Explanation of the Mashal #1

Intro to explanation- the audience

I very much agree with R Rosenthal's understanding of the Mashal. I would like to build upon his approach. In the previous post, I stated that the mashal of the "deep well and the ropes" is the most fundamental one for the Golem. What is my basis for this opinion that the "deep well and the ropes": 1) has the Golem as its intended audience? and 2) is the most fundamental Mashal for this Golem audience.

The "Golem" is a kind of immature Nefesh:

To answer these questions we must define what, in essence, a Golem is. In general, a Golem is an immature Nefesh, which is to say a Nefesh that has become mind in part only. What we must more carefully scrutinize then is: what part of development has the Golem attained, and what part does the Golem lack?

To be sure, the Golem has a real understanding of the Shem Hashem, which is to say, an intuitive God concept rooted in a unified Chochma permeating all of Shamayim Va-aretz, most importantly for development, including the human part.

What the Golem lacks is the formulation of the God concept with the clarity needed to apply the concept as a causal principal in the mechanisms of Shamayim Va-aretz. Rather, the intuition of the God concept can only be applied via mashal (yesodei ha-torah 1:9):

ט אִם כֵּן מַה הוּא זֶה שֶׁנֶּאֱמָר בַּתּוֹרָה "וְתַחַת רַגְלָיו" (שמות כד,י), "כְּתֻבִים בְּאֶצְבַּע אֱלֹהִים" (שמות לא,יח; דברים ט,י), "יַד-ה'" (שמות ט,ג; במדבר יא,כג; דברים ב,טו), "עֵינֵי ה'" (דברים יא,יב), "אָזְנֵי ה'" (במדבר יא,א; במדבר יא,יח), וְכַיּוֹצֶא בִּדְבָרִים הַלָּלוּ--הַכֹּל לְפִי דַּעְתָּן שֶׁלִּבְנֵי אָדָם הוּא, שְׁאֵינָן מַכִּירִין אֵלָא הַגּוּפוֹת; וְדִבְּרָה תּוֹרָה כִּלְשׁוֹן בְּנֵי אָדָם. וְהַכֹּל כִּנּוּיִים הֶם, כְּמוֹ שֶׁנֶּאֱמָר "אִם-שַׁנּוֹתִי בְּרַק חַרְבִּי" (דברים לב,מא), וְכִי חֶרֶב יֵשׁ לוֹ וּבְחֶרֶב הוּא הוֹרֵג; אֵלָא מָשָׁל, וְהַכֹּל מָשָׁל.

9) If so, what does the Torah mean when it says things like, "under His feet" (Exodus 31:18), "written with the finger of God" (ibid), "the hand of the Lord" (Exodus 9:3), "the eyes of the Lord" (Genesis 38:7), "the ears of the Lord" (Numbers 11:1), etc? These phrases are in line with the level of understanding of people, who can only comprehend physical entities, and the Torah speaks in the language of man. All examples of this nature are merely metaphors. For example, when it says, "If I whet My glittering sword" - does God really have a sword and does He really kill with one?! This is merely a metaphor and all such phrases are metaphors.

Needless to say, no man can know Hashem as He really is. However, there is a qualitative difference in the need for Mashal, some need one mashal, Golems need a string of connected m'shalim. How does this string work?

The string of M'shalim

To understand the string, we must understand the source of the gap between man and the God concept. This is answered by Rambam הַכֹּל לְפִי דַּעְתָּן שֶׁלִּבְנֵי אָדָם הוּא, שְׁאֵינָן מַכִּירִין אֵלָא הַגּוּפוֹת we
know via development of abstractions derived from our interpretation (הכרה) of structure manifest (ניכר) in material particulars.

טו [יא] אַרְבָּעָה גּוּפוֹת הָאֵלּוּ--אֵינָם בַּעֲלֵי נֶפֶשׁ וְאֵינָם יוֹדְעִין וְלֹא מַכִּירִין, אֵלָא כְּגוּפִים מֵתִים; וְיֵשׁ לְכָל אֶחָד וְאֶחָד מֵהֶם, מִנְהָג שְׁאֵינוּ יוֹדְעוֹ וְלֹא מַשִּׂיגוֹ וְאֵינוּ יָכוֹל לְשַׁנּוֹתוֹ. וְזֶה שֶׁאָמַר דָּוִיד "הַלְלוּ אֶת-ה', מִן-הָאָרֶץ--תַּנִּינִים, וְכָל-תְּהֹמוֹת. אֵשׁ וּבָרָד" (תהילים קמח,ז-ח)--עִנְיַן הַדְּבָרִים, הַלְּלוּהוּ בְּנֵי אָדָם מִגְּבוּרוֹתָיו שֶׁתִּרְאוּ בְּאֵשׁ וּבָרָד וּבִשְׁאָר בְּרוּאִים שֶׁתִּרְאוּ לְמַטָּה מִן הָרָקִיעַ, שֶׁגְּבוּרָתָם תָּמִיד נִכֶּרֶת, לַקָּטָן וְלַגָּדוֹל.

15) These four bodies do not possess souls, and do not know or recognise God, but they are like non-living matter. Each body has its own nature, which it does not know or understand, and cannot change. David said, "Praise the Lord from the earth, O monsters, and all deeps: fire, and hail, snow and vapors", meaning that those that are found on the earth should praise the Lord for His might that you will see in the fire and hail and in all the other creations that you will see beneath the firmament, just as their might is always manifest to the great and small (among men).

As mentioned in the post to Sean, we sense this unity in the systems around us. The farmer sees the interconnection in the weather and environment, the hunter in the animals, each craftsman in his own domain. What we lack is the ability to translate that intuition of unity into d'varim- clear abstract principles that allow us to apply our intuition in real time to our domain. What the Golem has is a combination of d'varim and m'shalim. To be more precise a series of d'varim that are interpretations of m'shalim.

יא וּמְצֻוִּין אָנוּ לָלֶכֶת בִּדְרָכִים אֵלּוּ הַבֵּינוֹנִיִּים, וְהֶם הַדְּרָכִים הַטּוֹבִים וְהַיְּשָׁרִים, שֶׁנֶּאֱמָר "וְהָלַכְתָּ, בִּדְרָכָיו" (דברים כח,ט). [ו] כָּךְ לִמְּדוּ בְּפֵרוּשׁ מִצְוָה זוֹ: מַה הוּא נִקְרָא חַנּוּן, אַף אַתָּה הֱיֵה חַנּוּן; מַה הוּא נִקְרָא רַחוּם, אַף אַתָּה הֱיֵה רַחוּם; מַה הוּא נִקְרָא קָדוֹשׁ, אַף אַתָּה הֱיֵה קָדוֹשׁ. וְעַל דֶּרֶךְ זוֹ קָרְאוּ הַנְּבִיאִים לָאֵל בְּכָל אוֹתָן הַכִּנּוּיִין, אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם וְרַב חֶסֶד צַדִּיק וְיָשָׁר תָּמִים גִּבּוֹר וְחָזָק וְכַיּוֹצֶא בָּהֶן--לְהוֹדִיעַ שֶׁאֵלּוּ דְּרָכִים טוֹבִים וִישָׁרִים הֶם, וְחַיָּב אָדָם לְהַנְהִיג עַצְמוֹ בָּהֶן וּלְהִדַּמּוֹת כְּפִי כּוֹחוֹ.

11) We are commanded to go in these middle paths, the good and upright paths, as it is written, "And walk in His ways, et cetera". As an explanation of this commandment, we have learnt that just as God is called merciful so also should we be merciful, , and that just as God is called holy so also should we be holy. It was with this in mind that the first Prophets called the Almighty with the Attributes of: long-suffering, magnanimous, righteous, upright, faultless, mighty, strong, etc, in order to make it known that these are good and upright ways, and that one is obligated to accustom oneself to them, and to imitate them as much as possible.

There is a process of education, an unfolding of the m'shalim, until they are "seen" in ones own environment, not as abstractions said by Rambam, but rather living metaphors instructive and redemptive of me as I see myself making decisions in the real world.

There is however one fundamental block to the process of education, this block is dealt with by Shlomo ha-melech and is the focus of the midrash. We will explain this obstacle in the next post.