To this day I wonder how Israel's sages came to coin the saying,
"The blade and the book descended from Heaven coupled together,'"
when it is obvious that the two contradict and destroy each other.
Their periods are distinct. Each one has its own time, and upon the appearance of one, the other vanishes . . .
There is a time for men and nations who live by the sword, by their power and their strong arm, by vital boldness. This time is the hour of intensity, of life in its essential meaning. But the book is no mare than the shade of life, life in its senescence.
The blade is not something abstracted and standing apart from life; it is the materialization of life in its boldest lines, in its essential and substantial likeness. Not so the book.
There are times when we live, and there are times when we only think about life.
The Talmud rules: "'A man should not go out on the Sabbath bearing either a blade or a bow: The sages commented that arms were not a mark of honor, since it is written, 'They shall beat their swords into plowshares.'''
Their periods are distinct. Each one has its own time, and upon the appearance of one, the other vanishes . . .
There is a time for men and nations who live by the sword, by their power and their strong arm, by vital boldness. This time is the hour of intensity, of life in its essential meaning. But the book is no mare than the shade of life, life in its senescence.
The blade is not something abstracted and standing apart from life; it is the materialization of life in its boldest lines, in its essential and substantial likeness. Not so the book.
There are times when we live, and there are times when we only think about life.
The Talmud rules: "'A man should not go out on the Sabbath bearing either a blade or a bow: The sages commented that arms were not a mark of honor, since it is written, 'They shall beat their swords into plowshares.'''
The blade and the bow, by whose force Israel fared so nobly,
through which it became a people, these are now discreditable, since
it is written . . .
But a vestige of vitality still remained in Rabbi Eliezer There was a man alive at the time who had not utterly capitulated to the moral rebellion; and he said: It is permissible to go out on the Sabbath bearing a blade and a bow, for they are an ornament to a man.
Now here comes Ahad Ha-Am and calls Rabbi Eliezer to book for not rising, in his ethical conceptions, to the level of the other sages of his time, and failing to sense in his heart the dishonor that lies in the strong arm and in its implements.
Ornament or discredit, Rabbi Eliezer or Ahad Ha-Am, which of these two stands higher?
Even if it were not plain Scripture, one should have to say: In the beginning God created the Universe, and then afterward, He made man, only afterward . . . And thus we, with our thoughts and feelings and desires and destiny and all we have and are, are the drippings of the bucket, the dust in the scales, against the world and all that's in it.
The Universe telleth the glory of God, the works of His hand doth Nature relate; for Nature is the father of all life and the source of all life; Nature is the fount of all, the fount and soul of all that live . . .
And then Israel sang the song of the Universe and of Nature, the song of heaven and earth and all their host, the song of the sea and the fullness thereof, the song of the hills and high places, the song of the trees and the grass, the song of the seas and the streams. Then did the men of Israel sit each under his vine or his fig tree, the fig put forth her buds and the green hills cast their charm from afar . . .
Those days were the days of breadth and beauty.
After these things, behold! The Day of the Lord came for all the cedars of Lebanon and all the oaks of Bashan, for all the high hills and lofty mountains, and for all noble life.
Not man alone needs must bow before the glorious pride of the Cause of Being, but Nature, too, the whole Universe and all things that live. Not man alone must humble himself, become meek in all he does, but Nature too and all its doings must become lowly.
Not only upon the lowly, submissive man does the Blessed Holy One bestow His Presence, but it is Mount Horeb of all mountains on which He chose to be revealed, for it is the lowest of the hills and high places ...
But a vestige of vitality still remained in Rabbi Eliezer There was a man alive at the time who had not utterly capitulated to the moral rebellion; and he said: It is permissible to go out on the Sabbath bearing a blade and a bow, for they are an ornament to a man.
Now here comes Ahad Ha-Am and calls Rabbi Eliezer to book for not rising, in his ethical conceptions, to the level of the other sages of his time, and failing to sense in his heart the dishonor that lies in the strong arm and in its implements.
Ornament or discredit, Rabbi Eliezer or Ahad Ha-Am, which of these two stands higher?
Even if it were not plain Scripture, one should have to say: In the beginning God created the Universe, and then afterward, He made man, only afterward . . . And thus we, with our thoughts and feelings and desires and destiny and all we have and are, are the drippings of the bucket, the dust in the scales, against the world and all that's in it.
The Universe telleth the glory of God, the works of His hand doth Nature relate; for Nature is the father of all life and the source of all life; Nature is the fount of all, the fount and soul of all that live . . .
And then Israel sang the song of the Universe and of Nature, the song of heaven and earth and all their host, the song of the sea and the fullness thereof, the song of the hills and high places, the song of the trees and the grass, the song of the seas and the streams. Then did the men of Israel sit each under his vine or his fig tree, the fig put forth her buds and the green hills cast their charm from afar . . .
Those days were the days of breadth and beauty.
After these things, behold! The Day of the Lord came for all the cedars of Lebanon and all the oaks of Bashan, for all the high hills and lofty mountains, and for all noble life.
Not man alone needs must bow before the glorious pride of the Cause of Being, but Nature, too, the whole Universe and all things that live. Not man alone must humble himself, become meek in all he does, but Nature too and all its doings must become lowly.
Not only upon the lowly, submissive man does the Blessed Holy One bestow His Presence, but it is Mount Horeb of all mountains on which He chose to be revealed, for it is the lowest of the hills and high places ...
We had thought that God was power, exaltation, the loftiest of the
lofty. We had thought that all that walked upon the heights became a
vehicle for His Presence, but 101 a day came in which we learned otherwise . ..
Not the Universe is the source, but man alone, and in man, only his deeds. It is not man that is an incident to Creation, but quite the reverse.
Is it any wonder that men like Rabbi Isaac arose in our academies who said: The Bible should not have begun with Genesis, but with the Law? ...
Is it any wonder that there arose among us generation after generation despising Nature, who thought of all God's marvels as superfluous trivialities?
Is it surprising that we became a non-people, a non-nation - non-men, indeed?
I recall from the teaching of the sages: Whoever walks by the way and interrupts his study to remark, How fine is that tree, how fine is that field-forfeits his life"
But I assert that then alone will Judah and Israel be saved, when another teaching is given unto us, namely: Whoever walks by the way and sees a fine tree and a fine field and a fine sky and leaves them to think on other thoughts - that man is like one who forfeits his life!
Give us back our fine trees and fine fields! Give us back the Universe.
Not the Universe is the source, but man alone, and in man, only his deeds. It is not man that is an incident to Creation, but quite the reverse.
Is it any wonder that men like Rabbi Isaac arose in our academies who said: The Bible should not have begun with Genesis, but with the Law? ...
Is it any wonder that there arose among us generation after generation despising Nature, who thought of all God's marvels as superfluous trivialities?
Is it surprising that we became a non-people, a non-nation - non-men, indeed?
I recall from the teaching of the sages: Whoever walks by the way and interrupts his study to remark, How fine is that tree, how fine is that field-forfeits his life"
But I assert that then alone will Judah and Israel be saved, when another teaching is given unto us, namely: Whoever walks by the way and sees a fine tree and a fine field and a fine sky and leaves them to think on other thoughts - that man is like one who forfeits his life!
Give us back our fine trees and fine fields! Give us back the Universe.
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