DOCSLIB.ORG

An Interview with Warren Zev Harvey

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
An Interview with Warren Zev Harvey Notions of Divine and Human Love in Jewish Thought: An Interview with Warren Zev Harvey "To say that the paradigm of love is Creation is not merely to say that love is activity, not passivity, an idea already found in Aristotle. It is to say much more. For if the paradigm of love is God's creative activity, then love is an expression of strength, not weakness, and of perfection, not imperfection. Love is power. This contradicts a popular philosophic notion, which goes back to Plato, that love results from weakness, imperfection and privation: one loves what one lacks. According to this notion, found in various forms in different Greek and medieval philosophers, it is always the imperfect who loves the perfect, and the Perfect One does not love at all. ... In opposition to these Platonic and Aristotelian views on love, [Hasdai] Crescas presents in Light II, 6, 1, a concept of love based on power and perfection. He does not deny Aristotle's thesis that God is the ultimate Object of love, but he is much more concerned to establish that God is the ultimate Lover." (Warren Zev Harvey, Physics and Metaphysics in Hasdai Crescas,108–109).1 AG: One common feature of the Greek philosophic tradition and the Hebrew Bible is the association of God with love. Yet how they conceive the loving relationship is quite different. Aristotle describes God in the Metaphysics as an unmoved mover who causes the motion of the rest of the cosmos without himself moving. God causes the motion of the cosmos by being the object of love of all other beings, but has no need to love others: "The final cause, then, produces motion as being loved, but all other things move by being moved."2 Contrastingly, the Hebrew Bible presents a God who actively loves humanity and expresses that loving relationship through enacting covenants (ex., Deut.7:7–8, Hos. 11). The nature of this relationship is expressed in the famous statement that "the LORD did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people—for ye were the fewest of all peoples—but because the LORD loved you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore unto your fathers" (Deut. 7:7–8). This form of compassionate love at times appears to transcend the deserving or merit of the other partner in the agreement. Throughout your career, you have written and taught extensively on this theme. I am interested to know, according to your research, how have Jewish philosophers in both the medieval and modern period reconciled the 1 Warren Zev Harvey, Physics and Metaphysics in Hasdai Crescas (Amsterdam: Gieben, 1998), 108–109. 2 Aristotle, Metaphysics, trans. W.D. Ross (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924, repr. 1953), 12.7, 1072a27. two conceptions of the loving relationship? How do they answer why God loves humanity and how humans fulfill their part in the relationship? What do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of these different paradigms that have formed? WZH: Thank you, Alex, for a thoughtful and challenging question about love in Greek and Hebrew thought. Now, the Greeks had four words for love: agápe (used for "true love" or love of God), philía (used for love among friends or love of wisdom = philosophía), storgē (familial love), and éros (passionate love). The Hebrews had three words for love: ahavah (the general term), hesheq (passionate love), and hesed (love that derives from strength, often translated as "loving-kindness"). Roughly speaking, "ahavah" parallels the first three Greek terms; hesheq parallels éros; and hesed has no parallel. When Jewish philosophers speak about our love for God or God's love for us, it is important to see which Hebrew term they have in mind. Let's begin with Maimonides, the most influential of Jewish philosophers. He discusses the biblical commandment to love God "with all your heart" (Deut. 6:5) in his Guide of the Perplexed, I, 39. He explains that the heart is a metonymy for "all the forces of the body," and the commandment to love God is to be fulfilled by devoting all one's bodily powers to knowing God.3 The knowledge of God, which according to him is attained through the scientific study of God's creation, must be the supreme love of one's life. All the forces of the body must be part of that all- consuming desire. If one attends a physics class, one does so not for the sake of getting a degree, making money, or gaining fame, but in order to discover the wisdom of the Creator in nature. If one goes to the cafeteria to eat lunch, one does so in order that the body be healthy so that one will have strength to devote oneself to the contemplation of God's universe. Similarly, if one sleeps at night in one's bed, goes to the gym in the morning for a work-out, or enjoys sexual intercourse with one's favorite partner—it should be for the sake of making the body healthy so that one will have strength to know God.4 Maimonides thus has no problem with the commandment to love God with all one's heart. It is for him a commandment to channel all one's passions into the one grand passion of knowing God. Love of God, for him, is the passion that includes all passions, the love of loves. The word used for the love of God in the biblical commandment is "ahavah." If Maimonides had no problem speaking of our ahavah (or its Arabic analogue: mahabbah) for God, he had a big problem speaking about God's ahavah (or mahabbah) for us. He rarely does so, and when he does it is 3 Maimonides, The Guide of the Perplexed, trans. R. Joseph Kafih (Jerusalem: Mossad HaRav Kook, 1977), 1:39. English translation: Maimonides, The Guide of the Perplexed, trans. Shlomo Pines (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1961). 4 Maimonides, Mishne Torah: De’ot (Jerusalem: Frankel, 1975-2001), 3: 2–3. 2 with reference to a biblical verse).5 For how could God have ahavah for us? Ahavah is a bodily passion and God has no body. In speaking about our love for God and God's love for us, philosophers were often shy about using the Hebrew word "hesheq" (or its Arabic analogue "`ishq"), since it was thought to be too sexual. One philosopher who was not shy about this was the Muslim Avicenna. He spoke boldly about our passionate love (`ishq) for God, and God's passionate love for us. Maimonides followed him in speaking about our passionate love (hesheq or `ishq) for God, but refused to speak about God's passionate love for us. He described our passionate love for God as purely intellectual—a love in which the human intellect frees itself from the body and conjoins with the divine intellectual overflow. This intellectual love was, in his view, the greatest éros conceivable.6 The one kind of love Maimonides allowed himself to attribute to God was hesed. The Rabbis of the Talmud used the word "hesed" to refer to acts of love that are considered imitatio Dei, such as clothing the naked, visiting the sick, or comforting the mourner. In these cases, the strong does an act of love for the weak—with no ulterior motive and not to satisfy a need. The paradigm of this disinterested love was for Maimonides the act of Creation by the omnipotent God who has no ulterior motives and no needs. Maimonides quotes Psalms 89:3: "The world is built on hesed."7 Plato and Aristotle taught that love derives from a need or weakness, and so the inferior loves the superior more than the superior the inferior. Maimonides agreed with them regarding ahavah and hesheq, but not hesed. Hesed is a love that derives not from need or weakness, but from plentitude and power. By the way, Aristotle was not always careful about not attributing passions to God. It is true that in Metaphysics, XII, 7, he describes God as the éromenon, the object of the world's love, not the world's Lover.8 However, in the very same chapter he surprisingly ascribes hēdonē to God.9 If Aristotle's Prime Mover doesn't love, it at least enjoys. The greatest Jewish Aristotelian after Maimonides was Levi Gersonides. He mostly accepted Maimonides' analysis of the different terms for love, but followed Avicenna regarding hesheq. He held that God created the world in passionate erotic love, and this love sustains all existence. In Genesis 2:2, it is said, according to the common translation, that God "concluded [va-yekhal] His work on the seventh day." However, argues Gersonides, this reading is impossible since God concluded His work at the 5 Cf. Maimonides, Mishne Torah: Avodah Zarah, 1:3, referring to Deut. 7:8. 6 Maimonides, Guide, 3:51. 7 Ibid., 3:53. 8 Aristotle, Metaphysics, 1072b 3. 9 Ibid., 1072b 16. 3 end of the sixth day (see Gen. 2:1). He explains that the verse can be alternatively translated: God passionately loved His work on the seventh day" (cf. II Sam. 13:39). He uses here the word "hesheq" and explains that the divine éros animates the entire universe.10 Rabbi Hasdai Crescas, arguing against Plato and Aristotle, held that true love derives from strength, not weakness or need. He taught that God's love for human beings is greater than our love for Him, and so the Bible uses the word "ahavah" with regard to our love of God (Deut.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Philosophic Homilies of Nissim of Girona - 14704
    Syllabus PHILOSOPHIC HOMILIES OF NISSIM OF GIRONA - 14704 Last update 12-09-2021 HU Credits: 2 Degree/Cycle: 2nd degree (Master) Responsible Department: Jewish Thought Academic year: 0 Semester: 1st Semester Teaching Languages: Hebrew Campus: Mt. Scopus Course/Module Coordinator: Prof. Zeev Harvey Coordinator Email: [email protected] Coordinator Office Hours: Tu 11:30-12:30 Teaching Staff: Prof Zeev Harvey page 1 / 4 Course/Module description: One of the great medieval authorities on Jewish law, Rabbi Nissim ben Reuben of Girona ( Ha-Ran, c. 1310-1376) is known for his Commentary on BT Nedarim, his Commentaries on Rabbi Isaac Alfasi's Halakhot, and his Novellae on various Talmudic tractates. However, he was also a profound and original philosophic homilist. His book of philosophic homilies, known as "Derashot Ha-Ran," had a significant influence on medieval Jewish philosophy both directly and also indirectly, through his student Rabbi Hasdai Crescas and his student's student Rabbi Joseph Albo. Course/Module aims: We shall read together one homily from Derashot Ha-Ran. In the last month of the semester, we shall discuss the papers of participants. Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to: ability to analyze a medieval philosophic sermon Attendance requirements(%): 100% Teaching arrangement and method of instruction: Reading and discussion Course/Module Content: A seminar paper (about 20-25 pp.) or a short paper (about 7-10 pp.). The paper is to be submitted by the final class (11.1.22). It may be on any subject connected with Derashot Ha-Ran, and may be written in accordance with various approaches, e.g., historical, analytic, or philological.
    [Show full text]
  • TALMUDIC STUDIES Ephraim Kanarfogel
    chapter 22 TALMUDIC STUDIES ephraim kanarfogel TRANSITIONS FROM THE EAST, AND THE NASCENT CENTERS IN NORTH AFRICA, SPAIN, AND ITALY The history and development of the study of the Oral Law following the completion of the Babylonian Talmud remain shrouded in mystery. Although significant Geonim from Babylonia and Palestine during the eighth and ninth centuries have been identified, the extent to which their writings reached Europe, and the channels through which they passed, remain somewhat unclear. A fragile consensus suggests that, at least initi- ally, rabbinic teachings and rulings from Eretz Israel traveled most directly to centers in Italy and later to Germany (Ashkenaz), while those of Babylonia emerged predominantly in the western Sephardic milieu of Spain and North Africa.1 To be sure, leading Sephardic talmudists prior to, and even during, the eleventh century were not yet to be found primarily within Europe. Hai ben Sherira Gaon (d. 1038), who penned an array of talmudic commen- taries in addition to his protean output of responsa and halakhic mono- graphs, was the last of the Geonim who flourished in Baghdad.2 The family 1 See Avraham Grossman, “Zik˙atah shel Yahadut Ashkenaz ‘el Erets Yisra’el,” Shalem 3 (1981), 57–92; Grossman, “When Did the Hegemony of Eretz Yisra’el Cease in Italy?” in E. Fleischer, M. A. Friedman, and Joel Kraemer, eds., Mas’at Mosheh: Studies in Jewish and Moslem Culture Presented to Moshe Gil [Hebrew] (Jerusalem, 1998), 143–57; Israel Ta- Shma’s review essays in K˙ ryat Sefer 56 (1981), 344–52, and Zion 61 (1996), 231–7; Ta-Shma, Kneset Mehkarim, vol.
    [Show full text]
  • Medieval Jewish Philosophy and Its Literary Forms'
    H-Judaic Lawee on Hughes and Robinson, 'Medieval Jewish Philosophy and Its Literary Forms' Review published on Monday, March 16, 2020 Aaron W. Hughes, James T. Robinson, eds. Medieval Jewish Philosophy and Its Literary Forms. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2019. viii + 363 pp. $100.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-253-04252-1. Reviewed by Eric Lawee (Bar-Ilan University)Published on H-Judaic (March, 2020) Commissioned by Barbara Krawcowicz (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) Printable Version: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=54753 Among the religious and intellectual innovations in which medieval Judaism abounds, none sparked controversy more than the attempt of certain rabbis and scholars to promote teachings of ancient Greek philosophy. Most notable, of course, was Moses Maimonides, the foremost legist and theologian of the age. Not only did he cultivate Greco-Arabic philosophy and science, but he also taught the radical proposition that knowledge of some of its branches was essential for a true understanding of revealed scripture and for worship of God in its purest form. As an object of modern scholarship, medieval philosophy has not suffered from a lack of attention. Since the advent of Wissenschaft des Judentums more than a century and half ago, studies have proliferated, whether on specific topics (e.g., theories of creation), leading figures (e.g., Saadiah Gaon, Judah Halevi, Maimonides), or the historical, religious, and intellectual settings in which Jewish engagements with philosophy occurred—first in
    [Show full text]
  • Moses Hayim Luzzatto's Quest for Providence
    City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 10-2014 'Like Iron to a Magnet': Moses Hayim Luzzatto's Quest for Providence David Sclar Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/380 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] “Like Iron to a Magnet”: Moses Hayim Luzzatto’s Quest for Providence By David Sclar A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in History in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The City University of New York 2014 © 2014 David Sclar All Rights Reserved This Manuscript has been read and accepted by the Graduate Faculty in History in satisfaction of the Dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Prof. Jane S. Gerber _______________ ____________________________________ Date Chair of the Examining Committee Prof. Helena Rosenblatt _______________ ____________________________________ Date Executive Officer Prof. Francesca Bregoli _______________________________________ Prof. Elisheva Carlebach ________________________________________ Prof. Robert Seltzer ________________________________________ Prof. David Sorkin ________________________________________ Supervisory Committee iii Abstract “Like Iron to a Magnet”: Moses Hayim Luzzatto’s Quest for Providence by David Sclar Advisor: Prof. Jane S. Gerber This dissertation is a biographical study of Moses Hayim Luzzatto (1707–1746 or 1747). It presents the social and religious context in which Luzzatto was variously celebrated as the leader of a kabbalistic-messianic confraternity in Padua, condemned as a deviant threat by rabbis in Venice and central and eastern Europe, and accepted by the Portuguese Jewish community after relocating to Amsterdam.
    [Show full text]
  • Rabbi Nissim of Girona on the Constitutional Power of the Sovereign
    Rabbi Nissim of Girona on the Constitutional Power of the Sovereign Warren Zev Harvey* Of all medieval Jewish philosophers after Maimonides, the one whose legal thinking is most constitutional was Rabbi Nissim ben Reuben of Girona, known by the acronym Ran (Rabbenu Nissim). He was born in about 1310 and died in 1376. He lived, taught, and judged in Barcelona, then part of the Crown of Aragon. A prolific writer, he authored a celebrated commentary on Rabbi Isaac Alfasi’s Sefer ha-Halakhot and a commentary on the tractate of Nedarim, printed in standard editions of the Babylonian Talmud and customarily studied in the place of Rashi’s commentary (which does not exist on that tractate). In addition, he wrote novellae on selected tractates of the Babylonian Talmud and scores of legal responsa. In the realm of philosophical thought, he composed an influential collection of philosophic homilies, known asDerashot ha-Ran (“The Homilies of Rabbi Nissim”); and he also wrote an unfinished commentary on the Pentateuch, ending with Gen 23:20. All of his works were written in Hebrew.1 Ran was the leading authority of his day in rabbinic law and the most original Jewish political philosopher between Maimonides and Abrabanel. He was also, as already said, the most constitutionally minded of all medieval Jewish philosophers after Maimonides. It is because of the constitutional nature of his legal philosophy that I have entitled this paper, “Rabbi Nissim of * This paper was originally delivered as the seventh annual Ivan Meyer Lecture in Jewish Law at the Center for Jewish Law and Contemporary Civilization, Benjamin N.
    [Show full text]
  • Moses: God's Representative, Employee, Or Messenger
    JSIJ 14 (2018) MOSES: GOD’S REPRESENTATIVE, EMPLOYEE, OR MESSENGER?UNDERSTANDING THE VIEWS OF MAIMONIDES, NAHMANIDES, AND JOSEPH ALBO ON MOSES’ ROLE AND ULTIMATE FAILURE AT MEI MERIBAH JONATHAN L. MILEVSKY* Introduction In his Shemonah Peraqim, Maimonides refers to Moses' sin in Numbers 20as one of the “misgivings of the Torah.”1In a digression from his discussion of virtues, Maimonides explains that the sin was unrelated to the extraction of water from the rock. Instead, it was the fact that Moses, whose deeds were scrutinized and mimicked by the Israelites, acted 1Maimonides, Shemonah Peraqim, chap. 5. There are numerous ancient and medieval Jewish perspectives on how Moses and Aaron erred at Mei meribah. For the various interpretations, see Jacob Milgrom, Numbers: JPS Torah Commentary (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1990), 448.The wide variety of approaches can be attributed in part to a number of difficulties. These include the fact that it is a sin committed by the greatest of all prophets. Notice, for example how hesitant Shemuel Ben Meir is to describe Moses’ sin; making matters more difficult is the fact that Moses was not forgiven for what he did, as Joseph Albo points out, making the sin appear even more severe; also, the text bears some similarity to an incident described in the Bible in Exodus 17:6, which is why Joseph Bekhor Shor suggests that it is the same incident; further, the sin itself seems trivial. It hardly seems less miraculous for water to come from a rock when it is hit, than when it is spoken to, a point made by Nahmanides; finally, Moses pegs the sin on the Israelites in Deuteronomy 1:37.
    [Show full text]
  • Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies
    Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies Table of Contents Ancient Jewish History .......................................................................................................................................... 2 Medieval Jewish History ....................................................................................................................................... 4 Modern Jewish History ......................................................................................................................................... 8 Bible .................................................................................................................................................................... 17 Jewish Philosophy ............................................................................................................................................... 23 Talmud ................................................................................................................................................................ 29 Course Catalog | Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies 1 Ancient Jewish History JHI 5213 Second Temple Jewish Literature Dr. Joseph Angel Critical issues in the study of Second Temple literature, including biblical interpretations and commentaries, laws and rules of conduct, historiography, prayers, and apocalyptic visions. JHI 6233 Dead Sea Scrolls Dr. Lawrence Schiffman Reading of selected Hebrew and Aramaic texts from the Qumran library. The course will provide students with a deep
    [Show full text]
  • Adult Education 2017
    Adult Education 2017 Texts ● Culture ● Language ● Faith In troduction Dear Members and Friends, The ACT Jewish Community is proud to present 2017’s Adult Education program. In 2016 we had the opportunity to learn from a variety of amazing scholars, including visiting professors, authors, journalists, and culminating with our Scholar in Residence, Eryn London. This year, we have the opportunity to present a fantastic program that explores the full spectrum of Jewish life and learning. Throughout this document, you will find general information and explanations of each course on offer along with a timetable of all of our programs. Each course will be marked with one or more of the following four symbols; - Torah Scroll – This implies that there is a textual element to this course - Chamtza – This implies there is a cultural element to the course - Aleph – These courses will primarily be language based - Ten Commandments – These courses will include Jewish Laws and Customs and will focus on the religious aspect of Judaism As always, our programs are designed to broadly encompass different ideas, observances, and denominations. Last year we had a record number of attendees, this year we would like to aim for 100% participation. Please do join us, Rabbi Alon Meltzer Week at a Glance Sunday - Shabbat Cooking – 5 Sessions over the course of the year Monday - Jewish Journeys – Weekly (Semester 1) - Midrash for Beginners – Weekly (Semester 2) Tuesday - Paint Night (with wine) – 5 Sessions over the course of the year Wednesday - Café Ivrit – Weekly Thursday - Jewish Philosophy – Weekly (Semester 1) - Poems and Poets – Weekly (Semester 2) Shabbat Cooking Join Rabbi Meltzer for a practical cooking class that will explore different concepts and themes relating to Shabbat laws of the kitchen.
    [Show full text]
  • The Theology of Nahmanides Systematically Presented
    The Theology of Nahmanides Systematically Presented DAVID NOVAK THE THEOLOGY OF NAHMANIDES SYSTEMATICALLY PRESENTED Program in Judaic Studies Brown University BROWN JUDAIC STUDIES Edited by Shaye J. D. Cohen, Ernest S. Frerichs, Calvin Groldscheider Editorial Board Vicki Caron, Lynn Davidman, Wendell S. Dietrich, David Hirsch, David Jacobson, Saul M. Olyan, Alan Zuckerman Number 271 THE THEOLOGY OF NAHMANIDES SYSTEMATICALLY PRESENTED by David Novak THE THEOLOGY OF NAHMANIDES SYSTEMATICALLY PRESENTED by DAVID NOVAK University of Virginia Scholars Press Atlanta, Georgia THE THEOLOGY OF NAHMANIDES SYSTEMATICALLY PRESENTED By David Novak Copyright © 2020 by Brown University Library of Congress Control Number: 2019953676 Open access edition funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities/Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Humanities Open Book Program. The text of this book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDeriva- tives 4.0 International License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. To use this book, or parts of this book, in any way not covered by the license, please contact Brown Judaic Studies, Brown University, Box 1826, Providence, RI 02912. STUDIES IN MEDIEVAL JUDAISM Edited by Lenn E. Goodman To the Memory of Harry H. Ruskin (1905-1989) The righteous man lives in his faith. - Habakkuk 2:4 other works by David Novak Law and Theology in Judaism (2 volumes) Suicide and Morality The Image of the Non-Jew in Judaism Halakhah in a Theological Dimension Jewish Christian Dialogue Contents Editor's Foreword ix Preface xi Introduction 1 Notes 17 Chapter 1 The Human Soul 25 Chapter 2 Faith 31 Chapter 3 Tradition 51 Chapter 4 Miracles 61 Chapter 5 Natural and Supernatural 77 Chapter 6 The Land of Israel 89 Chapter 7 The Commandments 99 Chapter 8 Eschatology 125 Bibliography 135 List of Abbreviations 136 Index of Names and Subjects 137 Index of Passages 141 Publishers’ Preface Brown Judaic Studies has been publishing scholarly books in all areas of Ju- daic studies for forty years.
    [Show full text]
  • Not in Heaven © כל הזכויות שמורות
    © כל הזכויות שמורות NOT IN HEAVEN © כל הזכויות שמורות Contemporary Jewish Thought from Shalem Press Essential Essays on Judaism Eliezer Berkovits God, Man and History Eliezer Berkovits The Documentary Hypothesis Umberto Cassuto The Dawn: Political Teachings of the Book of Esther Yoram Hazony Moses as Political Leader Aaron Wildavsky New Essays on Zionism David Hazony, Yoram Hazony, Michael Oren, editors © כל הזכויות שמורות NOT IN HEAVEN THE NATURE AND FUNCTION OF JEWISH LAW ELIEZER BERKOVITS With a foreword by Joseph Isaac Lifshitz SHALEM PRESS JERUSALEM AND NEW YORK © כל הזכויות שמורות Petrus Cunaeus (Pieter van der Cun, 1586–1638), Dutch philologist and jurist, lectured at the University of Leiden from 1611 until his death. He was Copyrightthe first Christian © 1983 scholar by Eliezerto make Berkovitsextensive use of Maimonides’ Mishneh CopyrightTorah in his research© 2010 on by ancient The Jewish Eliezer history. Berkovits In addition Institute to his scholarlyfor Jewish Thought work, Cunaeus served the States of Holland as legal counsel in matters of atcommerce The Shalem and maritime Center. affairs. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permissionShalem Press, of 13 the Yehoshua publisher, Bin-Nun except Street, in Jerusalem the case of brief quotations Copyright © 2006 by the Shalem Center embodied in critical articles or reviews. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in Firsta retrieval published system, inor transmitted1983 as Not in anyin Heaven:form or by The any means, Nature electronic, and Function of mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the Halakhapublisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
    [Show full text]
  • Platonic Themes in Gersonides' Commentary on Song of Songs
    Yehuda Halper The Sex Life of a Metaphysical Sceptic: Platonic Themes in Gersonides’ Commentary on Song of Songs In his bestselling book Born to Kvetch, the popular Yiddishist Michael Wex recounts how, as pupils at a religious yeshivah, he and his friends learned of Rashi’s explana- tion of the first reference to breasts in the Song of Songs as, in fact, referring to Moses and Aaron, who were responsible for nourishing the Children of Israel in the desert. In his account, the boys then proceeded to notice the “Moses and Aaron” on various women around town and one would expect that they could hardly suppress giggles at any mention of Moses and Aaron in any other context.1 Rashi’s de-eroticization of Song of Songs thus had as a side effect that it simultaneously eroticized Moses and Aaron precisely among the impressionable youth whom he had intended to shield. De-eroticization is a tricky business; comparison of the erotic to the non-erotic tends rather to eroticize the non-erotic. Whether Rashi was aware of this effect I leave to the scholars of that pious man of Troyes. Gersonides, however, who lived 200 years after Rashi and much further South, was certainly aware of how eros can spread from the allegory to the allegorized. Ger- sonides explains that the expressions of love between the interlocutors of the Song of Songs are allegories of the soul’s path to intellectual perfection, a path that moves from ethical perfection, to the perfection of imagination and thought, to mathemat- ics, to the physical sciences, and, finally, to metaphysics.2 Far from removing eros from the picture, Gersonides uses Song of Songs’ highly erotic language to describe the desire of the soul, its faculties, and even the hylic intellect for the active intel- lect.
    [Show full text]
  • Miracles and the Natural Order in Nahmanides*
    Miracles and the Natural Order in Nahmanides* MMIRACLESIRACLES ANDAND THETHE NATURALNATURAL ORDERORDER IINN NNAHMANIDESAHMANIDES* From: Rabbi Moses Nahmanides (Ramban): Explorations in his Religious and Literary Virtuosity, ed. by Isadore Twersky (Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Mass., 1983), pp. 107-128. The centrality of miracles in Nahmanides’ theology cannot escape the attention of even the most casual observer, and his doctrine of the hidden miracle exercised a particularly profound and abiding influence on subsequent Jewish thought. Nevertheless, his repeated emphasis on the miraculous—and particularly the unrestrained rhetoric of a few key passages—has served to obscure and distort his true position, which was far more moderate, nuanced and complex than both medieval and modern scholars have been led to believe. I To Nahmanides, miracles serve as the ultimate validation of all three central dogmas of Judaism: creation ex nihilo, divine knowledge, and providence (hiddush, yedi‘ah, hashgahah).1 In establishing the relationship between miracles and his first dogma, Nahmanides applies a philosophical argument in a particularly striking way. “According to the believer in the eternity of the world,” he writes, “if God wished to shorten the wing of * Some of the issues analyzed in this article were discussed in a more rudimentary form in chapters one, three, and four of my master’s essay, “Nahmanides’ Attitude Toward Secular Learning and its Bearing upon his Stance in the Maimonidean Controversy” (Columbia University, 1965), which was directed by Prof. Gerson D. Cohen. 1 Torat HaShem Temimah (henceforth THT), in Kitvei Ramban, ed. by Ch. Chavel I (Jerusalem, 1963), p. 150. On Nahmanides’ dogmas and their connection with miracles, see S.
    [Show full text]