Mishlei starts slowly, mimicking the way a wise old person
would teach, slowly, punctuating every word, elaborating on each
statement. The first two chapters of
Mishlei speak about the precious value of wisdom and understanding. Chapter 3 starts spelling out what the wisdom
is:
3:3 Kindness
and truth חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת hesed
v’emet shall not
leave you; bind them upon your neck, inscribe them upon the tablet of your
heart;
3:4 and find
favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man – this is the phrase
from birkat hamazon וּמְצָא חֵן וְשֵֹכֶל טוֹב בְּעֵינֵי אֱלֹהִים
וְאָדָם u’m’tza hein v’sechel tov b’einei Elokim v’adam
3:5 Trust in
the Lord with all your heart and do not rely upon your understanding
Then
speaking of Torah wisdom and discernment, king Shlomo adds famous words from
familiar liturgy:
3:16 אֹרֶךְ יָמִים בִּימִינָהּ בִּשְׂמֹאולָהּ
עשֶׁר וְכָבוֹד orech yamim bi’mino bi’smola
osher v’chavod - Length of
days is in its right hand; in its left hand are riches and honor.
3:17 דְּרָכֶיהָ דַרְכֵי נֹעַם וְכָל
נְתִיבוֹתֶיהָ שָׁלוֹם d’racheya darchei noam v’chol
netivoteya shalom- Its ways
are ways of pleasantness, and all its paths are peace
3:18 עֵץ חַיִּים הִיא לַמַּחֲזִיקִים בָּהּ
וְתֹמְכֶיהָ מְאֻשָּׁר eitz hayim hi lamahazikim ba v’tomcheya
m’ushar - It is a tree of
life for those who grasp it, and those who draw near it are fortunate.
And then,
right after, Mishlei speaks of the creation of the world. In the same chapter where wisdom is defined as
chesed v’emet – kindness and truth, hein v’sechel tov – favor and
good understanding, where it is compared to the tree of life and is
proclaimed as darchei noam, the path of pleasantness, it makes a jump from ethics to cosmology.
3:19 The
Lord founded the earth with wisdom b’chohmah, established the heavens
with discernment bi'tvunah.
3:20 With
His knowledge b'daato the depths were split, and the heavens drip dew.
This is
remarkable, these words uncover the secret of creation – the heaven and earth,
depth and heights were founded on the moral principles, with justice and
compassion, kindness and truth. Mishlei
teaches that the universe is not random, but fashioned with moral purpose and
understanding. That the whole cosmology starting with the big bang, all galaxies, stars and black holes somehow, in some mysterious way follow the laws of ethics, justice and mercy, kindness and truth, love and forgiveness.
There is something else very important I learned from Mishlei. King Shlomo issues many warnings against a "foreign woman", "strange woman", and it sounds chilling, threatening, anti-feminist. Seeing myself as a foreigner and a stranger in the strange land, I could close the book in horror and never open it again. However, considering that the last chapter of Mishlei is the song about Eshet Chayil, the righteous woman, and reading the book more closely, it becomes clear that the reference to the "strange woman" is an allegory to the dark side in each individual, the mad, unconscious side as opposed to wisdom, who is singing in the street, and who was at the side of the Creator from the beginning of time. The strange woman, the dark side is strong and confident, reinforced by public approval, while the innocent princess, the good girl is shy and unassuming, threatened from every side. The advice of Mishlei is to strengthen the inner goodness that hides within one's heart, give it voice, let her speak uninterrupted by the loud and vulgar "foreign woman" who occupies the shallow surface, the impostor who pretends to be the whole person. Ask her to step aside when she is greeting you at the door and let you speak with the real mistress of the house.
What about the personality of king Shlomo himself, the thousand foreign wives and concubines, the luxury and idolatry that consumed his kingdom and eventually torn it apart? The king knew what he was talking about when he wrote of dangers of yetzer hara, maybe even prophetically envisioned his own demise. The person is fallible and vulnerable, but the ideas that Hashem planted in his mind remain true and timeless. What about his father king David, the episode when he arouse in the middle of the night, went up to the roof to meditate the greatness of G-d, and saw Bat Sheva? Is it inevitable that when a poet or an artist tries to rise above the ground that his gaze will lower, is that what always awaits on top of the roof, was that what brought him up to the roof? One is very vulnerable when he on the roof, it is an open area exposed to many winds.
Halo zot Bat Sheva - is not that Bat Sheva the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?', inquired king David (II Samuel 11:3). King Shlomo's timeless advice is to engross oneself in Torah study and mitzvoth, as the only remedy and salvation. True, it did not save him, and many others, but it's not an excuse from trying, for maybe it is possible to rise higher, above the roof.
Rabot raot tzadik, u'michulam yatzileinu Hashem רַבּוֹת רָעוֹת צַדִּיק וּמִכֻּלָּם יַצִּילֶנּוּ יְהֹוָה
Many evils befall the righteous, but the Lord saves him from them all (Psalms 34:20).
There is something else very important I learned from Mishlei. King Shlomo issues many warnings against a "foreign woman", "strange woman", and it sounds chilling, threatening, anti-feminist. Seeing myself as a foreigner and a stranger in the strange land, I could close the book in horror and never open it again. However, considering that the last chapter of Mishlei is the song about Eshet Chayil, the righteous woman, and reading the book more closely, it becomes clear that the reference to the "strange woman" is an allegory to the dark side in each individual, the mad, unconscious side as opposed to wisdom, who is singing in the street, and who was at the side of the Creator from the beginning of time. The strange woman, the dark side is strong and confident, reinforced by public approval, while the innocent princess, the good girl is shy and unassuming, threatened from every side. The advice of Mishlei is to strengthen the inner goodness that hides within one's heart, give it voice, let her speak uninterrupted by the loud and vulgar "foreign woman" who occupies the shallow surface, the impostor who pretends to be the whole person. Ask her to step aside when she is greeting you at the door and let you speak with the real mistress of the house.
What about the personality of king Shlomo himself, the thousand foreign wives and concubines, the luxury and idolatry that consumed his kingdom and eventually torn it apart? The king knew what he was talking about when he wrote of dangers of yetzer hara, maybe even prophetically envisioned his own demise. The person is fallible and vulnerable, but the ideas that Hashem planted in his mind remain true and timeless. What about his father king David, the episode when he arouse in the middle of the night, went up to the roof to meditate the greatness of G-d, and saw Bat Sheva? Is it inevitable that when a poet or an artist tries to rise above the ground that his gaze will lower, is that what always awaits on top of the roof, was that what brought him up to the roof? One is very vulnerable when he on the roof, it is an open area exposed to many winds.
Halo zot Bat Sheva - is not that Bat Sheva the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?', inquired king David (II Samuel 11:3). King Shlomo's timeless advice is to engross oneself in Torah study and mitzvoth, as the only remedy and salvation. True, it did not save him, and many others, but it's not an excuse from trying, for maybe it is possible to rise higher, above the roof.
Rabot raot tzadik, u'michulam yatzileinu Hashem רַבּוֹת רָעוֹת צַדִּיק וּמִכֻּלָּם יַצִּילֶנּוּ יְהֹוָה
Many evils befall the righteous, but the Lord saves him from them all (Psalms 34:20).
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