התועלת הי״א היא במצוות. והוא מה שהזהירנו מעשות כל מלאכה ביום השבת. שנאמר ״לא תעשה כל מלאכה”. וכבר בארנו התועלת המגיע מזאת המצוה במה שקדם.
The 11th Toelet is in Mitzvot, this being that we are prohibitted from doing all craft on the Shabbat day- as it says “You shall not do any Craft”. We have already explained the toelet which comes from this Mitzva in the previous section.
In this one small piece, Ralbag reveals an extremely important, but easily overlooked dimension of his perspective on Talmud torah. Before he explains the halachic dimension of the mitzva of issur melacha (toelet #11), Ralbag calls the readers attention to the ultimate purpose this mitzva serves (toelet # 10). This emphasis of considering the Mitzva as means to an end is novel to us as moderns. Einstein expresses this tendency of ours to neglect the significance of understanding ends very well .
Yet the ancients knew something- which we seem to have forgotten. All means prove but a blunt instrument, if they have not behind them a living spirit. But if the longing for the achievement of the goal is powerfully alive within us, then shall we not lack the strength to find the means for reaching the goal and for translating it into deeds.
Einstein's Ideas and Opinions, pp.41 - 49.
Ralbag’s treatment of Issur melacha embodies this notion of Einstein. The reader is focused on the fact that his understanding of the Halachic nature of issur melacha in tolelet #11 as a means, will be but a blunt instrument in the absence of careful consideration of the natural desire and goal underlying the living spirit of Shabat raised previously in toelet #10. But what is this “natural desire” underlying the living spirit of Shabat ? How exactly does this “natural desire” impact on the Halacha as a means?
The next few pieces will deal with this issue, which goes to the heart of Ralbag’s derech in perush Torah Shebichtav.
3 comments:
YAY! A blog post! Awesome.
For what reason(s) do you think it is so easy to get caught up in the means without even inquiring about the ends?
Matt
I think that Ralbag explains this well in his introduction to Kohelet. The issue as he presents it, is the predisposition of our psyche to take its notion of "good" as self evident. This self evident character of the end most familiar to us becomes reinforced further through our friendships and political affiliations. Rather than serving as friends who dispute the frailty of our sense of things, these "friends" are yes men, echo chambers of our own beliefs.
We see sad exemplifications of this every election. Both parties, along with their respective news organizations and talk radio personalities hurl the exact same charges at each other.
The other side is psychotic with no sense of the good at all.
The other sides only hope is the illusion machine they use, with the aid of the media, to dupe the masses
The other side only survives because of moderates. If only we would purely follow our self evident view of the good in its pure form, without moderation, we would finally succeed.
Post a Comment