[Deep thinker and lyric poet. One of the most original and noblest minds of medieval Jewry. He was born at Malaga about 1021, and died at Valencia about 1058. In his philosophic works and in his poems which are still extant one discerns a spirit that strives to soar high and to attain to the loftiest state of mental development. In his soul mystic and rational elements are wonderfully blended. He had great influence upon subsequent writers.]
1. On Leaving Saragossa[91]
My throat became dried from crying, my tongue cleaved unto my palate; my heart flutters because of my great anguish and pain. Great is my sorrow, that it no longer allows mine eyes to slumber.
To whom shall I speak and complain? to whom shall I declare my grief? Would there were one to comfort and to pity me, who would hold my right hand! I would pour out my heart to him, and would relate some of my woes. Perchance by uttering my grief the tempest of my heart may subside a little.
O thou who inquirest about my peace, draw nigh, and hearken! My roaming is as the sea’s. If thy heart were as adamant, it would melt from my affliction. How canst thou think I am alive, while thou knowest my languishment? Alas! I dwell in the midst of a people that thinks my right hand is my left. I am interred, but not in a desert—my coffin is within my house. I am motherless and fatherless, distressed and lonely, young and poor. Alone, without a brother, I have no other friend but my thoughts. I mix my flowing tears with blood, and then my wine is mixed with tears. I thirst for a friend, but I shall be consumed ere my thirst is slaked. The heavens and their host prevent me from attaining my desire. I am counted like a stranger or sojourner, my dwelling is amongst ostriches; among the crooked and the fools, who think that they are very wise: the one gives to drink the venom of asps, the other, flattering, smooths the head; but he lays an ambush in his heart, though he says to thee: ‘I pray thee, my lord.’ They are a people whose fathers I would disdain to set with the dogs of my flock. Their faces never blush with shame, unless they are dyed with scarlet. Like giants are they in their sight, in my sight they are like locusts. When I take up my parable, they chide me, as they would chide a Greek: ‘Speak a tongue that we understand, for this speech is of an Ashkelonite.’
I shall now crush them as mire, for my tongue is like a sharp spear. If their ear is deaf to me, of what avail can be my bell? Unworthy are their necks to be adorned with the gold of my crescents.
Oh that the fools would open their mouth to receive the spring-rain of my clouds! My perfume would I drop on them, my saffron and my cinnamon. Woe unto knowledge, woe to me! In the midst of such a people do I dwell! They count the knowledge of God as witchcraft and as sorcery.
I therefore lament and wail, I lie all night in sackcloth. I am bowed down as a bulrush, and fast on the second and fifth days of every week. What shall I hope for, while I live? in what then shall I put my faith? Mine eye roams about in this world, but it beholds not what I desire. Oh death is precious in my sight, because I disdain this earth. If my heart turns to her ways, may my tongue cleave to my palate! My soul rejects her glory, for her honor is disgrace in mine eyes. I never shall rejoice in her, my pride shall not exult in her, even if the constellations would call to me: ‘Turn in, and sit with us, O lord.’ For this earth has become to me as a yoke upon my neck. What else is left me in this world, except to endure my blindness?
My soul complains aloud, for it found not as yet my abode. I am weary of my life, and loathe that my flesh should lord over me. For its rejoicing is my grief; and when it sorrows, I rejoice. I seek to know, and I shall find true knowledge when my flesh and vigor are gone. For after grief comes relief, after leanness comes my nourishment.
All my life I shall search and seek the commands of Solomon my ancestor. Perchance He who lays bare deep things will reveal wisdom to mine eye; for this alone is my portion from all my labor and wealth.
2. A Vow to Seek Wisdom[92]
A soul whose raging tempests wildly rise, whither shall she send her meditations? She rages, and is like a flame of fire, whose smoke constantly ascends. This time her meditations are like a wheel that turns around on the earth and the multitudes thereof, or like the seas wherein the earth’s foundations were fastened: ‘How canst thou be so strong and filled with courage, that thou disdainest a place upon the stars? From the path of wisdom turn thou away thy heart; the world shall then smooth thy path for thee.’
Oh comfort ye my soul for that, my friends, and likewise for her sorrows comfort her; she thirsts for a man of prudence, but finds not a man to slake her thirst. Seek ye amongst the men of fame, perchance there may be one to grant her desires. If this world sins against me, my heart will regard it disdainfully. If it cannot see my light with its eye, let the world then be contented with its blindness. But afterwards, if it appeases me, I shall turn round, and forgive its sins. The earthly sphere would then be good; the hand of Time would place no yoke upon the wise.
Oh too much wrong didst thou commit; long have the gourds been as cedars of the earth. Despise the vile ones of the people, for stones are less burdensome to me than they. Cut off the tail of them that say to me: ‘Where is then wisdom and her votaries?’ Oh that the world would judge them aright! oh that it would give food unto her sons! They would then rest, not toil, and would attain their goal, without knowing worldly joys. Some took the sun’s daughters, and begot folly, but they were not its sons-in-law.[93]
Why do ye chide me for my understanding, O ye thorns and briers of the earth? If wisdom is of light esteem to you, vile and despised are ye in her sight. Though she is closed, and reaches not your heart, lo, I shall open her chests. How shall I now abandon wisdom, since God’s spirit made a covenant between us? or how shall she forsake me, since she is like a mother to me and I am the child of her old age? or like an ornament which adorns the soul, or like a necklace on her neck. How can ye say to me: ‘Take off thy ornaments, and remove the precious chain from her neck’? In her my heart rejoices, and is glad, because her rivers of delights are pure. Throughout my life I shall make my soul ascend until her abode is beyond the clouds. For she adjured me not to rest, until I find the knowledge of her Master.
3. The Royal Crown[94]
This my prayer may avail a man to learn righteousness and purity; therein I declared wonders of the living God, briefly, not at length. I placed this hymn above all my hymns; wherefore I named it ‘Royal Crown.’
Wonderful are Thy works, and that my soul knows right well! Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the eminence, and the majesty. Thine, O Lord, is the kingdom, and Thou art the One exalted as head above all; and Thine are riches and glory. Unto Thee do the creatures from above and beneath testify that they shall perish, but Thou shalt endure. Thine is that power whose mystery our minds fail to fathom, for Thou art too mighty for us. Thine is the hiding-place of might, the mystery and the foundation. Thine is the name which is concealed from the men of wisdom, and the power which sustains the universe on nothing, and the ability to bring every hidden thing to light. Thine is the lovingkindness which is great toward Thy creatures, and the bliss which is stored up for them that fear Thee. Thine are the mysteries which no intellect nor mind can contain, and the life over which decay has no dominion, and the throne which is exalted above all the highest, and the habitation which is concealed in the height of the hiding-place. Thine is the existence from the shadow of whose light every being was created, of which we say: ‘Under its shadow we live.’ Thine are the two worlds between which Thou didst set a boundary: the first for deeds and the second for recompense. Thine is the recompense which Thou didst store up and hide for the righteous, for when Thou didst see that it was good, Thou didst conceal it.
Thou art one, the first of every number, and the foundation of every structure. Thou art one, and at the mystery of Thy oneness the wise are perplexed, for they know not what it is. Thou art one, and Thy oneness can neither increase nor decrease; it can neither be diminished, nor can aught be added to it. Thou art one, but not such a one as can be possessed or numbered; for neither increase nor change, neither qualification nor attribute can be conceived of Thee. Thou art one, but my imagination fails to set a limit and a bound about Thee; I have therefore said: ‘I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue.’ Thou art one, too high and too exalted to be brought low and to fall, for how can the One fall?
Thou art existent, but the hearing of the ear and the sight of the eye cannot perceive Thee; nor can the How? the Wherefore? or the Whence? be applied to Thee. Thou art existent, but by Thyself, and there is none other with Thee. Thou art existent, and hadst been before time was, and didst abide without space. Thou art existent, but Thy mystery is hidden, who can reach it? exceeding deep, who can find it out?
Thou art living, but not from any fixed time, nor from any known period. Thou art living, but not through a soul and breath, for Thou art the soul of the soul. Thou art living, but not as the life of man who is like to vanity, and whose end is moth and vermin. Thou art living, and he who reaches Thy mystery shall find everlasting delight: he shall eat, and live for ever.
Thou art great, and compared with Thy greatness all greatness is humbled, and every excellence is faulty. Thou art too great for any thought, and too sublime for any composition. Thou art greater than all greatness, and exalted above all blessing and praise.
Thou art mighty, and among Thy creatures and beings there is none that can do according to Thy works and according to Thy mighty acts. Thou art mighty, and Thine is the absolute power which changes not and alters not. Thou art mighty, and because of the abundance of Thy might Thou dost pardon even in the time of Thy indignant wrath, and dost defer Thine angel to sinners. Thou art mighty, yet Thy tender mercies are over all Thy creatures: these are Thy mighty deeds that were of old.
Thou art light, and the eyes of every pure soul shall behold Thee; but the clouds of iniquity shall hide Thee from its eyes. Thou art the light which is hidden in this world, but shall be revealed in the high and beautiful world; on the mount of the Lord shall it be seen.
Thou art most high, and the eye of the intellect yearns and longs for Thee; but it can only see the utmost thereof, and cannot see the whole.
Thou art the God of gods, and all Thy creatures are Thy witnesses, and for the glory of this name every creature is obliged to worship Thee. Thou art God, and all the beings are Thy servants and Thy worshippers; yet Thy glory is not diminished because of them that worship aught beside Thee; for the intention of them all is to attain unto Thee, but they are as the blind: they set their faces toward the way of the King; but they wander out of the way: one sinks into the pit of destruction, and another falls into the abyss; they all think that they have reached their goal, but they labored in vain. But Thy servants are as the clear-sighted who walk in the straight path: they turn not from the way to the right hand or to the left until they come to the court of the King’s house. Thou art God, supporting the beings with Thy divinity, and sustaining the creatures with Thy unity. Thou art God, and there is no distinction between Thy divinity, and Thy unity, and Thy eternity, and Thy existence; for it is all one mystery: although the names of each one are different, they all go unto one place.
Thou art wise, and wisdom, which is the fountain of life, emanates from Thee; compared with Thy wisdom, every man is brutish and without knowledge. Thou art wise, prior to all first beings, and even wisdom was Thy nursling. Thou art wise, but Thou didst not learn from another, nor didst Thou acquire wisdom from any one beside Thee. Thou art wise, and from Thy wisdom didst Thou set apart the predestined will, as a workman and an artist, to draw forth the emanation of existence from non-existence (as the light, issuing from the eye, emanates and draws from the fountain of light without a bucket), and it made all things without instruments. It hewed and engraved, cleansed and purified; it called unto non-existence, and it was cleft in twain; unto existence, and it was established; unto the universe, and it was stretched out. It meted out heaven with the span; its hand joined the pavilion of the spheres, and fastened the curtains over the creatures with the loops of potentiality. Its power reaches as far as the edge of the curtain, the outermost creation, which is the extreme end of the coupling.
