FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85  
86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   >>   >|  
ilt water, such even as his own wife may have thrown away. (All these doings, says Rashi, are bound to annoy the evil genii.) Ibid., fol. 111, col. 1. Four precepts did our holy Rabbi (Yehudah Hakadosh) urge upon his children:--Not to choose Shechentzia as a dwelling-place, for scoffers resided there; not to use the bed of a Syrian odalisque; not to shirk the payment of fiscal dues, lest the collector should confiscate all their property; not to face an ox when he came up (ruffled) from the cane-brake, for Satan sported betwixt his horns. _P'sachim_, fol. 112, col. 2. Whosoever prieth into the four things in the matter of the chariot in Ezekiel's vision--what is above, what is beneath, what is before, or what is behind--it were better for him if he had never been born. _Chaggigah_, fol. 11, col. 2. The work or matter of the chariot, the Rabbinic term for the Vision of Ezekiel, ranks among the Arcana Judaica, which are not to be told save to the initiated. Four men entered Paradise--these are their names:--Ben Azai, Ben Zoma, Acher, and Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Akiva thus warned his companions: "When you come across pavements of pellucid marble, do not cry out 'Water! water!' for it is said (Ps. ci. 7), 'He that uttereth falsehood shall not dwell in my sight.'" Ben Azai looked and died; concerning him the Scripture says (Ps. cxvi. 15), "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." Ben Zoma looked and went out of his mind; of him the Scripture says (Prov. xxv. 16), "Hast thou found honey? eat only so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith and vomit it." Acher cut the plants. Only Akiva departed in peace. _Chaggigah_, fol. 14, col. 2. Rashi explains this by saying these men went up to heaven; but Maimonides much more rationally teaches that the Paradise or garden here is merely the retreat of profound philosophic meditation. These five intuitions were;--(1.) To know that there is a God; (2.) to ignore every other beside Him; (3.) to feel His unity; (4.) to love His person; and (5.) to stand in awe of His Majesty (see Vad Hachaz, chap. 4, sec. 19). Deep thought in these matters was spoken of by the Rabbis as _promenading in the garden_. Four times a year is the world subject to an ordeal of judgment:--At Passover, which is decisive of the fruits of the field; at Pentecost, which is decisive of the fruits of the garden; a
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85  
86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

garden

 

matter

 

chariot

 
Ezekiel
 
Chaggigah
 

fruits

 
looked
 

decisive

 

Scripture

 

Paradise


therewith
 

uttereth

 

departed

 

filled

 

plants

 
falsehood
 

Precious

 

saints

 

sufficient

 
matters

thought

 
Hachaz
 

person

 

Majesty

 

spoken

 

judgment

 

Passover

 
Pentecost
 

ordeal

 

subject


promenading

 

Rabbis

 

teaches

 

rationally

 

profound

 

retreat

 

Maimonides

 

explains

 

heaven

 

philosophic


meditation

 

ignore

 

intuitions

 

entered

 

Syrian

 

odalisque

 
payment
 

resided

 

Shechentzia

 

choose