Be’er ha-golah (The Well of the Exile)

The Sixth Well

The sixth well contains mighty waters, ascending ever higher and prevailing, covering hills and mountain peaks, and turning into a stream breaking forth and flowing on all sides—a mighty fleet of ships and merchants. Strangers cannot traverse the breadth of its boundaries or attain its depths!

The sixth complaint: when they say that human wisdom has been concealed from the sages—namely, those branches of wisdom consonant with man’s intellect—and it is not that it has been concealed from them, but merely that they spoke of them in truly alien terms. Now if that were the case, it would indicate the lack of knowledge and remoteness from the truth. But this is the very opposite of what the sages enjoined; for we have in the chapter of the barrel [b. Shabbat 145b]: Say of wisdom: “You are my sister!” (Proverbs 7:4): “If [the word] is as clear to you as your sister being [sexually] prohibited to you, then utter it, but if not, do not utter it!” Thus they enjoined that a wise man should not utter unclear words, and a fortiori words of a bizarre and far-fetched nature that appear alien, even superficially. Now regarding the interpretation of: Say of wisdom: “You are my sister”: the [Hebrew] word aḥot (sister) is associated with aḥave (joined together), and the verse is saying that the element of wisdom should be totally attached to the individual uttering it, that is, clear and definite, and then the matter will exist within his mind with absolute attachment; but with matters that are in doubt and, a fortiori, that are far-fetched, there can be no such attachment.

Hence this is the meaning of: Say of wisdom: “You are my sister!”—for one has no closer bond of attachment than one’s sister, and thus the prohibition on intimate relations with her is obvious, for consanguineous relationships are those closest to an individual and accordingly prohibited. Thus scripture is saying: if the matter is as close in familiarity to you as your sister, who constitutes an exceptionally close relationship—for a person’s sister is to him as one flesh; but fathers vis-à-vis a son or daughter are distinct and dissimilar entities, insofar as one is the parent and the other the offspring. But a brother and sister are equal—hence the words aḥ (brother) and aḥot derive from the word aḥave (attachment). Accordingly, if the matter is as plain to you as the fact that your sister is prohibited to you, utter the wise words, but if not, refrain! Thus the sages enjoined us not to utter words that are unclear, and a fortiori words that are alien and remote from human understanding. And the branches of wisdom to which they alluded as containing alien elements are natural and theoretical science. Now it has already been explained to you that the exclusive reason impelling the sages to think this way about the savants was what they found in their statements, in that they postulated natural causes for natural phenomena occurring on earth, and it seemed to them far-fetched that these should be natural causes; and on this account they said of them that they were indeed far-removed from comprehending these branches of wisdom.

But the reality is entirely different, as the sages did not intend to discuss the natural cause, as this was trivial and insignificant, and relevant to natural scientists or doctors, not to sages, but rather they spoke of the cause that necessitates nature; and one denying this denies faith and the Torah, as has been explained earlier concerning what the Torah states about the sign of the rainbow: And I shall see it, to recall the eternal covenant (Genesis 9:16), whereas natural scientists attributed a natural cause to the rainbow, as is well known from their statements.

However, this is the point: the cause given by the Torah is the ultimate cause, for everything has a natural cause necessitating it, but for that natural cause there is a divine cause, which is the cause of causes, and it was about this that the sages spoke. For there is a cause for a human being’s physical shape and the number of his ligaments—as these undoubtedly have a natural cause—but nonetheless that cause itself has a divine cause, concerning which scripture declares: And God created man in His image; in the image of God did He create him (Genesis 1:27).

And accordingly, for those who think that the sages wished to negate the natural cause and, consequently, do not accept the cause that they have invoked, such a view is false. Indeed, even as regards the ultimate cause invoked by the sages, the savants made no attempt to understand their words, as they were so remote from their purview. Hence they took their statements at face value, without endeavoring to comprehend the truth of what they were saying—as the sages’ statements are cryptic and concealed—and accordingly they spoke arrogantly against them. And likewise, regarding the causes they postulated in theoretical science, the sages alluded not to the immediate but to the ultimate cause. [ . . . ]

In chapter four of tractate b. Sukkah 29a [we read]:

Now these reasons given for the eclipsing of the luminaries are regarded as contradictory to plain experience, as it is known that the eclipsing of the luminaries is dependent on their orbital paths, on their conjunctions and oppositions, and on their apogees and perigees in latitude and longitude. If so, how can one say that the eclipsing of the luminaries depends on factors such as these, for human beings know the times of the eclipses, which occur in accordance with mathematical computation—so how can the sages connect the eclipses to people’s deeds?

But this too is erroneous, as it is not the sages’ style to eliminate the immediate cause, for the eclipsing of the luminaries is definitely dependent upon their orbital paths, but the ultimate cause is propounded by the sages, for if there were no sin in the world, this eclipsing would not occur, since the eclipsing of the luminaries undoubtedly constitutes a vast diminution and deficiency in the world, and if there were no sin in the world, the natural order of creation would not permit eclipses of the luminaries, which constitute diminution and deficiency, as all concur.

And as one finds in relation to the creation, that had Adam not sinned, man’s abode would have been in the Garden of Eden and his nourishment the fruits of the garden. But because he sinned, the Almighty arranged his affairs in the manner recounted by the Torah: And thorns and thistles shall [the earth] bring forth to you! Thus the Almighty arranged man’s affairs in accordance with his spiritual level and virtue, and because these sins indeed concern the world. And accordingly, the Almighty did not invest the luminaries with light at the very beginning of the creation of the world, so that they could not become eclipsed, for in the absence of sin, such a dispensation would not have occurred. Thus ultimately, the eclipsing of the luminaries is due to these sins.