Today’s daf TB Haggigah 13 concludes the discussion about what is and forbidden to teach concerning the act of Creation (מעשה בראשית), before transitioning on to discussing what is permissible and forbidden to teach about Merkava, God’s chariot, mysticism (מעשה מרכבה).
According to the Gemara there are
seven levels of heaven with an ice dome covering the seventh level. “And Rav Aḥa bar Ya’akov said: There is one more
firmament above these, which is above the heads of the divine creatures,
as it is written: “And over the heads of the divine creatures there was the
likeness of a firmament, like the color of the terrible ice” (Ezekiel 1:22).” (Sefaria.org translation) This last
firmament is the limit for human inquiry. We may not seek what is above it
because it is beyond human comprehension.” The Gemara comments: Until here,
you have permission to speak; from this point forward you do not have
permission to speak, as it is written in the book of Ben
Sira: Seek not things concealed from you, nor search those hidden from you.
Reflect on that which is permitted to you; you have no business with secret
matters.” (Sefaria.org translation)
Who was Ben Sira? Shimon
ben Yehoshua ben Sira lived around 170 BCE and composed the book the Wisdom Ben
Sira and it was translated into Greek by his grandson Yehoshua in the year 132
BCE. This book is similar to the book of Proverbs, wise saying, moral
teachings, and urging moderation. The book’s structure is also similar to
Proverbs. According to Wikipedia, “He wrote his
work in Hebrew, possibly
in Alexandria in Egypt in the Ptolemaic Kingdom ca. 180–175 BCE, where
he is thought to have established a school. While Ben Sira is sometimes claimed
to be a contemporary of Simeon the Just, it is more likely that his
contemporary was High Priest Simon II (219–199
BCE) and this is due to confusion with his father, Yehoshua” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Sira)
If I remember correctly, even though the rabbis prized the wisdom in the book
of Ben Sira, they did not included in the biblical canon because they knew who was the author. He was too recent to be
considered holy enough to be part of the Hebrew Scriptures. If his book had
been attributed to an earlier person like the author of Ecclesiastes attributed
his book to King Solomon, it might have made the cut. Nevertheless, the rabbis
did quote wisdom throughout the Talmud.
Because the Wisdom of Ben Sira never made it into the Bible, the Hebrew version was not preserved. The church preserved its Greek translation called Ecclesiasticus in their Bible in the section called the Apocrypha. Until the discovery of the Cairo Genizah in the late 19th century the original Hebrew text have been lost.
According to the Gemara the distance from one firmament to the next took 500 years to walk and the thickness of each firmament was also equal to a walk of 500 years. “And above them, above all the firmaments, are the divine creatures (חַיּוֹת הַקֹּדֶשׁ). The feet of the divine creatures correspond in distance to all the firmaments; the ankles of the animals correspond to all of them, the shins of the animals correspond to all of them, the knees of the animals correspond to all of them, the thighs of the animals correspond to all of them, the bodies of the animals correspond to all of them, the necks of the animals correspond to all of them, the heads of the animals correspond to all of them, and the horns of the animals correspond to all of them. Above them is the Throne of Glory: The feet of the Throne of Glory correspond to all of them, the Throne of Glory corresponds to all of them, and the living, almighty, lofty, exalted King dwells above them. And you, Nebuchadnezzar, say: “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High” (Isaiah 14:15), but the next verse states: “Yet you shall be brought down to the netherworld, to the uttermost parts of the pit” (Isaiah 14:15).” (Sefaia.org translation)
According to Tosefot ד"ה שִׁבְעִים שָׁנָה this Gemara was one of the inspirations of the poet Eliezer Kalir. He was famous for writing piyutim, religious poetry, which entered the liturgy. Probably you are most familiar with the piyut El Adon by the unknown poet recited every Saturday morning. “All the heavenly host gives him praise/ the seraphim and the ophanim, and the divine creatures (חַיּוֹת הַקֹּדֶשׁ) ascribe glory and greatness.” I am including his entry in Wikipedia so you may learn more about this influential pytan, one who writes piyutim.
Although his poems have had a prominent place in printed ritual
and he is known to have lived somewhere in the Near East, documentation regarding details of
his life has been lost to history, including the exact year and circumstances
of his birth and death. He is said to have been the disciple of another
6th-century composer of piyut, Yannai who, according to a certain
legend, grew jealous of Eleazar's superior knowledge and caused his death by
inserting into his shoe a scorpion whose sting proved to be fatal.[5][6] Samuel David Luzzatto,[7] however, dismisses this
legend in light of the fact that Yannai's piyutim are still
said. Luzzatto argues that if Yannai was a murderer then there is no way
Yannai's piyutim would be so popular. Additionally, argues
Luzzatto, Rabbi Gershom ben Judah mentions
Yannai and uses honorific terms, something Rabbi Gershom would not have done if
the legend is true.[8]
In the acrostics of his hymns he usually signs his father's
name, Kalir, but three times he writes Killir.[6] In some of them, he adds
the name of his city, Kirjath-sepher.[9] Eleazar's name, home
(Kirjath-sepher), and time have been the subject of many discussions in modern
Jewish literature (Italy, Babylonia, Mesopotamia and Palestine have
been claimed by different scholars as his native land), and some legends
concerning his career have been handed down.[6]
The Arukh[10] derives the name
"Kalir" from the Greek κόλλυρα = "a small cake,"[6][11] and reports that the poet
obtained his name from a cake, inscribed with Biblical verses, which was given
him to eat as a talisman for wisdom when he began to go to school. His
scholarship having been attributed later to that talisman, he was called "Eleazar
the Cake." While such a custom is known to have existed among the Jews and
the Syriac Christians,
others claim that the explanation put forward by the Arukh is
not acceptable, since "Kalir" is not the name of the poet, but that
of his father.[6] Another interpretation
holds that the name was derived from the poet's or his father's hometown:[3] the Italian city Cagliari,[6] Calais, Cologne, Kallirrhoe in Transjordan,[12] or Edessa in Syria (F. Perles).[3] Others see in it the Latin
name "Celer"[6] (J. Derenbourg).[3] The city Kirjath-sepher has
been identified with the biblical place in the Land of Israel of the same name (W. Heidenheim),[3] with the Babylonian Sippara (Filosseno Luzzatto),[13] and with Cagliari (Civitas
Portus), in Italy.[6]
The theory that he lived in Italy is based upon the premise that
he wrote double Kerovot for the festivals;[14][15] although Tosafot[16] and Rosh[9] assert that he did not
write any for the second days.
His time has been set at different dates, from the second
century, to the tenth or eleventh century.[3] Based on Saadiah's Sefer ha-galuy, some
place him in the 6th century.[4] Older authorities consider
him to have been a teacher of the Mishnah and identify him either
with Eleazar ben Arach[17] or with Eleazar ben Simeon[18] He has been confounded with
another poet by the name of Eleazar b. Jacob; and a book by the title of Kevod
Adonai was ascribed to him by Moses Botarel.[6]
The earliest references to Kalir seem to be in a responsum of Natronai Gaon (c.
853),[19] in the "Yetzirah" commentary of Saadia Gaon,[20] and in his "Agron",[21] as well as in the writings
of Al-Kirkisani.[22]
Modern research points to the probability that he and his
teacher were Palestinian Jews; and since Yannai is known to have been one of
the halakhic authorities of Anan ben David (the alleged founder
of Karaism), and
must therefore have lived a considerable time earlier than Anan, Kalir's time
may be fixed with some probability as the first half of the 7th century.[6] From a linguistic point of
view, it would seem that he lived in the Land of Israel at the end of the sixth
century.[3]
Kalir's hymns became an object of study and of Kabbalistic exegesis, as his personality
was a mystery. It was related that heavenly fire surrounded him when he wrote
the "Ve'hachayos" in Kedushah for Rosh Hashanah;[23] that he himself ascended
to heaven and there learned from the angels the
secret of writing alphabetical hymns.[6]
A peculiar development of the Kalir legend is seen in the story
that Saadia found in Kalir's tomb a recipe for
making "kame'ot" in the form of cakes.[24] On a piyut found
in Mahzor Vitry and
ascribed by Brody[25] to Kalir, see Max Weisz.[26]
Poetic style[edit]
The "Kallir style" had a profound influence on the
poets who succeeded him in Eretz Yisra'el and in the Near East. He
made radical innovations in diction and style,
while employing the full range of post-biblical Hebrew. It may be that the
stories of Yannai growing jealous of him are based in fact, for the patterns
of rhyme, acrostic, repetition, and refrain in his piyut are
much more complex than those of his master.
His use of neologisms and
other oddities has earned him a reputation as an enigmatic writer, to the point
where some have criticized him for being obscure, and having a corruptive
influence on the Hebrew language. He was, however, capable of writing in simple
and direct language, as poems like his Epithalamium[27] demonstrate.
Solomon Delmedigo warns
the student against Kalir's writings because "he has cut up the Hebrew
language in an arbitrary way".[28]
Kalir was the first to embellish the entire liturgy with a
series of hymns whose essential element was the aggadah. He drew his material from the Talmud, and from midrashic compilations, some of which
latter are now probably lost,[6] thus preserving some
otherwise forgotten aggadic traditions.[3] Kalir used the early "Hekalot Rabbati" of the Merkabah Riders, and traces of their mystic
ideas and even of their language appear in his poetry.[29][6] His language, however, is
not that of his sources, but Biblical Hebrew, enriched with daring innovations.
His predilection for rare words, allegorical expressions, and aggadic allusions
make his writings hard to understand[6] – some describe him as a
"Hebrew version of Robert Browning".[4] His linguistic
peculiarities were followed by many a succeeding paytan; and they
influenced to some extent even early prose, especially among the Karaites.[6]
With the awakening of linguistic studies among the Jews and with the growing acquaintance of the latter with Arabic, his linguistic peculiarities were severely criticized (e.g., by Abraham ibn Ezra,[30] a criticism which centuries later influenced the maskilim in their disparagement of Kalir[3]); but the structure of his hymns remained a model which was followed for centuries after him and which received the name "Kaliric",[6] (or "Kalliri"[3]). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleazar_ben_Kalir)
No comments:
Post a Comment