Or 17071

The content of this notebook is taken from the works of others, sometimes in a digested form, and largely reflects Hakham Ezra Reuben Dangoor’s (HED’s) attempt to promulgate a Judaism in which traditional praxis and faith are complemented by ethics and philosophical insight. As such, many of the entries are drawn from works affiliated with the religious elements of the early modern Jewish Enlightenment of Europe.

The original numbering, by HED, uses Hebrew alphanumeric numerals. The original numbering is by pages, not folios. The first extant page is numbered ג = three; thus the first leaf must be missing. Remnants of the bifolium with pages 1 – 2 and 255 – 256 plus an outer cover remain in the binding. The back half of the bifolium with pages 1 – 2 and 255 – 256 has survived detached from the notebook. However, the notebook’s text does not seem to end with page 256.

Folios 1 - 4r (= HED pp. 3-9). Begins mid-text, continuing from missing first leaf. On how to be a good educator. Progressive approach. Inter alia, requires inner purity, understanding of students and pedagogy, and negation of corporal punishment.

Folios 4v – 5v (= HED p. 10 – mid p. 12). Caption: ‘Lekh Lekha / לך לך’, the name of the Torah portion (pericope) that begins with Genesis 12. This short homily addresses a later passage therein, the ‘Covenant between the parts’ (ch. 15), in which God tells Abraham that for 400 years his descendants will be enslaved and afflicted in a foreign land, but thereafter will leave with much property. Drawing on the work משנת רבי אליעזר (Mishnat Rabbi Eliezer [‘The teaching of Rabbi Eliezer’], by Rabbi Eliezer Trillinger (17th - 18th c.)), HED explains why, despite their exile having been less than 400 years, they were entitled to property. (Mid p. 11, another homily from the same work, on Genesis 39:12, ‘she [Potiphar’s wife] seized him [Joseph] by his garment’, is briefly noted.)

Folios 5v – 5v (= HED, mid p. 12 – p. 14). A lexical study of various Biblical Hebrew words for ‘path, way, road’, from the periodical Kokhve Yitshak / כוכבי יצחק (oriented towards rabbis and religiously educated Jews who sought synthesis of Judaism and intellectual enlightenment), vol. 18 (Vienna, 1853; article by: Rubin, Salamon. ‘מעגל, אורח, נתיב, מסלה, דרך’, pp. 21 – 23). Topical marginal gloss added, citing ḤYDA (Rabbi Ḥayim Yosef David Azulai), Midbar Kedemot / מדבר קדמות, who cites the Zohar and Ari (Rabbi Isaac Luria).

Folio 7r, top (= HED p. 15). Proverbs 21:23 (given as: 21:22), ‘He who guards his mouth and his tongue guards his soul from trouble’, with ethical interpretation based on Babylonian Talmud Eruvin 15b. Kokhve Yitshak / כוכבי יצחק vol. 19 (1854).

Folio 7 (= HED bottom p. 15 – top p. 16). ‘Hatikvah’ / ‘התקוה’ = ‘The Hope’, an abstract meditation on imperceptible renewal (not to be confused with the Israeli national anthem, by the same name). By Jacob Goldenweisser. From Kokhve Yitshak / כוכבי יצחק vol. 19), pp. 72-73.

Folios 7v – 11r (= HED, pp. 16 – mid 23). Poem ‘דומי רינה ושאי קנה’. From Kokhve Yitshak / כוכבי יצחק vol. 19), pp. 75-80. By Mendel E. Stern.

Folios 11r – 55r (= HED, pp. 23 – 111): ‘Precious excerpts from the book Ṭal Orot / טל אורות’; ‘Copied from p. 23 until here are excerpts from the book Ṭal Orot, by Rabbi Judah Leib Margolioth of blessed memory; published in the year 5603 [AM, = 1842/3 CE], Pressburg [= Bratislava], 3rd edition; and ‘the words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious’ (Ecclesiastes 10:12)’. On Margolioth and his attempts to find a constructive balance in synthesizing traditional Judaism with scientific and philosophical knowledge, see: Feiner, Shmuel, The Jewish Enlightenment, Index, ‘Margolioth’; and Fishman, David, Russia's First Modern Jews, Index, ‘Margolioth’. Most of the teachings contain ethical and / or philosophical insights synthesized with Torah. Aristotle, ‘the sage’, is often quoted, as are medieval Jewish philosophers. Slight textual adaptation / recontextualization, by HED, including often using Margolioth’s concluding biblical prooftext as an opening lemma.

Folios 11r – 12r (= HED pp. 23-25). Caption, ‘Exodus 3’, discussing Moses’ attempt in Exodus 3:2 and following verses to rationally comprehend the phenomenon of the ‘Burning Bush’ and the properties of fire. Ṭal Orot, Foreword.

Folios 12r – 13r (= HED pp. 25-27). Caption, ‘Proverbs 5’, on Proverbs 5:6, on achieving the right balance in one’s personality traits. Ṭal Orot, Foreword.

Folio 13 (= HED pp. 27-28). Caption, ‘Va-yetse’, the weekly Torah reading that contains Genesis 30:23, ‘God has withdrawn my disgrace’. The homily discusses having a higher, divine purpose even in one’s physical drives. Ṭal Orot, Foreword.

Folios 13v – 14 (= HED bottom p. 28 – top p. 30). On the verse ‘Now, Israel, what does the Lord, your God, ask of you, but only to be in awe of the Lord, your God’ (Deuteronomy 10:12) and the Rabbinic comment thereupon, ‘for Moses, awe is a small matter’ (Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 33b): via habituation, one’s perception of God’s greatness becomes fixed in one’s consciousness as much as do visual perceptions, and thus induce awe – as it did for Moses. ; Ṭal Orot, Foreword.

Folios 14v – 15v (= HED p. 30 - top 32). Caption: ‘Psalms 111’ (but in the standard numbering, the verse in question is in Psalm 112, not 111). On the destructive power of wisdom and performance of the commandments when they are motivated by corruption, i.e. yearnings of the flesh, rather than by objective truth. Midrashic rereading of Psalm 112:1 from ‘fortunate is the man who is in awe of the Lord; in His commandments he has much desire’ to ‘fortunate is the man who is in awe of the Lord; in his [= the man’s performance of the] commandments He [= the Lord] has much desire’. Ṭal Orot, Foreword.

Folios 15v – 17 (= HED p. 32 – middle p. 36). Citing Albo, ‘Iḳarim 3:4: due to man’s body / mind duality, he must perfect both aspects, and in an integrated manner. This same integrated dual perfection is prescribed, as would be a medicine, in Ecclesiastes’ summation (12:13): ‘the bottom line … is [a] to be in awe of the Lord and [b] to keep his commandments’. Ṭal Orot, Foreword.

Folios 17v – 19r (= HED middle p. 36 – top p. 39). Caption: ‘Ha’azinu / האזינו’, the name of the second-to-last pericope of the Pentateuch. The lemma, taken from there, is ‘Unto Me are vengeance and recompense’ (Deuteronomy 32:35). Developing abstract intellectual tools is vital; yet if gone wrong, it can be more destructive than ignorance. Double-check abstract constructs by their compatibility with the Torah. Ṭal Orot, Foreword.

Folios 19 – 20r (= HED pp. 39-41). Caption: ‘Ecclesiastes 11’. Lemma is verse 9 of that chapter: ‘Rejoyce O youth “with” your childhood’ (this reading is a midrashic inversion of the more straightforward sense: Live it up O youth in your childhood … and you will later have to pay the price). Inclining towards the opposite extreme, although painful, enables one to regain the golden mean. However, if one acts intelligently in childhood, his youth will be properly balanced, and he will not need to undergo the affliction of ‘inclining towards the opposite extreme’. Ṭal Orot, Foreword.

Folios 20r – 27v (= HED pp. 41-56). On True Love and Friendship (of God and man). Caption: ‘Deuteronomy 11:22’, which contains the lemma, ‘to love the Lord, your God … and to cleave unto Him’. Excerpts from: Ṭal Orot, Portals 1, 2, & 3.

Folio 28r (= HED, top ½ of p. 57). Caption: ‘Jethro’. That pericope contains the lemma: ‘Do not fear, for it is in order to uplift (or: test) you that God has come; and in order that the fear of Him be before you, so that you not sin’ (Exodus 20:16). The tension between ‘do not fear’ and ‘the fear of Him be before you’ is resolved thus: fear to go against His guidance; do not fear if you follow Him. From Ṭal Orot Portal 3.

Folio 28 (= HED, bottom ½ of p. 57 – top ½ p. 58). Caption: ‘Va-Yigash / ויגש’. That pericope contains the lemma in which Joseph exonerates his brothers, who sold him into slavery: ‘Now, do not be distressed, for it is no you who have sold me hither’ (Genesis 45:5), viz. to Egypt, which was a most corrupt place; for I did not arrive here directly, but via many changes in destination. Ṭal Orot Portal 3.

Folios 28v – 30r (= HED, mid p. 58 – top p. 61). Caption: ‘Ethics of the Fathers, ch. 4, mishna 4’, which contains the lemma: ‘Be very meek of spirit’. Although the ideal is the golden mean, in this case humility, which lies between haughtiness and meekness, nevertheless the Rabbis advocate the extreme of meekness. This is a corrective against the natural tendency towards haughtiness, in order to bring the person to the mean, humility. Moses, however, was so refined and removed from haughtiness that he did not require this corrective, and was able to directly implement humility. Furthermore, as Moses, as all communal leaders, Torah scholars, and pious will encounter challenge and antagonism from enemies and the wicked. To withstand this, they require some haughtiness, and thus cannot veer to the extreme of meekness. Nevertheless, their measure of haughtiness must be so small so as to be internally nullified. Ṭal Orot Portal 5, with gloss from Portal 6.

Folio 30r (= HED p. 61). Caption: ‘Psalm 103’, homiletical / ethical application of the lemma, ‘As the heavens tower above the earth, His lovingkindness prevailed over those who are in awe of Him; as the distance between east and west, he distanced our transgressions from us’ (v. 11-12): however amazing is the fact of God’s lovingkindness to those who are in awe of Him, His compassion on sinners is twice as amazing. From Ṭal Orot, Portal 5.

Folio 30v (= HED top p. 62). Reads into Proverbs 30:21-23 the following three vices that cause the earth to quake’: leaders who are in fear of the people; tight-fistedness of the wealthy; and duplicity. From Ṭal Orot, Portal 5.

Folios 30v – 32r (= HED mid p. 62 – p. 65). Caption: ‘Ecclesiastes 7’. Anger eclipses objective rationality, and is thus ruinous. As such, it should not be internalized, to ‘rest in the bosom’ (v. 9). However, for didactical purposes, one who is internally free of anger may make an outer display of anger. From Ṭal Orot, Portal 6.

Folios 32v – 35v (= HED pp. 66 – 72). Caption: ‘Psalm 23’, containing the lemma ‘Indeed, goodness and lovingkindness will pursue me all the days of my life’ (v. 6). The physicians have said that sadness and worry, which are induced by materialistic aspirations, undermine the healthy functioning of the cardiovascular system, causing various negative symptoms. From Ṭal Orot, Portal 7.

Folios mid 35v – 36r (= HED pp. 72 – 73). ‘Genesis 1: “Let there be light, and there was light”; and it does not say “and it was so”, as in the rest of the fiats’ (verse 3). Source: ibid.

Folios mid 36r – 41r (= HED pp. 73 – 83). ‘Noah’. Allegorical interpretation of the three sons of Noah, and the nature of ’emunah / אמונה = “faith”. Source: ibid. Portal 2).

Folio 41v (= HED p. 84). ‘[Pericopes] Yetro, Ki Tisa’; Exodus chapter 20 [verses 7-10], “six days shall you work” etc.; Exodus 31 [verses 12-17], “the Israelites shall guard the Sabbath, to do” etc., on the nature of Sabbath rest.

Folio 42 (= HED pp. 85-86). ‘[Pericope] Huḳat, the procedure of the Red heifer (Numbers ch. 19) as an allegory for humility.

Folio 43r (= HED p. 87). Noah. Pride and indulgence vs. humility and self-control.

Folios 43v – mid 44r (= HED pp. 88 – 89). The section on Tsitsit / פרשת ציצית = garment-fringes; Numbers 15:37-41. Gazing at these fringes, which are a reminder of God’s wonders, as an antidote to straying after the natural base urges aroused in the heart via the gaze of the eyes.

Folio mid 44r (= HED pp. 89). First in series on Pericope ‘Eḳev / עקב. ‘Do not be terrified of them, for the Lord, your God, is in your midst, a great and awesome God’ (Deuteronomy 7:21). God is to be held in absolute awe, and fear of anything else – whether enemies or one’s sins – diminishes one’s awe of God.

Folio bottom 44r (= HED p. 89). Psalm 61:8. A wryly humorous (Heb. דרך הלציי) comment about wealthy people’s pretentious sense of self-dignity.

Folios 44v – 46r (= HED pp. 90 – 93). Continuation of series on Pericope ‘Eḳev / עקב. Opening lemma: ‘As a man gives reproof to his son, the Lord, God, reproves you’ (Deuteronomy 8:5). The analogy of God to a father.

Folio 46v (= HED p. 94). Psalm 65:2, ‘Unto Thee, silence is praise’. God does not need to be defended by humans.

Folios 47 (= HED pp. 95 – 96). Psalm 45:3-4, ‘You are the most beautiful of humans … therefore God has blessed you’ etc. … ‘Gird thy sword upon your thigh, O hero: this is thy glory and splendour’. Natural endowments are gifts from God, whereas one’s endeavours in ‘the battle of Torah’ are one’s own glory. And even regarding one’s own accomplishments, one should thank God for enabling them.

Folio bottom 47v (= HED p. 96). (Related to previous item.) In a jocular vein (דרך מליצה) explains the saying from the Ethics of the Fathers (chapter 4), ‘One who accepts upon himself the yoke of Torah has the yoke of the government removed from upon him’ with the aphorism, ‘The king rules the nation; but the sage, with his strategies, rules the king’.

Folios 48r – top 49v (= HED pp. 97 – 100). (Related to previous item.) Torah strengthens the inner state of a person.

Folios 49v – mid 51r (= HED pp. 100 – 103). (Related to previous item.) A healthy inner state enables one to transcend / overcome adversity.

Folio 51 (= HED pp. 103 – 104). Think before you talk.

Folios 51v – 52r (= HED pp. 104 – 105). Ve-’Ethanan / ואתחנן, ‘At that time, the Lord commanded me to teach you suprarational and rational laws (חקים ומשפטים), to have you do them in the land’ (Deuteronomy 4:14). Therapeutic power of Torah laws, first to uplift a person from lowliness to rationality, then to sensitise him to divine suprarational truth.

Folio 52 (= HED pp. 105 – 106). Genesis chapter 6, verse 3 / בראשית ו, ‘My spirit will not forever judge regarding man’. In order to bring out one’s human greatness, viz. the intellectual faculty, one needs to distance oneself from one’s base drives.

Folio 53r (= HED p. 107). ‘You shall love the Lord, your God’, preceded by ‘Listen’ (shema‘ / שמע) (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). The transformation of one’s inner will towards love of God via intellectual appreciation of God.

Folio top 53v (= HED p. 108). Psalm 130:5, ‘I am confident in the Lord, my soul is confident, and I hope for His word’. The difference between ‘confidence’ and ‘hope’.

Folios 53v – 54r (= HED pp. 108 - 109): On Midrash Rabbah to Lamentations 1:3, ‘all of her pursuers have overtaken her between the narrow places’: HED glosses the “demon” of the midrash as the Angel of Death / the Evil Inclination, and provides psychological / ethical explanation of the mythic content.

Folios 54r – 55r (= HED pp. 109 – 111): Midrash Rabbah on Genesis 18:1, in which Abraham ‘was sitting at the opening of the tent at the heat of day’, ‘The Holy Blessed One said to him: You have opened a good opening for passers-by … and for strangers; for were it not for this I would not have created the sphere of the sun and the moon’. The importance of ethical human agency in God’s world.

Folio 55r (= HED p. 111): Qualification of Proverbs 18:22, ‘He who has found a wife has found goodness’.

End of extracts from Ṭal Orot / טל אורות, begun on folio 11a (= p. 23). [However, see folio 57.]

Begin Extracts from the religious maskilic periodical Otsar Ḥokhmah / אוצר חכמה, volume 1 / מחברת א’, year 5620 (Anno Mundi, = 1859/60 CE) / שנת כת”ר.

Folio 55r – 56v (= HED pp. 111 – 114): Extracts, Otsar Ḥokhmah / אוצר חכמה, volume 1, pp. 6 – 14. Ethics.

Folio 57 (= HED pp. 115 – 116): Continuation of excerpts from Ṭal Orot / טל אורות (see above, from folios 11r – 55r). On Lamentations 3:27, ‘It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth’ - the yoke of Torah study. Nevertheless, one’s whose mind’s eye was not opened in his youth should at least open it in his older years.

Back to extracts from Otsar Ḥokhmah / אוצר חכמה.

Folio 58r (= HED p. 117): on Proverbs 27:17, ‘Iron is sharpened by iron; and one man sharpens the face of his peer’, the Babylonian Talmud explains that this is an endorsement of studying with a peer: ‘two students of the Sages sharpen one another in law’. Explains what the Talmud is adding to what is obvious from the verse itself.

Folios bottom 58r – mid 59v (= HED pp. 117 – 120): Teḳufot ugimaṭriy’ot parpera’ot le-ḥokhmah / תקופות וגימטריאות פרפראות לחכמה = ‘calculations of seasons and geometry are embellishments of wisdom’ (Ethics of the Fathers, end chapter 3): What is the proportionality between the duration of an act and the duration of the divine recompense for it. From Otsar Ḥokhma / אוצר חכמה, volume 1, pp. 59 - 61. By Joesph son of Aaron Kohen Tsedeḳ / יב”א [= יוסף בן אהרן] כהן צדק.

Folio 59v (= HED p. 120) middle: Elucidation of Proverbs 25:26, ‘A trampled spring and corrupted source is a righteous person who gives in to the wicked’.

Folio 59v (= HED p. 120) bottom: Linguistic and conceptual interpretation of Proverbs 17:17.

Folio top 60r (= HED p. 121): What is primary, prayer or medical intervention? Elucidating the two explanations offered in the Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 10b of King Hezekiah's sickbed plea to God in Isaiah 38:3, ‘Remember now that I walked before You in truth and with a whole heart, and that I did what is good in Your eyes’.

Folio 60 (= HED pp. 121 – 122): Offers an emendation of Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 2a-b, on Leviticus 22:7, reversing the order of interpretations of the verse, suggesting that the first option should be, ‘the sun sets, and he is pure’, which is the straightforward meaning, and that the second option should be the more excursive, ‘the sun sets and it – viz. the day – is pure’.

Folio 61r (= HED p. 123): From the religious maskilic periodical Otsar Neḥmad / אוצר נחמד volumes 1 and 3; on Midrash Deuteronomy Rabbah, Pericope ‘Eḳev, unit 15, on 10:1, ‘quarry thee’: explains the difference between the number of righteous, viz. 50 etc., proposed by Abraham, Genesis 18:24 (and following), and the number of righteous, viz. 80, proposed by Moses in this midrash.

Folio 61v – 63r (= HED pp. 124 – 127): From Otsar Neḥmad / אוצר נחמד (see previous item) volume 3, homily on Ethics of the Fathers 1:2, ‘Simeon the tsadiḳ / צדיק = ‘just/righteous’ … would say, The world stands on three things: on the Torah; on worship; and on acts of lovingkindness’. He is called ‘just/righteous’ because he justified and thereby unified the three Jewish factions of his time, one of which prioritized intellectual communion with God via Torah, another of which prioritized outpouring of the soul in worship, and one of which prioritized ethical action in interpersonal relations.

Extracts from Rabbi Isaac Rabbinowitz’s Nidvot Pi / נדבות פי = ‘Freewill offerings of my mouth’, [volume 2], Warsaw 1869 CE / 5630 Anno Mundi.

Folios 63v – 64r (= HED pp. 128 – 129): From Nidvot Pi volume 2, first two pages of the Introduction, written by the late author’s brother and father-in-law, Rabbi Benjamin David Rabbinowitz, pp. 9 – 10 of the prefatory material. Midrash to Psalm 6:2, ‘Lord, do not reprove me in Your anger’. To explain ‘reproving in anger’ and its negation, the midrash brings three variations of a parable of a king who, in his anger, vows to punish his son, realizes that the punishment would kill the son, finds a way to render the punishment harmless, and carries it out in the harmless manner, thus sparing his son yet fulfilling his vow. Rabbinowitz links the three variations to three psychological states.

Folios 64v – 66r (= HED pp. 130 – 133): From Nidvot Pi volume 2, Introduction, by Rabbi Benjamin David Rabbinowitz (see previous item), pp. 12 – 14 of the prefatory material. The death of a person who actualized himself ethically and intellectually is his elevation to and integration with God.

Folios 66r – 67v (= HED pp. 133 – 136): From Nidvot Pi volume 2, sermon for Pericope Mi-ḳets / Hanukah, folios mid 27r – 29r (= pp. 64 – 66): Three degrees of desensitization towards the spirit and the inclination towards bad – [1] indulgence in animalistic pleasures; [2] loss of discernment; [3] selling oneself to evil – and the route of self-extrication therefrom.

Folio 68 (= HED pp. 137 – 138): From Nidvot Pi volume 2, second foliation – ‘For the Pericope of Sheḳalim (= shekels), 5616’ (Anno Mundi, = 1856 CE) / לפרשת שקלים תרט”ז, note at the bottom of folios 1v – 2r. The difference between nefesh ḥayah / נפש חיה = the soul of all living beings (including animals and humans) and nefesh ha-bihamit she-ba-’adam / נפש הבהמית שבאדם, viz. the special animal / animate soul of the human, which includes the intellect.

Folios 68v – 76r (= HED pp. 138 – 153): From Nidvot Pi volume 2, second foliation – ‘For the Pericope of Sheḳalim (see previous item), folios mid 1v – 7r. Four progressive dimensions of the human: corporeal; ethical; intellectual; and spiritual / divine. Divine purpose, divine agency, and human choice. Torah and the divine dimension. Integration of the lower into the higher. The ‘arba parshiyot / ארבע פרשיות = four special pericopes – sheḳalim, zakhor, parah, and ha-ḥodesh / שקלים, זכור, פרה, והחדש = Shekels, Remember, Heifer, and New Month – correspond to the four dimensions of the human.

Folios 76v – 81r (= HED pp. 154 – 163): From Nidvot Pi volume 2, second foliation – ‘For the Pericope of Remembrance’ / לפרשת זכור (continuation of previous item), folios 7v – 11r.

Folios 81r – 84r (= HED pp. 163 – 169): From Nidvot Pi volume 2, second foliation – ‘For the Pericope of Heifer / לפרשת פרה (continuation of previous items), folios bottom 11r – top 15r.

Folios 84v – 89r (= HED pp. 170 – 179): From Nidvot Pi volume 2, second foliation – ‘For the Pericope of New Month / לפרשת החדש (continuation of previous items), folios 16r – top 21r.

Folios 89v – 91r (= HED pp. 180 – 183), [Babylonian Talmud] Nedarim (= Vows) Chapter 3 [32a]: From Nidvot Pi volume 2, second foliation – ‘For 7 Adar, Year 5623’ / לז’ אדר, שנת תרכ”ג (= 26 February 1863 CE), folios bottom 24v – 26r. True humility: to overcome all selfish impulses such as anger, jealousy, indulgence, and honour – not with the result that one becomes unfeeling, but rather to the point that one’s feelings are in harmony with one’s developed intellect. Moses embodies this ideal.

From Sefer Asaf / ספר אסף:

Folio 91 (= HED pp. 183 – 184). Word studies: ŚYḤ - śiḥah/ שיח - שיחה = ‘musing’; B-‘Ayin-R / בער = ‘brutish, beastly’; KSL / כסל = ‘opinion based on false information’; PTY / פתי = ‘one who is enticed’; ḤBL / חבל (cf. Arabic حبل) ‘to be pregnant’; HLL / הלל = ‘to praise’.

Folio 91v (= HED p. 184): Each thing has its inborn nature.

Folios 91v – 92r (= HED pp. 184 – 185): Death – eternal rest – as the ultimate pleasure.

Folio 92v (= HED p. 185): Word study: Differences between near synonyms for negative states of mind: ‘etsev, da’agah, yagon / עצב, דאגה, יגון. (See also folio 96r, top.)

Folio 92v (= HED p. 186): Homiletical interpretation of Hillel’s statement to a prospective proselyte, ‘Whatever is hated to you, do not do unto your fellow’ (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 31a).

Folio 92v (= HED p. 186), bottom: Word study: Why an alacritous person (zariz / זריז) is called ‘quick’ (mahir / מהיר [from the root MHR / מהר]); whereas a fool (sakhal / סכל) is called ‘rushed’ (nimhar / נמהר [also from the root MHR / מהר]).

Folio 93r (= HED p. 187): Ethical reinterpretation of the Kabbalistic tradition that the Angel ‘Duma’ asks one who has died, ‘What is your name?’ to mean ‘Have you fulfilled your unique mission on earth and thereby made a name for yourself?’.

Folios 93r – 94r (= HED pp. 187 – 189): Interpretation of the ‘Tower of Babel’ (Genesis 11:1-9): the interdependency of linguistic and technological sophistication.

Folio mid 94r (= HED p. 189): The divine names are descriptions of His acts / effects.

Folio bottom 94r (= HED p. 189), bottom: Word study: The immediately apparent ‘splendour’ of God is called hod / הוד; whereas the honour that is not apparent, but must be ‘searched after’, is called hadar / הדר (= ‘to go after / back to’).

Folio 94v (= HED p. 190): On Sefer Yetsirah / ספר יצירה = ‘The Book of Creation’ [more literally: ‘The Book of Formation’], Chapter 1, ‘the covenant of the tongue and the covenant of the genitals’: these organs can perpetuate the person’s intellectual and physical self beyond his individual existence.

Folio 95r (= HED p. 191): On the verse in Torah portion Mishpaṭim / משפטים, ‘Do not go after the majority for bad; … incline after the majority’ (Exodus 23:2): Conventions are determined by the majority, whereas true and false and good and evil are not. The beginning of the verse is used in response to the attempt by a bishop (or: cardinal; Hebrew הגמון) to use the end of the verse to convert the Jews to Christianity.

Folio top 95v (= HED p. 192): Word study: A pesel / פסל = ‘carving’ of an object conveys its materiality; whereas a temunah / תמונה = ‘image’ conveys its spirit and effect. Thus, there are verses that speak of God’s temunah / תמונה = ‘image’.

Folio 95v (= HED p. 192): The underlying cause of laughter.

Folio top 96r (= HED p. 193): Word study: Differences between near synonyms for negative states of mind: da’agah, yagon / דאגה, יגון. (See also folio 92v, top.)

Folio 96r (= HED p. 193): The foolishness of resenting correction and its bearer; and the wisdom of appreciating them.

Folios 96r – 97v (= HED pp. 193 – 196): The world is compared to the beautiful palace of a great king – indeed, Rabbi Isaac Luria (the ARI) taught that the purpose of the Creation is so that God can do good to His creations. The goal of life in this world is to traverse preparatory stages and eventually behold and be beheld by the King, who will bestow goodness upon those who have made it to Him. Some are oblivious to the quest; others set out and make it to the first gateway, ethics, where they are awestruck and proceed no further; others do not spend enough time in that first gateway, but rush headlong into metaphysical speculation without ethics, and are ensnared, and often destroyed, by false philosophies; but some ‘enter in peace’ making the stable, incremental journey with ethics, then with truth as imbedded in the world and in the Torah, and thereby discover the true God.

Folio 97v (= HED p. 196): The common denominator between the three meanings of the Hebrew root ZMR / זמר, namely sing, cut, and branch, is cutting.

Folio bottom 97v (= HED p. 196): Ambiguates the referent of the verb yipelu / יפלו = ‘will fall’ in Psalm 45:6.

Folio 98r (= HED p. 197): True wisdom is knowledge of the ways of God, how He conducts what He has formed, His actions, their causes and effects, and their interconnectivity. Whoever despises this wisdom, even if he studies Torah law, loves death’ (see Proverbs 8:36). For although Torah law has intellectual content, it is not focused on the above questions, but with matters relevant to ethics, called ‘fear’. In contrast to the above ‘fear’, ‘awe’ of God is one with knowledge of God.

Folio 98v (= HED p. 198), top: A resolution to the apparent paradox in Ethics of the Fathers chapter 3, ‘all is foreseen, yet free choice is granted’: God is the recipient of the information, not its initiator. God receives His knowledge of man’s actions by observing man. The reason that God knows the actions before man acts is because God is beyond time; but it is not that God imposes or forces any action onto man.

Folio 98v – 99r (= HED pp. 198 – 199): Psalm 111:10, ‘The beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord’. Ethics, ‘fear of the Lord’, embodied in Torah and its commandments, constitute the ‘outer gate’, which is prerequisite to attaining wisdom. Man’s felicity combines upright action (via ethics, Torah, Commandments) and true knowledge. Man’s ultimate telos in this world and the next is true knowledge of God, attained via intelligizing God’s handiwork, constituting the ‘inner gate’. At this level, love, awe, and knowledge of God are all one. One cannot enter the inner gate without first entering the outer gate; but a danger inherent in religion, whose forms are occupied with the outer gate, is forgetting about the inner gate.

Folio bottom 99r (= HED p. 199): God is known by His actions / effects, and named for them.

Folios 99v – 100r (= HED pp. 200 – 201): Wonders of divine design are apparent in the bodies of humans and animals. Focus on the digestive, optic, and cardio-vascular systems.

Folio 100 (= HED pp. 201 – 202): Both prophets and wise men make God’s perfection known. Prophets reach the wise as well as the masses. Since the masses cannot grasp abstractions, the prophets devise images of God, those images being in accordance with God’s works. This is the meaning of ‘By the agency of the prophets, I am parabled’ (Hosea 12:11). In contrast, wise men address the wise, and speak of God by negations. Corresponding interpretation of Numbers 12:6-8, describing Moses’ prophecy.

Folios 100v – 101v (= HED pp. 202 – 204): Based on 10 philosophical propositions, interpretation of the fourfold statement, ‘There is no comparison to Thee, there is none besides Thee, there is nothing other than Thee, and who is like unto Thee?’ / אין ערוך לך, ואין זולתך, אפס בלתך, ומי דומה לך, from the blessing Yotser / יוצר = ‘Who forms’ in the Sabbath morning liturgy.

Folio 102r (= HED p. 205): In metaphysics, three categories of being: possible; necessary on account of its cause; and necessary in and of itself.

Folios 102r – mid 105v (= HED pp. 205 – 212). Presents the faculties of the soul that enable sense perception, whether of externals or internals, and perception of abstractions. On that basis, provides an allegorical interpretation of the Garden of Eden and the Sin of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Thus far from ‘The book of Asaf’ / ספר אסף.

Folio 105v – 106r (= HED pp. mid 212 – 213). Word-studies from the work ‘Tana de-be Elijah (= “it was taught in the house of Elijah”) on the book of Proverbs, by the Gaon Rabbi Elijah of Vilna of sainted memory’.

[a] (mid f. 105v): The difference between two words used for ‘object of desire’ used in the account of the Garden of Eden and the Sin of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, discussed in the previous item(s): “ḥemdah” / חמדה; and “ta’avah” / תאוה.

[b] (bottom f. 105v): "ḥesed” / חסד (“lovingkindness”) and “emet” / אמת (“truth”), juxtaposed in Proverbs 3:3, ‘Let not lovingkindness and truth forsake you’ / חסד ואמת אל יעזבוך.

[c] (top f. 106r): “yahav / yahavaka” / יהב \ יהבך (“what was given to you”); and “bataḥ” / בטח (“rely; trust”).

[d] (second half f. 106r): Two words for ‘path / road / way’: “derekh” / דרך and “oraḥ” / אורח.

[e] (bottom f. 106r): Three words for ‘person in charge’: “ḳatsin” / קצין; “shomer” / שומר; and “moshel” / מושל.

Folios 106v – top 108v (= HED pp. 214 – top 218). (from the book Zohar Tinyana [lit. ‘Second Zohar’, by Rabbi Moses Hayyim Luzzatto (1707 – 1746)] that is together with the book of Asaph, noted above / מס’ זוהר תניינא המחובר עם ס’ אסף הנז”ל).

[a] Six items were named by the Holy Blessed One / ויקרא אלהים לאור יום. שית אינון דקב”ה קארי לון שמהן (first ¾ f. 106v = p. 214)

[b] The might of rain / גבורות גשמים (bottom f. 106v – bottom f. 107r = pp. 214 – 215)

[c] God created the universe by means of the letter H / ה = “He” / אלה תולדות השמים והארץ בהבראם א”ת בהבראם אלא בהא’ בראם (bottom f. 107r – mid 107v = pp. 215 – 216)

[d] The divine names “Lord” and “God” are analogous to the sun and its sheath / כי שמש ומגן (ff. mid 107v – top 108v = pp. 216 – 218)

Folios 108v – 109r (= HED pp. 218 – 219): From Sefer Asaf, volume 3. There are two dimensions of perfection / completion in the Creation: [1] the functional perfection of each created item, completed on Day 6 of Creation, ‘The sixth day: the heavens, the earth, and all of their hosts were completed’ (Genesis 1:31 – 2:1), in which man participates with his lower levels of soul; [2] the spiritual perfection underlying the wholeness of Creation, manifest on Day 7 of Creation, the Sabbath, ‘On the seventh day, God finished … and rested ...’ (Genesis 2:2-3), in which man participates with his intellect and highest, transcendent level of soul, yeḥidah / יחידה.

Folio 109 (= HED pp. 219 – 220): Ibid., volume 2. The human tendency to take pleasure in base rather than lofty pleasures; and the human hankering for change rather than for eternal verities.

‘From here, copied from the periodical Bikure ha-‘itim / בכורי העתים’ [vols. 1 & 2, Vienna, 1820 & 1821].

Folios 109v – 110r (= HED pp. 220 – 221): Bikure ha-‘itim / בכורי העתים, vol. 1, pp. 66 – 68. Analysis, by הירץ וויזל, of the term ‘tardemah’ / תרדמה = ‘slumber’, used in Genesis 2:21 and elsewhere. (Presumably, the author הירץ וויזל is Naphtali Hirz (Hartwig) Wessely, despite the fact that this volume, published in 1820, follows the author’s name with נ”י, which is used for living persons, whereas Wessely died in 1805. If the article is a reprint, that may account for the discrepancy/error.)

Ethical Fables:

Folio 110v (= HED p. 222): ‘Riv ha-shemesh veha-ruaḥ' / ריב השמש והרוח = ‘The Argument between the sun and the wind’, followed by a rhymed ‘musar haśkel’ / מוסר השכל = ‘ethical lesson’: Correcting the “other” by means of warmth works better than trying to do so by means of force. Bikure ha-‘itim / בכורי העתים, vol. 2, p. 57. [By Y … L / י … ל = Joel ‘Bril’ [acrostic for Ben Reb Yehuda Leib] Löwe / יואל 'ברי”ל' [=בן ר’ יהודה לייב] לווה]

Folios 110v – 111r (= HED pp. 222 – 223): ‘Mishpaṭ eṿili’ / משפט אוילי = ‘Foolish judgment’: A deer glories in its wide antlers and disparages its scrawny legs; but in the end its legs allow it to flee danger, whereas its antlers tangle in a thicket and prevent its escape: ‘the falseness of charm and the emptiness of beauty; goodness and utility are praiseworthy’ (paraphrase of Proverbs 31:30). Bikure ha-‘itim / בכורי העתים, vol. 2, p. 84. [By Joel Bril Löwe]

Folio 111r (= HED p. 223): ‘Ha-rahav (ha-ge'a) / הרהב (הגאה) = ‘The proud (arrogant) one’: An arrogant person takes offence at the face confronting him – from the mirror. Bikure ha-‘itim / בכורי העתים, vol. 2, pp. 84 – 85. [By M. M.]

Folio 111 (= HED pp. 223 – 224): ‘Ha-gemed ha-‘anaḳi’ / הגמד הענקי = ‘The giant midget’: If one elevates himself too much, he will appear small to those who are on the ground. Bikure ha-‘itim / בכורי העתים, vol. 2, p. 109. [By Joel Bril Löwe]

Folio 111v (= HED p. 224): ‘Ha-yeled ṿe-ha-tsel’ / הילד והצל = ‘The child and the shadow’: As one’s shadow, honour follows a person; but if he chases it, it will elude him. Bikure ha-‘itim / בכורי העתים, vol. 2, pp. 109 – 110. [By M. M.]

Folios 111v – 112r (= HED pp. 224 – 225): ‘Ha-yirah ṿeha-tiḳṿah bi-maḥazeh’ / היראה והתקוה במחזה = ‘Fear and Hope in a vision’: Staking out one’s path in life, one needs hopeful inspiration balanced with caution. Bikure ha-‘itim / בכורי העתים, vol. 2, pp. 120 – 121. [By Ḥ. B.]

Folios 112v – 113r (= HED pp. 226 – 227): ‘Eliphalet and Nimrod the Hunter’ / אליפלט ונמרוד הציד. Bikure ha-‘itim / בכורי העתים, vol. 2, pp. 155 – 156. By Abraham Goldberg of Rava [= Rawa Ruska, Ukraine].

Folio 113 (= HED pp. 227 – 228): ‘It is not study that is primary; rather, action is’ (compare Ethics of the Fathers 1:[17]): Story about the Arabic [Islamic] sage, [Caliph] Harun al-Rashid.

Folio 113v (= HED p. 228): ‘Gideon the Shepherd’ / גדעון הרועה; version of ‘The Boy who cried Wolf’ (cf. Aesop's Fables, Perry Index no. 210).

Folio 113v (= HED p. 228): Two biblical riddles and their solutions: 1) on the word Avi / אבי; and 2) on the offspring of Heman / הימן, I Chronicles 25:4.

Folio 114r (= HED p. 229): ‘Ha-sheleg, ha-adamah, ṿeha-nahar / השלג, האדמה, והנהר = ‘Snow, Earth, and River’. A fable about haughtiness, change, and humility.

Folio 114r (= HED p. 229): Biblical riddle about the gender of the Hebrew word ‘Ḥodesh’ / חדש.

Folio 114 (= HED pp. 229 – 230): Synonyms for spy out, scout: ‘Tar, Meragel’ / תר, מרגל. Bikure ha-‘itim / בכורי העתים, vol. 6, 5586 (Anno Mundi). Excerpts from pages 25 – 29. [From a letter by Samuel David … to his friend Shalom.]

Series of Riddles:

Folio 114v (= HED p. 230): Riddle 1: Syllable-by-syllable riddle for word Tsar-fat / צר-פת.

Folio 115r (= HED p. 231): Riddle 2: The same letters, albeit in reverse order, spell Lavan and Naval / לבן - נבל = ‘Laban and churl’.

Folio 115r (= HED p. 231): Riddle 3: Love and hate.

Folio 115r (= HED p. 231): Riddle 4: based on [Babylonian Talmud] Sanhedrin folio 29 and the diminishment engendered by adding a letter to the beginning of some words.

Folio 115 (= HED pp. 231 – 232): Riddle 5: On the Hebrew object-marker 'et / את.

Folio 115v (= HED p. 232): Riddle 6: Water, as presented in various biblical narratives.

Differences between synonyms (through folio 124): From Bikure ha-‘itim / בכורי העתים, volumes 8 & 9 [Vienna 1827 & 1828]. [By Samuel David Luzzatto (Shadal)]:

Folios 115v – 117v (= HED pp. 232 – 236): [a] shaṿ, sheḳer, hevel, riḳ, ruaḥ, tohu, bohu, kezev, kaḥash / שוא, שקר, הבל, ריק, רוח, תהו, בהו, כזב, כחש = ‘naught, falsehood, vanity, futility, wind, purposelessness, degradation, lie, denial’; [b] zakhar, shamar / זכר, שמר = ‘to remember’ (the past) and ‘to look out’ (for something in the future). Includes an analysis of differences between the first and second versions of the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20:2-13; Deuteronomy 5:6-17).

Folio 118r (= HED p. 237): [c] synonyms for ‘to hide / hidden’ etc.: satar, ḥava, tsafan, ṭaman, ‘alam / סתר, חבא, צפן, טמן, עלם.

Folios 118v – 119v (= HED pp. 238 – 240): [d] synonyms: demonstratives: halom, hena, po, zeh, koh, koh-vekho, ana-ṿe’ana, ‘al ken, lakhen, etc. / הלום, הֵנָה, פה, זה ,כה, כה וכה, אנה ואנה, על כן, לכן …

Folio 119v (= HED p. 240): [e] synonyms for ‘to teach’: limed, hora, ilef / ,לִמּד, הורה, אלּף.

Folios 119v – 121r (= HED pp. 240 – 243): [f] synonyms for ‘to convince to impropriety’: pitah, hishi, hesit / פתה, הִשִּׁיא, הסית = ‘seduce, beguile, entice’.

Folio 121 (= HED pp. 243 – 244): [g] synonyms for ‘to respond’: ‘anah, heshiv / ענה, השיב.

Folio 122r (= HED p. 245): [h] synonyms for ‘to remain’: nish’ar, notar / נשאר, נותר.

Folio 122r (= HED p. 245): [i] synonyms for ‘to explain’: parash, be’er, patar / פרש, באר, פתר.

Folio 122v – 123v (= HED pp. 246 – 248): [j] synonyms for mountains that are particularly connected with God: har ha-shem, har elohim, har ha-ḳodesh / הר ה', הר אלהים, הר הקדש = ‘The mountain of the Lord, the mountain of God, the holy mountain’.

Folio 123v (= HED p. 248): [k] synonyms pertaining to ‘bed’: yetsua‘, matsa‘, mishkav, ‘ereś, miṭah /יצוע, מצע, משכב, ערש, מטה

Folio top 124r (= HED p. 249): explanation of the Talmudic adage, ‘Be mindful of the children of the poor, for it is from them that Torah will emerge’ (Babylonian Talmud, Nedarim 81a).

Folio 124 (= HED pp. 249 – 250): What the following Hebrew roots mean when they are in different verbal forms: HLK, ḤShB, YSD, LḲṬ, MDD, NḲR, STM, PTḤ, TsḤḲ, TsMT, TsPH, ḲL‘Ayin, RB‘Ayin /הלך, חשב, יסד, לקט, מדד, נקר, סתם, פתח, צחק, צמת, צפה, קלע, רבע.

From Pri Chaim (Ḥayim) / פרי חיים, דרוש, כ”ו מאמרים = ‘The fruit of life’ (פרי חיים, כולל ששה ועשרים מאמרים, by Chaim Knoller[on whom see https://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/przemysl/prz081.html#t81-1r: The Hebrew Publishing Houses in Przemysl, by D. N., translated by Jerrold Landau], Przemyśl, 1883):

Folio 124v (= HED p. 250): Peri hayim, note bottom of folios 26a – 28a). Analysis of Genesis 41:25-40, in which Joseph interprets Pharoah's dreams and advises him. The focus here is on the distinction between ‘God has told Pharoah’ and ‘God has shown Pharoah’.

Folio 125 (= HED pp. 251 – 252): Peri haym, folios 25b – 26a. The distinction between ‘God has told Pharoah’ and ‘God has shown Pharoah’ (see previous item) is explained in light of the distinction between two words for ‘prophecy’: ḥazon / חזון = ‘prophetic vision’, the interpretation of which is still flexible; and nevu’ah / נבואה = ‘prophetic pronouncement’, in which the vision has been supplied with a fixed interpretation.

Folio 125v (= HED p. 252), bottom: Word study, the difference between words for ‘cup’, kos / כוס and gevia‘ / גביע: the former is large and for serving; whereas the latter is for the individual.

Folio 126 (= HED pp. 253 – 254): End of pericope Ṿa-yetse / ויצא, the episode (Genesis 31:27 – 32:3) in which Laban confronts his son-in-law Jacob for having fled, Jacob responds that he did so in fear that Laban would forcibly keep his daughters from him, and they make a covenant. Laban’s feelings towards his daughters, towards Jacob, and his duplicity.

Folios 126v – 127v (= HED pp. 254 – 256): Beginning of pericope Shelaḥ lekha / שלח לך, episode of the spies (Numbers 13-14), and its retelling in Deuteronomy 1:21 and following verses. In their report to Moses, the spies addressed the religious potential of the Land; and to the masses – the materialistic aspects.

Thus far from Peri hayim (Ḥayim) / פרי חיים.

Folio 127v (= HED p. 256): Beginning of a homily on the beginning of pericope Balaḳ / בלק, Numbers 22:2 and following.

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