Me’or ‘enayim (Light of the Eyes)

Now it is not my intention to be a wiseacre when I show people that some rabbinic statements should not be taken literally. Belonging to this genre, is the story of Og uprooting a mountain the size of three parasangs in Berakhot and the stories about Rabbah bar bar ḥana in Bava Batra. These have long been acknowledged to be parables and riddles by all except fools as is noted by the author of the Guide. However, with regard to this subject, I have been told specifically by people whom I regard as highly versed in Torah that they believe that the statements should be taken on face value, and they vehemently attack those who do not believe them. So I have put forward an opinion for the one who thirstily imbibes the words of our sages and who, as the fore-mentioned sage says, is drawn by the human intellect and thus led to dwell within its province. For on hearing the story of the curse of Titus or other such matters, he might be overcome and become perplexed because he is unable to bring himself to believe it. I spoke about the subject with integrity and in all honesty, in deference to the ruling of all those who possess knowledge. I would therefore make an analogy between the gentile sages and the rabbis. The poems and rhetoric of the gentile sages are replete with representations of events which never took place. They invented imaginary events for the moment so that those who “saw those sounds” or imagined them would be inspired to acquire wise counsel and knowledge. This was the way many of them wrote and in particular their gifted orator, Cicero, in the first Philippics and in his oration Pro Roscio. In a similar fashion, our sages who were truly wise, were perfectly aware that even a story such as this had no foundation, or at least not in the way they described it. And yet, it did not prevent them from representing and embellishing it with such conspicuous detail as if it had really happened in the way they had enunciated. Their aim was to instill and infuse the people with knowledge of the goodness and justice to which they should aspire, and to impress upon their souls the purpose of morals and instruction which are requisite for us. For the sake of the glorification of God’s name, they could even speak rhetorically as in the following passage from Sanhedrin: “After these things [Jeroboam did not return from his evil way] (I K. 13:33). What is meant by ‘after’? Rabbi Abba said that the Holy One blessed be He seized Jeroboam by his garment and said, ‘Who will be at the head?’ He replied, ‘The son of Jesse will be at the head.’ He said to him, ‘If so, I do not want it.’” The apparent purpose of this statement of our sages of blessed memory is to indicate how the Divine Presence takes pains to make the wicked relinquish their ways, and to show how some of them are so stubborn that they reject incomparable bounty for fatuous reasons. Similarly there is a passage about Sennacherib with regard to the verse, In that day my Lord will cut away with the razor that is hired beyond the Euphrates—with the king of Assyria—the hair of the head and the hair of the legs and it shall clip off the beard as well (Is. 7:20). It states: “The Holy One blessed be He went and appeared before Sennacherib as an old man.” The picture conjured up here demonstrates the extent to which His attribute of mercy functions for our salvation. Such stories as these clearly negate their literal sense and were put in writing, therefore, in order to inspire one to achieve the goal of the desired good. As the divine author of the Kuzari wrote, this praiseworthy and wonderful method was adopted from the prophets of blessed memory. This is illustrated by Micaiah’s statement, I saw the Lord seated upon His throne with all the host of heaven standing in attendance . . . and the Lord asked, Who will entice Ahab . . . until a certain spirit came forward (I K. 22:19ff.). He states that this entire narration is rhetorically rendered in order to press home the intended point.

Thus, with regard to the story of Titus you may, and have the right, to assert that the tale is simply an invention and a way of instruction used by those of perfect knowledge. Their purpose was to ensure that the people were convinced of the greatness of our Lord and His mighty power by which He requites Himself on those who rise up against Him, particularly the haughty and insolent, who receive their due punishment by means of the smallest of His creatures. With great wisdom did they appropriately apply their invented tale of the wicked man to Titus who had devised evil against us. (In my opinion, the intelligent person will be receptive to these words of mine when he realizes that this type of instruction on the part of our sages of blessed memory is contained in all the amazing things they describe about Hiram, king of Tyre, which give the impression that they were telling a story that actually happened. He is said to have made himself seven firmaments, a throne, Hayyot [living beings], and thunder and lightning in the midst of the sea on forty pillars of iron. There, he suspended himself in the air and boasted that he was God. Finally, the Holy One blessed be He raised a wind through the locks of Ezekiel’s hair which brought him [i.e., Ezekiel] up to him [Hiram]. After they had argued about his overweaning pride and arrogance, Hiram died an unnatural death. The story is recorded at length by the compiler of the Yalqut. Any rational person will undoubtedly declare and admit that this was all simply an invention intended to reprove all those born of woman who are infected by the impurity of pride. They applied the story to Hiram because it corresponded and conformed to what is related about him in Scripture. The story of Hiram about pride is analogous to that of Titus about rebelliousness and reproachfulness towards God. The point that these and all such stories have in common is that they are recounted as though reflecting reality although in fact they are simply riddles and parables.) Surely it is permissible to modify the truth in this way in the interest of bringing peace between us and our Father in heaven.

Other work by de’ Rossi: Osservazioni di Buonaiuto de’ Rossi ebreo sopra diversi luoghi degli Evangelisti novamente esposti secondo la vera lezione siriaca (1577).