[Poet, philosopher, and physician. He was born in BÉziers about 1270, and died about 1340. As a boy he was very precocious, and composed a prayer of a thousand words, each word beginning with the letter ?. Being an eloquent writer, he earned for himself the title ha-Meliz (the Rhetorician). He was the author of several treatises in prose and poetry, but his fame rests upon the Behinat ‘Olam (Examination of the World).]

The Nothingness of Man and His Pursuits^[205]

The world is a tempestuous sea of immense depth and breadth, and time is a frail bridge constructed over it, the beginning of which is fastened with the cords of chaos that preceded existence, while the end thereof is to behold eternal bliss, and to be enlightened with the light of the King’s countenance. The width of the bridge is a cubit of a man, and it lacks borders. And thou, son of man, against thy will art thou living, and art continually travelling over it, since the day thou hast become a man. When thou considerest that the path is narrow and that there is no way to turn either to the right or to the left, shalt thou glory in position and fame? When thou seest that destruction and death are unto thee a wall on thy right and on thy left, shall thy heart endure, or shall thy hands be strong? Even if thou pridest thyself with the desirable acquisitions and the abundance of possessions which thou hast amassed and discovered with thine arm, hast sought with thy bow, and hast gone down to possess with thy net, what wilt thou do against the tempest of the sea and the roaring thereof, when it rages, overflows, and passes through, so that even thy dwelling-place is about to be broken? Glory thou over this immense sea in whose midst thou art; rule over the horsemen and chariots thereof; go out now, I pray thee, to fight against it. For even while thou reelest to and fro and staggerest with the wine of thy rebellious arrogance which deceived thee, and with the juice of the pomegranates of thy haughtiness which misled thee, thou wilt soon incline slightly toward one side or another, and wilt perish in the terrible depths, and none will seek thy blood from them; thou wilt go from abyss to abyss, perplexed in the depths of the sea, and none shall say: ‘Restore.’

Shall I trust in falsehood, shall I rely upon the staff of the bruised reed, to consider a lodging-place of wayfarers like this as a strong fortress and a king’s sanctuary, the wing of a flea as a point of diamond, a spider’s web as coral and crystal? When thou seest that the days are pleasant, that time frisks and dances, that the moment goes on to give thee repose, and that the hour frolics and rejoices before thee in the world, thou wilt despise the latter days in thy heart. But it is in falsehood that thou trustest: thou seest the shadow of a gourd as though it were a high and lofty mountain. Is it for these things that thou hast cast the soul behind thy back, and hast turned thy way toward the pleasures of the flesh which cause grief? Whenever thou seest that thy soul loves her God, being mindful of her end, and preparing provisions for her journey with the labor of her hands, thou enragest her; whenever she goes up to the house of the Lord, thou provokest her. Shalt thou forsake eternal glory and everlasting delight for the vanities of imaginary pleasures? And it shall come to pass, when thy heart will ask thee to-morrow, when the vicissitudes of time will leap upon thee: ‘Who has begotten me these?’ that thou shalt answer: ‘The stubbornness of thy heart and its evil counsel.’ If a servant spoils the work apportioned to him, will the spirit of the ruler not despise him? If a man walks about with his master without acknowledging him, will he not hate him?

Wilt thou pride thyself, O mighty man, when thou grazest in the green pastures after the youths in the presence of the sun, when thy stones are set in fair colors in midday, with the multitudes of thy companions? They say to themselves: ‘Eat and drink’, but they have no heart. They only possess bodies and imaginary height of stature: vainglorious and corporeal things which have no spirit. Knowest thou not that there is a record of thy deeds, and that above thee there is an eye that sees and an ear that hears thine arrogance and raging? And now on whom trustest thou to break down the fences which the mightiest of the shepherds have founded? Is there no God above thee to know thy going out and thy coming in? Are no graves beneath thee wherein to take vengeance on God’s enemies? How is it then that thou didst not lay it to thy heart that these vicissitudes which befall thee are the messengers of Providence? They turn not aside when they go to reward or to punish the individuals of mankind or the sects thereof. It is out of the mouth of the Most High that the decree comes to lay the noble low and to set the ignoble on high. When the base man goes up on the ladder of success, it has been brought about by the Lord; and when the man of God goes down from his high place, it is the King who has said: ‘Go down.’

How is it that thou didst not open thine eyes upon these things? Have presumptuous thoughts and idle meditations deluded thee, and prevailed over thee? In the day the lustful reins have given thee counsel, and yet in the night seasons they have chastised thee with whips. With the venom of asps, mixed with the poison of serpents, did they make the clods of indolence sweet unto thy palate. With wanton words did they corrupt, make abominable, and mar for thee every good portion; salvation did they spoil with the flattery of words that are softer than oil. What meanest thou, O sleeper? How did they deceive thee by making thee forever the possessor of the riches of such lands, while thou art merely a sojourner for an appointed time in the innermost part of thy house? Cursed be they, for they have driven thee out that thou shouldst not cleave unto the inheritance of the holy ones, from whose rock thou wast hewn, and that thou shouldst not mingle in the assembly of the holy beings that gave thee life (but the lions’ dens became thy dwelling-place). If, because of the hoards of gold and the treasure of provinces which thou didst amass, thou hast added haughtiness to thy pride, and hast humbled the generous spirit before it, see then how thou art beaten with the rod of folly and the plagues of blindness. Hast thou, because of the treasures of darkness which thou didst bind up, despised the soul that is bound in the bundle of life? Hast thou, for the sake of pieces of silver, crushed and suppressed a truthful longing and a glorious desire? Verily the glory of wealth lasts not. In a little while an evil spirit of the Lord shall come forth to scatter thy possessions, and the fifty thousand pieces of gold, for the sake of acquiring which thou has sold thy soul, shall be as though they had not been. Time will turn round in a little moment, and take away grace and glory from thy head. A fire shall come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty.

Why shall I covet the earth which is like Admah and pleasure which is like Zeboim?^[206] Her wrath is stored up in her company; her conspiracy is tightly fastened to her covenant; her sweetness and honeycomb are like chaff before the whirlwind; her end and conclusion are eternal disgrace and everlasting shame. Moreover, how can my flesh be delighted when it is announced to me that I shall live long, since there is no escape from the destruction of death? What avails the age of strength, since at the end thereof come wrath and the grave? What pleasure is there in eighty years, since by their side is the shadow of death? What cheerfulness is there in ninety years, since there is no salvation in their border? Shall ants that languish and perish, and creeping things that melt away like water, exalt themselves to reign? Even if they endure for a day or for two days, will they never be devoured with the sword? How can the fields of Sodom and the sheaves of Gomorrah prosper?