Einführung in die jüdische Literatur und Kultur

1. Einführung in die jüdischeLiteratur und Kultur Treffen IV 05.05.11

2. Maimonides, “The Parable of the Palace” (Guide, III.51) “The ruler is in his palace, and all his subjects are partly within the city and partly outside the city. Of those who are within the city, some have turned their backs upon the ruler´s habitation, their faces being turned another way. Others seek to reach the ruler´s habitation, turn towards it, and desire to enter it and to stand before him, but up to now they have not yet seen the wall of the habitation. Some of those who seek to reach it have come up to the habitation and walk around it searching for its gate. Some of them have entered the gate and walk about in the antechambers. Some of the have entered the inner court of the habitation and have come to be with the king, in one and the same place with him, namely, in the ruler´s habitation. But their having come into the inner part of the habitation does not mean that they see the ruler or speak to him. For after their coming into the inner part of the habitation, it is indispensable that they should make another effort; then they will be in the presence of the ruler, see him from afar or from nearby, or hear the ruler´s speech or speak to him.” (Lehrer der Beschämten, III.51)

3. Maimonides, “The Parable of the Palace” “Know, my son, that as long as you are engaged in studying the mathematical sciences and the art of logic, you are one of those who walk around the house searching for its gate…If, however, you have understood the natural things, you have entered the habitation and are walking in the antechambers. If, however, you have achieved perfection in the natural things and have understood divine science, you have entered in the ruler´s place into the inner court and are with him in one habitation. This is the rank of men of science”

4. Maimonides, “The Parable of the Palace” There are those who set their thought to work after having attained perfection in the divine science, turn wholly toward God…renounce what is other than He, and direct all the acts of their intellect toward an examination of the beings with a view to drawing from them proof with regard to Him, so as to know his governance of them in whatever way it is possible. These people are those who are present in the ruler´s council. This is the rank of the prophets. Among them there is he who because of the greatness of his apprehension and his renouncing everything that is other than God…has attained such a degree that it is said of him, “And he was there with the Lord” (Exodus 34,28), putting questions and receiving answers, speaking and being spoken to, in that holy place.

5. Maimonides, “The Parable of the Palace” And because of his great joy in that which apprehended, “he did neither eat bread nor drink water”.For his intellect attained such strength that all the gross faculties in the body ceased to function. I refer to the various kinds of the sense of touch. Some prophets could only see, some of them from close by and some from afar, as [a prophet] says: “From afar the Lord appeared unto me” (Jer. 31,3).The various degrees of prophecy have already been discussed by us. Let us now return to the subject of this chapter, which is to confirm men in the intention to set their thought to work on God alone after they have achieved knowledge of Him, as we have explained. This is the worship peculiar to those have apprehended the true realities; the more they think of Him and of being with Him, the more their worship increases. ...

6. Maimonides, Guide for the Perplexed “When man has achieved purity of thought, clear perception of God by the proper method, and beatitude through that which he perceives, it will never be possible for evil of any kind to befall this man, because he is with God and God is with him. However, when he averts himself from God, in which state he is hidden from God and God is hidden from him, he is a target for every evil thing that happens to come his way. The thing which induces Providence and saves man from the raging sea of chance happenings is just that intellectual emanation.”

7. Maimonides, “Brief an Hasdai ha-Levi” As to your question about the nations, know that the Lord desires the heart and that the intention of the heart is the measure of all things. That is why our sages say, ‘The pious men among the Gentiles have a share in the World-to-Come,’ namely, if they have acquired what can be acquired of the knowledge of God, and if they ennoble their souls with worthy qualities. There is no doubt that every man who ennobles his soul with excellent morals and wisdom based on the faith in God certainly belongs to the men of the World-to-Come. That is why our sages said, “Even a non-Jew who studies the Torah of our master Moses resembles a High Priest” (bSan 65b). What is essential is nothing else that one tries to elevate his soul towards God through the Torah…

8. Maimonides, “Brief an Hasdai ha-Levi” ... And the philosophers declared that it is very difficult to find a man who is completely perfect in morality and wisdom. He in whom this perfection is found is called a Saint, and surely such a man is on the steps which lead to the higher world ... Besides, there is no doubt that the Patriarchs as well as Noah and Adam, who obviously did not observe the Torah, by no means became denizens of Gehinnom. On the contrary: as they achieved what pertains to the ennoblement of man they are raised aloft. All this cannot be secured by fasting, praying and lamentation if knowledge and true faith are absent, because in such behaviour God can be near to the mouth but far from the heart. The basis of all things is [knowledge] that nothing is eternal save God alone. ...

9. Maimonides, “Brief an Obadiah the Convert” “Do not consider your origin inferior. While we are the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, you derive from Him through whose word the world was created.”

10. Judah ha-Levi, KuzariI:27 “und wersich von den anderen Völkern uns anschliesst, der erhält seinen Teil von dem Gut, das der Schöpfer uns angedeihen lässt, aber gleich steht er uns nicht...denn wir sind das Kleinod der Menschheit”

11. Maimonides, Guide for the Perplexed (III.31) There is a group of human beings who consider it a grievous thing that causes should be given for any law; what would please them most is that the intellect would not find a meaning for the commandments and prohibitions. What compels them to feel thus is a sickness that they find in their souls, a sickness to which they are unable to give utterance and of which they cannot furnish a satisfactory account. For they think that if those laws were useful in this existence and had been given to us for this or that reason, it would be as if they derived from the reflection and the understanding of some intelligent being. If, however, there is a thing for which the intellect could not find any meaning at all and that does not lead to something useful, it indubitably derives from God; for the reflection of man would not lead to such a thing…

12. Maimonides, Guide for the Perplexed (III.31) It is as if, according to these people of weak intellects, man were more perfect than his Maker; for man speaks and acts in a manner that leads to some intended end, whereas the deity does not act thus, but commands us to do things that are not useful to us and forbids us to do things that are not harmful to us. But He is far exalted above this; the contrary is the case - the whole purpose consisting in what is useful for us,...

13. Maimonides, Guide for the Perplexed (III.31) Now if there is a thing for which no reason is known and that does not either procure something useful or ward off something harmful, why should one say of one who believes in it or practices it that he is wise and understanding and of great worth? And why should the religious communities think it a wonder? Rather things are indubitably as we have mentioned: every commandment from among these six hundred and thirteen commandments either with a view to communicating a correct opinion, or to putting an end to an unhealthy opinion, or to communicating a rule of justice, or to warding off an injustice, or to endowing men with a noble moral quality, or to warning them against an evil moral quality. Thus all [the commandments] are bound up with three things: opinions, moral qualities, and political civic actions.

14. Guide for the Perplexed, I:59 “…it is not possible, except through negation, to achieve an apprehension of that which is in our power to apprehend… on the other hand, negation does not give knowledge in any respect of the true reality of the thing [which has been negated]—all men…affirm clearly that God…cannot be apprehended by the intellects, and that none but He Himself can apprehend was He is, and that apprehension of Him consists in the inability to attain the ultimate term in apprehending Him.” Then notes that all philosophers say dazzled by God´s beauty Cites Psalm 65:2, “Silence is praise to You” “For of whatever we say intending to magnify and exalt…we perceive in it some deficiency”

15. Maimonidean Controversy Solomon ben Adret (Barcelona, 1235-1310) Woe to mankind because of the insult to the Torah! For they have strayed far from it. Its diadem have they taken away. Its crown they have removed. Every man with his censer in his hand offers incense before Greeks and Arabs. Like Zimri (Numeri 25), they publicly consort with the Midianites and revel in their own filth! They do not prefer the older Jewish teachings, but surrender to the newer Greek learning the prerogatives due their Jewish birthright. Therefore have we decreed and accepted for ourselves and our childen…that for the next fifty years under the threat of the ban, no man in our community, unless he be twenty-five years old, shall study, either in the original language or in translation, the books which the Greeks have written on religious philosophy and science…We, however, excluded from this our general prohibition the science of medicine, even though it is one of the natural sciences, because the Torah permits the physician to heal.

16. WoherZehnSefirot? mAvot 5,1: “By ten divine sayings the world was created. Could it not have been created by one? What does this teach us? In order to emphasize the guilt of the wicked who destroy the world that was created with ten sayings and the merit of the righteous who preserve the world that was created with ten sayings.” SeferYezirah 2: „Zehn überwesentliche Zahlen und zweiundzwanzig Buchstaben, deren Urgrund drei Mütter, sieben doppelte und zwölf einfache sind.“ Sefer Bahir 96: Whatarethetenutterances? The firstissupremecrown...thesecond: wisdom...“

17. Quellenfür den “Adam Kadmon” • Gen. 1,26: “Und Gottsprach: Wirwollen Menschen machennachunsermBildunsähnlich” • Hes. 1,26: “Und überdemHimmelsgewölbe, das überihrenHäuptern war, sahesauswieeinSaphirstein, wie die Gestalt eines Thrones. Auf demGebilde des Thrones abersaßeine Gestalt, anzusehenwieein Mensch, obendarauf.”

18. Von der BibelbiszumMidrasch Genesis 1,3-4: 3 Und Gottsprach: EswerdeLicht! und es ward Licht. 4 Und Gottsah, daß das Licht gut war. Da schiedGott das Licht von der Finsternis Midrasch: “Und Gottsah, daß das Licht gut war.” R. Yehudah son of Simon said, “With the light created by God on the first day, Adam could gaze and see from one end of the world to the other. Since God foresaw human wickedness, He hid the light from the world. Where did He hide it? In the Garden of Eden for the righteous, as it is written, “Dem Gerechtenmuß das Lichtimmerwiederaufgehen” (Psalms 97,11) (Tanhuma, Shemini 9)

19. …biszum Kabbalah Before the world was created, an impulse arose in the divine mind to create a great shining light. A light so bright was created that no creature could control it. When God saw that no one could bear it, He took one-seventh and gave it to them in its place. The rest He hid away for the righteous in the time to come. He said, “If they prove worthy of this seventh and guard it, I will give them the rest in the world to come.” (SeferBahir 160) Rabbi Yehudah said, “If it (the light) were completely hidden, the world would not exist for even a moment! Rather, it is hidden and sown like a seed that gives birth to seeds and fruit. Thereby the world is sustained. Every single day, a ray of that light shines into the world and keeps everything alive, for with that ray God feeds the world. And everywhere that Torah is studied at night, one thread-thin ray appears from that hidden light and flows down upon those absorbed in her…Since the first day, it has never been fully revealed, but it plays a vital role in the world, renewing each day the act of Creation! (Sefer ha-Zohar 2:148-9b)