship.
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They were Israelites, diminished yet guarding the Sabbath and the rest of the commandments — save for a few cases where political necessity drove them to diverge.
And they acknowledge the God of Israel who brought them out of Egypt — just as we said of those who worshipped the calf in the wilderness.
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Section [14]. The Khazar said: One must distinguish sharply between the faction of Jeroboam and the faction of Ahab.
For the worshippers of Baal were idolaters outright. In that regard Elijah said: 'If the LORD is God, follow Him; and if Baal, follow him.'
Elijah raised no objection to the worship of the calves, for he said: 'I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts.' The faction of Jeroboam directed all their deeds toward the LORD God of Israel, and their prophets were prophets of the LORD.
The prophets of Ahab were prophets of Baal. God raised up Jehu to obliterate the legacy of Ahab, and he applied all that ingenuity in that stratagem, saying: 'Ahab served Baal a little; Jehu shall serve him much' — until he wiped out the remnant of Baal, yet did not touch the calves.
The devotees of the original calf, the faction of Jeroboam, those who maintained the high places, and those who followed Micah's idol — all of them had no intent save toward the God of Israel. Yet with the transgression, those who committed it deserved death.
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Like one who marries his sister out of necessity or desire, yet nevertheless observes the conditions of marriage as God has commanded them.
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Section [15]. The rabbi said: You have raised a point of doubt, though for me it is not in doubt. But we have digressed from our subject — the divine attributes — so let us return to it, and I shall give you further clarification by way of an analogy from the sun.
The most perfect in receiving the sun's light are the ruby and the crystal, for instance, and pure air and water — in these it is called a piercing light; while in gleaming stones and polished surfaces it is called a brilliant light.
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The undifferentiated light corresponds to what we call Elohim, as has been established. The piercing light corresponds to the Tetragrammaton — a proper name specific to the relationship between Him and the most perfect of His creatures on earth, namely the prophets.
Their souls are translucent, receptive to His light, which penetrates them as sunlight penetrates the crystal and the ruby. These souls have a mine and a source going back to Adam, as has been established — the elect and the essential core passing in succession from generation to generation.
Because of His connection to Adam, the name Elohim was transferred after the completion of the work of creation to the Tetragrammaton Elohim, as the Sages said: 'the full name upon a complete world.' The perfection of the world was nothing other than Adam, who is the very heart of all that preceded him.
Objection arises only concerning the Tetragrammaton, since prophecy is rare and extraordinary even in individuals — how much more so in a community. That is why Pharaoh denied it and said: 'I do not know the LORD.'
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It is as though he understood from the Explicit Name of the Tetragrammaton what one understands from the piercing light — an indication of a God whose light connects with human beings and penetrates them. So Moses added for him: 'the God of the Hebrews,' a reference to the patriarchs.
— who were celebrated for prophecy and miraculous deeds. As for Elohim, you find it a widespread name in Egypt, as when the first Pharaoh said to Joseph: 'After God has made all this known to you.'
It is as though a single man could see the sun directly and know its rising-points and the stations of its course, while we had never seen it at all but moved about in shade and cloud — yet we observe its stations progressing more than ours, by virtue of his knowledge of the sun's movement.
He says: I receive from it whatever I wish and whenever I wish, because I know its cause and how it moves. When I prepare for it, setting down what is needed, and guard all my actions at the times I know — I am never disappointed in its benefits.
The name of the Tetragrammaton is what is referred to by 'face' in the verse 'My face shall go' and 'if Your face does not go'; and it is the goal sought in 'Let the LORD go in our midst.'
The meaning of Elohim is reached by rational inference, for reason leads one to conclude that the world has a Ruler and Orderer; people differ regarding Him according to their reasonings, and the most authoritative opinion concerning Him is that of the philosophers.
But the meaning of the Tetragrammaton cannot be reached by inference — only by direct vision through the prophetic faculty.
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Through it a person is as though departing from his own species and entering into connection with an angelic species, so that another spirit comes to be in him — as it is said: 'he was turned into another man,' and 'God gave him another heart.'
'The spirit clothed Amasai,' 'the hand of the LORD was upon him,' 'a willing spirit sustains me' — all these are expressions for the holy spirit that envelops the prophet at the moment of prophecy.
— and the Nazirite, and the anointed one when anointed for the priesthood or the kingship at the moment the prophet anoints him, or at the moment God strengthens and guides him toward some matter.
At that moment all the prior doubts that the person had entertained regarding God dissolve, and he dismisses as trivial those rational inferences that had been employed to arrive at knowledge of the divine lordship and unity.
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At that moment the person becomes a worshipper, a lover of the object of his worship, consumed in its love — so immense is the pleasure he finds in nearness to it, and the pain and hurt he finds in distance from it.
[]
This is contrary to the philosophers, who see in the worship of God nothing beyond propriety and the correct assertion of His superiority over all existing things — as one ought to honor the sun above all mirrors.
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Section [16]. The Khazar said: The distinction between Elohim and the Tetragrammaton has now become clear to me, and I understand the difference between the God of Abraham and the God of Aristotle — that one yearns for the Tetragrammaton with a yearning of direct taste and vision, while one inclines toward Elohim by inference alone.
And that direct taste drives whoever attains it toward utter self-abandonment in His love, and toward dying for its sake; while the philosophical inference merely concludes that honoring Him is obligatory, so long as it causes no harm and entails no burden.
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It is therefore no wonder that Aristotle, when he treated the works of the divine law lightly, doubted whether God has knowledge of such things.
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Section [17]. [Said the rabbi:] And rightly so — Abraham endured what he endured: in Ur of the Chaldees, then the trials, then the circumcision, then the casting away of Ishmael, then the anguish at the binding of Isaac.
For he had witnessed what he witnessed of the divine order by direct taste and experience, not by rational inference, and he saw that nothing of its recompenses would be hidden from him.
He saw that God would reward him for his good deeds despite his lapses, and would guide him along the right paths, so that he would not advance nor delay in anything save by His permission.
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How then could he not treat his old rational speculations as trivial? As the Sages of blessed memory expounded regarding 'He brought him outside' (Gen. 15:5): 'He said to him, leave your astrology behind.'
That is, He commanded him to abandon his speculative sciences — astronomy and the like — and to commit himself to obedience to One who is grasped by direct experience, as it is said: 'Taste and see that the Lord is good' (Ps. 34:9).
Rightly, then, is the Lord called 'the God of Israel,' for this direct apprehension is absent among others; and He is called 'the God of the Land,' for that land has a special character in its very air, soil, and heavens.
And all who follow the divine law are but followers of those who possess this direct insight. Their souls find contentment in imitating them — despite the roughness of their language and the crude nature of their parables — in a way that souls cannot find contentment in following the philosophers, despite the elegance of their narratives.
For souls are made alive to the truth, as it is said: 'Strange are the words of truth.'
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. [].
Section [18]. Said the Khazar: I see that you censure the philosophers and attribute to them the opposite of what is well known about them — even one who withdraws and practices asceticism is said to have philosophized and adopted the view of the philosophers — while you strip them of all virtuous deeds.
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Section [19]. Said the rabbi: Indeed, what you have said is the very foundation of their doctrine — that man's ultimate felicity is purely theoretical knowledge, the acquisition of existents as intelligibles in the mind, first as intellect in potency, then as intellect in act, then as acquired intellect approaching the Active Intellect, so that he need not fear annihilation.
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And this can only be accomplished by consuming one's lifetime in inquiry and perpetual contemplation. And this cannot be accomplished alongside worldly occupation.
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Therefore they advocated renunciation of wealth, status, pleasure, and family, lest these distract one from knowledge. And once a person has attained that ultimate knowledge sought through learning, he no longer cares about what he does.
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They do not scruple against taking wealth that would be deemed forbidden and punishable. However, they did command what is proper and forbid what is reprehensible — by way of what is preferable and most excellent — and through imitation of the Creator.
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They derived laws, but these are merely civic policies — not binding obligations — to be resorted to only when necessary. The divine law, by contrast, is not like this, except in those civic portions which the science of religious law has made clear are susceptible to exception and those that are not.
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Section [20]. Said the Khazar: Surely that light of which you speak has been so thoroughly extinguished that its reappearance seems remote, and its ruins are so complete that one cannot imagine their restoration by force.
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Section [21]. Said the rabbi: It is extinguished only in the eyes of one who does not perceive us with the eye of true insight — one who infers from our humiliation, our poverty, and our dispersion that our light is extinguished.
And he infers from the prominence of others, their success in this world, and their dominion over us, that they possess a light of their own.
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Section [22]. Said the Khazar: I do not reason thus — for I see that both opposing communities are victorious. Truth cannot reside at both extremes of a contradiction; it must lie with one of them, or with neither.
You have already explained to me, regarding 'Behold, My servant shall prosper' (Isa. 52:13), what indicates that humiliation and submissiveness are more consonant with the divine order than outward triumph and arrogance.
And this is likewise well known within both communities. The Christians do not take pride in kings, tyrants, and the wealthy — but rather in those followers of Jesus throughout that long period during which his religion had not yet been established.
And those followers were plucked, seized, and slain wherever even a single one of them was found, and they bore wondrous measures of humiliation and death in order to vindicate their religion.
These are the ones by whom they seek blessing; their resting places and tombs are elevated in honor, and churches are built over their names.
Likewise, the followers of the founder of Islam endured great humiliation until they prevailed. It is in those followers that they take pride — in their persons, their humiliation, and their deaths as martyrs — not in the princes who displayed triumph through their wealth and broad circumstances.
But rabbi — the Jews would have such people among them if they achieved the utmost in withdrawal and cleaving to God Almighty. Were you to see the Jews doing this —
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— for the sake of God alone — I would rank them above the Davidic kings, for I know what you taught me concerning the verse 'and with the contrite and humble in spirit' (Isa. 57:15), namely that the light of God dwells only upon the souls of the humble.
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Section [23]. Said the rabbi: You are right to reproach us for this. For we have acquired humiliation without the fruit of it.
But when you reflect upon those among us who were capable of lifting humiliation from themselves by uttering a single word without effort — thereby becoming free men and triumphing over those who had enslaved them —
— yet they do not do so, out of protection of their religion — is this not a quality that intercedes and atones for many sins?
Were what you demand of us truly required, we would not have persisted in this condition. But God has a secret and a wisdom concerning us — like the wisdom in a seed that falls into the earth and outwardly transforms, seeming to turn into earth, water, and dung —
— leaving no perceptible trace, as the observer might suppose — yet it is that very seed which transforms earth and water into its own nature, converting them degree by degree.
— until it refines the elements and reduces them to something like its own essence, putting forth husks and leaves and the like — until, when the inner core is purified and becomes fit for it, the divine order descends upon it and the form of the original seed is restored.
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That tree then bears the very fruit from which its seed had come. So too the religion of Moses — all that came after it is in truth transformed into it, even if outwardly it appears to oppose it.
These other religious communities are but a tilling and a preparation for the awaited Messiah, who is the fruit — and all of them will become fruit when they acknowledge him, and the tree will become one. And at that time, they will truly excel.
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the very foundation they held in contempt — as we have said regarding 'Behold, My servant shall prosper'
Do not be misled by their turning away, after all this, from idol worship and their striving toward monotheism, and thus think them superior.
You see Israel in the eye of deficiency on account of their adopting objects of worship during their period of sovereignty.
Consider rather what the great ones among them harbor of heresy — indeed, they openly profess it and compose on it famous and well-known verses:
that there is no Master over human deeds, no Rewarder, no Punisher — something never attributed to Israel.
Those peoples were merely seekers of the benefits of talismans and spiritual forces in addition to their own religion, while maintaining their own laws —
on account of the renowned benefit of those practices at that time. Otherwise, why did they not convert to the religions of those nations who had exiled and reviled them?
Even Manasseh, Zedekiah, and the most wicked who were among Israel were not willing to abandon the religion of Israel.
Yes, they did have desires for additional benefits — victory and material blessing — through those special practices that were proven effective in their experience, being things forbidden by God.
Were those practices as renowned today as they were then, we and they alike would be deceived by them, just as we are deceived by the cold remnants of astrology, incantations, charms, and experiments remote from nature — and remote, moreover, from the Law.
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Section [24]. The Khazar said: I would now like you to shed some light on those remnants of the natural sciences which you said were in their possession.
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Section [25]. The rabbi said: Among them is Sefer Yetzirah, attributed to Abraham our father, peace be upon him. It is obscure and requires extended commentary. It points to divine unity and lordship by means of things multiple and diverse on one hand, yet unified and concordant on the other.
Their concordance stems from the One who orders them. These are: Sefer (number/counting), Sippur (speech/narration), and Sefer (script/writing).
By Sefer he means measurement and proportion in created bodies, for proportion — that a body be ordered and harmonious, suited to the purpose for which it was created — can only be by means of number.
Measurement, weight, the proportionality of motions, and the order of music — all of these operate by number.
Sefer is like the builder: no house proceeds from him except that a mental image has first taken shape within him.
By Sippur he means speech — but it is divine speech, 'the word of the living God,' with which divine presence and form are associated, as in 'Let there be light' and 'Let there be a firmament.'
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No sooner was the speech concluded than the work appeared — and this is Sefer, by which he means script. God's script is His creatures; God's speech is His script; and God's measure is His speech.
Thus Sefer, Sippur, and Sefer become, with respect to God, one single thing; yet with respect to man they are three, for man conceives in his mind, speaks with his mouth, and writes with his hand — employing these three means to indicate one single thing.
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Man's measure, script, and utterance become signs that point to the thing, not the thing itself. But God's measure and speech are the very thing itself, and that is His script.
Imagine a weaver who thinks of his craft and the silk obeys him — taking on the colors that pass through his mind and forming the patterns he desires, so that the result is
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— the brocade by his command and his script. Were we able, when we utter 'man' or trace the outline of a human body, to summon forth its actual form, we would be capable of divine speech and divine script, and we would be creators.
We do have a partial capacity in mental imaging. However, languages and scripts differ in degree: some names correspond closely to what they denote, while others are remote from it.
The divine language — the one God invented, taught to Adam, and placed upon his tongue and in his mind — is without doubt the most perfect of languages and the most closely corresponding to what it denotes.
As Scripture says, 'And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name' — meaning it deserved that name, corresponded to it, and gave expression to its nature.
The superiority of the Holy Tongue is thus established, and the angels are more powerfully affected by it than by any other language.
From this same principle it may be said of the script that the shapes of its letters are not arbitrary or coincidental, but rather each letter has a purpose that corresponds to its intended meaning.
Therefore, from this perspective, one should not find strange the efficacy of divine names and what follows from them by way of utterance and script — and, prior to both, by way of measure, meaning the thought of the pure soul that resembles the angels.
The three 'Books' — Sefer, Sippur, and Sefer — converge upon one single thing, and that measured thing comes into being exactly as the pure soul conceived it, as it spoke it, and as it inscribed it.
So too this book says of God, may He be exalted: He created His world by means of three 'Books' — Sefer, Sippur, and Sefer — and all of these, with respect to Him, are one.
And that One is the source of the 'thirty-two wondrous paths of wisdom,' which are the ten sefirot and the twenty-two letters — a reference to the emergence of existents into actuality, distinguished as they are by quantity and quality.
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Quantity is number; and the secret of number resides in the ten, as it says: 'Ten sefirot of nothingness — ten and not nine, ten and not eleven,' and they possess a hidden secret.
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For enumeration comes to a halt at ten — neither more nor less.
He therefore follows this with: 'Understand with wisdom and be wise with understanding; examine them and probe them; know and calculate and form; set the thing in its clarity and restore the Creator to His place, and their measure is ten which have no end.'
He then mentioned their distinction by quality, dividing the twenty-two letters into three groups: three mothers, seven doubles, and twelve simple letters.
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He said: 'Three mothers: Alef, Mem, Shin — a great, wondrous, and hidden secret, from which proceed air, water, and fire, by means of which everything was created.'
He established the correspondence of these letters with the correspondence of the macrocosm, the microcosm — that is, the human being — and the correspondence of time, as a single unity.
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He called them 'faithful witnesses' — world, soul, and year — informing us that the order is one, from one Ordainer, may He be exalted and sanctified.
Though existents differ and vary, their variation derives from their materials, which are themselves diverse — some elevated, some base, some turbid, some clear.
But from the side of the Bestower of forms and Giver of configurations and order, the wisdom throughout them all is one; and the providential care is concordant and arranged according to one single order — in the macrocosm, in the human being, and in the order of the celestial spheres.
These are what he described as 'faithful witnesses to His unity' — world, soul, and year.
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Their order was set out, approximately, according to this schema: the three mothers [Alef, Mem, Shin] in the world are air, water, and fire.
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In the soul: the belly and the head. In the year: saturation, cold, and heat.
The seven double letters — Bet, Gimel, Dalet, Kaf, Pe, Resh, Tav — correspond in the world to Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon.
In the soul, these correspond to: wisdom, wealth, dominion, life, grace, seed, and peace.
In the year: Shabbat, Thursday, Tuesday, Sunday, Friday, Wednesday, Monday — the seven days assigned to the seven planets.
The twelve simple letters — He, Vav, Zayin, Het, Tet, Yod, and so on — correspond in the world to the signs Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, and those that follow.
In the soul, these correspond to the organs and their faculties: sight, hearing, smell, speech, taste, and procreation.
In the year: Nisan, Iyyar, Sivan, Tammuz, Av, Elul; in the world: Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces.
In the soul, the remaining organs: action, walking, contemplation, anger, laughter, and sleep; in the year: Tishri, Marheshvan, Kislev, Tevet, Shevat, Adar.
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One rests upon three, three upon seven, and seven upon twelve — the hierarchical structure through which world, year, and soul are ordered.
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Among these organs are allegorical referents: the kidneys counsel, the spleen laughs, the liver grows angry, and the stomach sleeps.
It is not surprising that the testes have a bearing on the quality of judgment — for we observe something similar with women, since eunuchs, who lack testes, are found to be weaker in reason than women, and with the loss of the testes they also lose the beard and acuity of judgment.
As for the laughing spleen: by its natural force it purifies the blood and breath of turbidity and murk; and through this purification come delight and laughter.
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The angry liver: this is because bile is generated within it. The sleeping stomach: this is an allegorical expression for the organs of digestion.
The heart is not mentioned because it is sovereign. The diaphragm and lungs are not mentioned because they are exclusively its servants and do not serve the body as a whole except indirectly.
The brain is included within the detailed account of the senses that arise from it. The organs below the separating diaphragm have a secret, for they are primary nature itself; the diaphragm is the boundary between the realm of nature and the realm of animal life.
Just as the neck is the boundary between the realm of animal life and the realm of rational speech — as Plato stated in the Timaeus.
The primary generative sources belong to the realm of nature; therein lies the foundation of all being. For it is from there that seed flows forth, and there that the embryo is formed among the four natures.
And from that domain the Blessed One chose the adjacent organs: the milk, the blood, and the lobe of the liver.
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. . .
And the two kidneys — but not the heart, brain, lung, or diaphragm. The mystery is most profound and its exposition is forbidden. It has been said: one may not expound the Book of Formation except under conditions that are rarely met.
He then says: the seven doubles — six sides corresponding to six directions — and a holy palace poised at the center. Blessed is His glory from His place.
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He is the place of the world, yet the world is not His place. This alludes to the divine Command that unites opposites; it is likened to the point and center of a body with six directions and three extensions.
Whenever the center is not posited, the extremities cannot be posited. This draws attention to the correspondence between this center and the force that sustains everything — through which opposites are reconciled according to the correspondence established in world, soul, and year.
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For each of the three domains there is something that regulates its parts and orders them: the constellation in the world is as a king upon his throne; the celestial sphere in the year is as a king throughout his province; the heart in the soul is as a king in battle.
Teli — this is the name of the node — alludes to the realm of intellect, for the term jauhar (substance) is used to denote hidden things that cannot be apprehended by the senses.
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By the celestial sphere he means the inclined solar sphere, by which the parts of the year are ordered. The heart orders the living creature and is the king of its organs.
He intends to show that the wisdom in all three is one, and the divine Command is one; the difference among them is solely due to the difference in their matter.
He likens the Command when governing spiritual beings to a king upon his throne, whose commands are fulfilled by the slightest indication, before his intimate courtiers and knowledgeable servants, without any movement on his part or on theirs.
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For he must appear throughout the quarters of the province so that his sovereignty, his awe, and his benefactions may be manifest to every part of it.
He likens it, when governing the living creature, to a king in battle — for amidst the opposites it must strive to strengthen its allies and suppress its adversaries.
The wisdom is one: the wisdom in the spheres is not greater than the wisdom in the humblest living creature. What ennobles the spheres is that they are composed of pure, stable matter that nothing can destroy except the One who invented it.
The living creature, however, is composed of affected, passive matter upon which opposing forces — heat and cold and the like — act in succession, and time consumes it.
Were it not for the wisdom that provided for it through male and female, so that the species endures even as individuals perish — and this through the governance of the celestial sphere, with its rising and setting —
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As this book has pointed out. He states further that there is no difference between the creation of female and male except what lies between the visibility of their organs and their hiddenness.
This has been clarified in anatomy: the organs of the female are the organs of the male, except that they are inverted, reversed inward — as he stated: male in Alef-Mem-Shin, female in Alef-Shin-Mem.
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The sphere revolves facing forward and backward: there is nothing in goodness higher than ענג (delight), and nothing in evil lower than נגע (affliction). This means that the letters of Alef-Mem-Shin and Alef-Shin-Mem, and ענג and נגע, are the same — differing only in the order of precedence and sequence.
Just as rising and setting belong to a single sphere — in its own reality it is one, while from our perspective it faces us and turns away.
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He then speaks enigmatically about the organs below the diaphragm as the sources of the four natures, saying: two that murmur and two that exult, two that counsel and two that rejoice — they are arrayed as if in contention, marshaled as if in battle; some of these join with others, some replace others, some stand opposite others — if these do not exist those do not exist, and all are cleaved to one another.
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The allusion is comprehensible in its totality, even if detailed elaboration is difficult — for it concerns the creature's dependence on opposites and how its integrity is produced from this very conflict. Were it not for this conflict, this integrity would not exist. This is after the account of the ordering of created beings and their precedence.
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The most exalted of these is 'the spirit of the living God.' It states: one — the spirit of the living God; two — wind from spirit; three — water from wind; four — fire from water.
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Earth is not mentioned because it is the body and the matter underlying all generated things — all of them are, in a sense, earth. Yet one says: this is a fiery body, this an aerial body, this a watery body.
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For this reason the three mothers — fire, water, and spirit — are given primacy. The spirit of God, which is the holy spirit, is placed first; from it the spiritual angels are formed, and through it spiritual souls are conjoined.
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After it comes the perceptible air, and after that the water above the firmament — something the rational demonstrations of the philosophers did not reach, and so they made no reference to it.
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Perhaps an interpretation can be advanced that it refers to the sphere of extreme cold and to the upper limit of the clouds; after that comes the aether — the place of elemental fire — as the text states: fire from water.
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Similarly one may interpret 'and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters' as meaning by 'waters' here the primordial matter, not yet given quality — tohu va-vohu — until it received quality through the will of God.
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The comparison of natural matter to water is the most apt analogy: what is thinner than water yields no coherent natural body, while what is coarser than water does not permit the operations of nature to be uniform throughout all its parts.
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Nature permeates all parts of a thing — every generated being must have passed through a fluid, liquid state; otherwise it would not be called a natural being but rather an artifact or an accidental compound.
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'Tohu and vohu, mire and mud — he set them like a garden bed, arranged them like a wall, roofed them like a ceiling, poured water over them, and they became earth.'
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He then disclosed something of the mystery of the Ineffable Name — Yod He Vav He — which corresponds to the utterly unique divine essence that has no quiddity, for the quiddity of a thing is other than its existence, whereas in God, exalted be He, His existence is His quiddity.
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For the quiddity of a thing is its definition, and a definition is composed of genus and differentia; but the First Cause has neither genus nor differentia — hence it follows that He is simply He.
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He further described the cause of the multiplicity of things as the revolution of the celestial sphere, expressed as: 'the wheel revolves forward and backward.' He likened this to the permutation of the individual letters.
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'Alef with all the letters and all the letters with alef; bet with all the letters and all the letters with bet — cycling in turn — so that all speech comprises two hundred and thirty-one gates.'
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'Three stones build six houses; four build twenty-four houses — go and calculate what the mouth cannot utter and the ear cannot hear.'
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Similarly, one is compelled to investigate whence the multiplicity of things arose prior to the revolution of the sphere, given that the Creator is one — He is simply He. So he posited names for the Creator in rational speech.
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And for corporeal speech he chose the subtlest letters — those which are like souls relative to the other letters — namely He, Vav, Yod. He stated that when the divine will is executed through this Ineffable Name, what God, exalted be He, wills comes to pass without fail.
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He and the angels employ rational speech and have knowledge of what will occur in the corporeal world prior to its creation; and how speech and discernment flow from Him upon the rational beings who will be created in the world.
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It follows necessarily that the corporeal world was created by a command corresponding to corporeality — through the rational Ineffable Name whose counterpart in corporeal names is: Yahu, Yuha, Huvi, Hiyu, Viha, Vahi.
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From each permutation one of the directions of the world was generated, and the sphere was established. Yet this does not fully persuade — either because what is sought is too abstruse to be grasped, or because our intellects fall short, or perhaps both.
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The philosophers have investigated questions of this kind and were led to conclude that only one thing can proceed from the One — so they posited an Intellect close to the First, emanating from it.
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They then said that this Intellect has two attributes: one is its knowledge of its own existence in itself, and the other is its knowledge that it has a cause — from which two things necessarily follow: an Intellect and the sphere of the fixed stars.
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This is a sheer assertion devoid of demonstration, and many objections may be raised against it — one of which is: why did this limitation of emanation stop with the First?
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And whence do we know that contemplating itself necessarily yields a sphere, while contemplating the First necessarily yields an Intellect? When Aristotle claims to contemplate himself, one ought to demand that a sphere thereby emanate from him.
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I have mentioned these principles to you only lest philosophy dazzle you and you imagine that if you followed it you would obtain certain demonstrative proof — whereas in truth their very foundations are things no intellect can bear and no syllogism can stabilize.
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— Pythagoras, or Aristotle, or Plato, and many others — not one of them agrees with another.
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Section [26]. The Khazar said: What need is there for the letters He-Vav-Yod, or for Intellects and spheres and the like, when one acknowledges divine will and temporal creation — that God created the many things at once according to their kinds, as set out in the order of Genesis?
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He then placed in them the power of persistence and generation, and sustains them moment by moment through divine power — as we say: 'Who in His goodness renews each day continually the work of creation.'
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Section [27]. The rabbi said: You have spoken well, O king of the Khazar — by God, this is the truth, and faith in truth, and the abandonment of superfluous speculation.
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Yet perhaps this was the very inquiry of our father Abraham, who had ascertained lordship and divine unity through reason before he received prophecy — and when he received prophecy he abandoned all his syllogisms and turned instead to seeking God's pleasure directly from Him.
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The Sages have expounded the verse 'He brought him outside' as meaning: 'Go forth from your astrology' — that is, abandon the science of the stars and all dubious natural science.
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Plato has recorded that the prophet of the time of King Marinus said to the philosopher who prided himself on philosophy — by divine revelation from God: 'You will not reach Me by this path; rather, through whom I have appointed as intermediary between Me and My creatures' — meaning the prophets and the true Law.
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This book includes, in the mystery of the ten units that are uniform across east and west — not impelled by any natural force, nor weighted by any rational argument, but solely by divine mystery — the statement: 'ten sefirot without anything.'
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Restrain your mouth from speaking, restrain your heart from contemplating, and if your heart races, return it to its place.
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And concerning this matter a covenant was made; their measure is ten, without end — their end embedded in their beginning and their beginning in their end, like a flame bound to a coal.
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Know, reflect, and picture that the Creator is one and there is none beside Him — and before the One, what are you to count?
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When our father Abraham understood, formed, engraved, permuted, and pondered — and succeeded — the Master of all was revealed to him and called him 'My beloved.'
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He made a covenant with him through the ten fingers of his hands — that is the covenant of the tongue — and through the ten toes of his feet — that is the covenant of circumcision — and proclaimed over him: 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.'
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Section 28. The Khazar said: I wish you to present to me a sample of the sages' sciences that accord with natural knowledge.
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Section 29. The rabbi said: I have already indicated their knowledge through precise astronomical observation — as evidenced by their knowledge of the lunar cycle, which is 29 days, 12 hours, and 793 parts, transmitted from the House of David, and it has not erred to this day.
And the verified solar cycle, through which they ensured that Passover would fall only after the vernal equinox of Nisan.
The equinox commonly known to the public is not the verified one; it is an approximation that divides the year into four quarters, each of 91 days, 7 hours, and a half.
The Christians challenged the Jews, claiming that the foundation of their religion had been lost, since they were not adhering to the original, given that Passover sometimes fell before the onset of spring.
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This was the publicly-known equinox, and they paid no heed to the verified solar cycle, which was calculated secretly and not widely known.
According to this calculation, Passover never falls under any circumstances without the sun having entered the head of Aries — even by a single day — and this has not deviated for thousands of years.
This calculation accords with the observations of al-Battānī, which are the most accurate and correct of all astronomical reckonings.
For can the solar and lunar cycles be accurately determined except through the most precise science of astronomy?
A work has survived from this special knowledge called Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer, containing the dimensions of the earth, each of the celestial spheres, the natures of the planets, the zodiacal signs, and their constellations.
And Samuel, among the sages of the Talmud, was he who said: 'The paths of the heavens are as clear to me as the paths of Nehardea.'
They engaged with it only for the needs of the religious law, since the precise determination of the moon's motion and the variations thereof — for establishing the moment of its conjunction with the sun, which is the molad — could not be completed otherwise.
As for the natural science that appears in their writings incidentally in the course of their discussions — not with the intention of teaching this science — it contains wonders and marvels.
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Section 30. The Khazar said: What is it that caused the loss of that intentional knowledge, while preserving this incidental knowledge?
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Section 31. The rabbi said: Because that intentional knowledge was carried by specialists — one called an astronomer, another a physician, another a commentator, and so forth.
When a nation suffers decline, the specialists among them are the first to perish, then those broader still; thus the specialists vanish and their sciences perish with them.
What remained were only the legal-religious books, which the general public needs, and which the multitude carries, with abundant copying and careful attention.
Whatever of those sciences was incorporated in the legal books was preserved by necessity, and survived thanks to the multitude of those who carry and attend to them.
Such is everything mentioned in the laws of slaughter and the laws of treifah — these contain medical knowledge that was largely unknown even to Galen.
For why else did he not mention among the causes of disease what we observe with our own eyes, matters to which the religious law drew attention — diseases of the lung and heart, such as adhesion near the heart, adhesion near the chest wall, continuity of the lobes, their decrease or increase, dryness of the lung, or its dissolution?
Of their knowledge of the relationship between the psychic and the physical organs: their ruling that 'the brain has two membranes, and correspondingly so have the testes.'
And their teaching: 'There are three channels — one branching to the heart, one branching to the lung, and one branching to the liver.'
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Of their knowledge of fatal versus survivable conditions: their ruling that 'if the skin of the spinal cord is intact, the state of its marrow is inconsequential; but one whose brain matter has been shaken cannot reproduce.'
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Among the remarkable features of their jurisprudence: 'A kosher animal that nursed from a treifah — its rennet is forbidden. A treifah that nursed from a kosher animal — its rennet is permitted, because it is absorbed within its intestines.'
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The membrane over the testes, the membrane over the spleen, the membrane over the kidneys, the membrane over the tail — all are forbidden for consumption.
Among the remarkable aspects of their jurisprudence concerning treifah: they defined the height from which, if an animal falls downward, it becomes forbidden on account of 'crushing of the limbs' — meaning a destruction of the organs that leads to death.
Then they ruled: 'If he left an animal above and came and found it below, one does not suspect crushing of the limbs, because it measured its own strength' — meaning that the animal gauges its own capacity and is inclined to leap, so it is not harmed as it would be if it were pushed.
For in leaping, nature is present and ready; in falling, it is startled and flees.
Among their remarkable statements and empirical findings: 'One plowed by heaven is kosher; one plowed by human hands is a treifah, on account of shriveling of the lung.'
Its examination: immerse it in lukewarm water for a full day and night — if the lung recovers its fullness it is kosher; if not, it is a treifah.
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Their ruling: 'A lung the color of kohl is kosher; the color of ink is a treifah — and what is the reason? Black is red that has been scalded. Green is kosher.'
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Their ruling: 'A lung that has reddened in part is kosher; one that has reddened entirely is a treifah.'
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And Rabbi Nathan the Babylonian — when they brought before him a newborn who was green, he said to them: 'Wait until his blood settles into him' — meaning, do not circumcise him until his blood is distributed throughout his flesh.
They did so, and the child survived — after many children of that woman had died from circumcision.
And they brought before him a newborn who was red, and he said: 'Wait until his blood is absorbed into him.' They followed this and the child survived, and he was named Nathan the Babylonian after his own name.
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Their ruling: 'Pure suet seals; impure suet does not seal.' And among the subtleties of their jurisprudence: a needle found in the thickness...
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If a clot of blood is found in the esophagus, it is established that this occurred before slaughter; if no clot of blood is found on it, it is established that this occurred after slaughter.
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What is the practical difference? It pertains to commercial transactions. For it is impossible that a clot of blood should form on the needle after slaughter, since blood does not circulate in a dead animal.
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Therefore he has no claim against the one from whom he purchased the animal. But if a clot of blood is found, he does have a claim against him and may say: You sold me a dead animal.
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Analogous to this is the ruling: if a wound has formed a scab, it is established that this occurred three days before slaughter; if it has not scabbed over — the one who seeks to recover from another bears the burden of proof.
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Among the identifying signs of a ritually pure bird: a string smeared with oil is drawn across the bird's foot — if it divides two toes to one side and two to the other, the bird is certainly impure; three to one side and one to the other, it is certainly pure.
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They likewise teach: any bird that snatches prey from the air is impure; and any bird that dwells among the impure and resembles them is also impure — as the starling among ravens.
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They also teach: the sign of birth in small livestock is a discharge of afterbirth-matter; in large livestock it is the placenta; and in a woman it is both the membrane and the placenta.
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Among their remarkable teachings and precise terminology regarding the venom of certain clawed animals: they rule that the predatory strike of a cat, falcon, or weasel upon kids and lambs renders them forbidden, as does the strike of a weasel upon a bird.
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They further teach: there is no predatory strike by a fox; there is no predatory strike by a dog; predatory strike operates only through the talon and not the tooth; only through the forelimb and not the hindlimb; only when done with deliberate intent; and only while the predator is alive.
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This means that the predator does not inject its venom into the animal except through the talons of its forelimbs and with deliberate intent toward the animal — not by accident.
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If its talons merely become lodged in the animal's flesh without predatory intent, this does not constitute a forbidden strike. Even more remarkable is their ruling of 'while alive': if it happened that the predator's limb were severed while its talons were embedded in the animal's flesh, this would not constitute a predatory strike.
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This is because the venom is not injected except at the moment of separation from and withdrawal of the talons from the animal's flesh. It is for this reason that they said 'while alive' after having said 'with deliberate intent.'
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If the liver was removed and there remains in it an olive's bulk at the site of the gallbladder and at the site where it sustains the animal's life, it is fit.
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They further teach: a membranous film is acceptable in the lung but renders the kidney forbidden; clear fluid and a perforation are acceptable in the kidney but render the lung forbidden.
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They also teach: a flayed animal in which a coin's width of skin remains along the full extent of the spine is fit. The Mishnah contains a full passage of laws concerning forbidden animals.
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As for the blemishes of firstborn animals and the blemishes of priests — these are among the matters too extensive to enumerate, so how much more so their exposition.
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He then mentioned the anatomy of the bones in the most concise formulation, with the clearest wording and meaning.
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Among the most elegant of their exceptional rulings: they said that if its intestines came out and were not perforated, it is fit. Then they added: this applies only if they were not turned over; but if they were turned over, it is forbidden.
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As it is said: 'It is He who made you and established you' — this teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, created vertebral columns within a person, and once one of them is overturned they cannot survive.
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As for their distinctions between the blood of a menstruant woman, the blood of purity, the blood of a woman with a discharge, virginal blood, and the blood arising from wounds, hemorrhoids, and the like —
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— and the numerous cycles of menstrual impurity, and likewise the discharges of men, and the remarkable rulings they have concerning skin disease — all of this surpasses the capacity of our minds to encompass.