Meir ben Ezekiel ibn Gabbai

“ For the intellect that resides in a limited material does not believe that it can have existence in itself unless existence is influenced upon it by Him. And He does not regard all the heavens as pure, for he does not merit their eyes to shine with His light constantly without ceasing, even though a man becomes loathsome and wasted, like water that flows away, it is not enough that he himself cannot acquire the proper perfection for himself, but he is inclined towards evil and injustice. ”

“ And the Scripture resembles Hashem to a king, the angels to ministers, and human beings to servants. It is written, 'The prince of Greece and the prince of Persia withheld me, and Michael the great prince came to assist him.' And why was he called a prince over Israel, while Israel is more honorable than him? And how can Hashem command the honorable ones in His eyes to guard against those beneath them? For the Scripture states, 'Guard yourselves against them.' And why shame the despised ones? And we know that no one is more honorable than the prophets. ”

“ Here is a wonderful reason known to those who merit to understand the purpose of existence as a whole. And one should also know that the perfection of the upper realms is the final world, and in it, unity is completed, and in it, the exaltation of the world stands. And its perfection is such that there is no perfection and no unity but in it. Similarly, the perfection of that world is only in this physical world, because that world needs work to unify it with the higher world, and without work, it is impossible. And work without a place is not valued and does not exist. ”

“ And behold, that righteousness shines in its wondrous wisdom that has no end, and that will which emanates from His grace to perfect His creatures is set by what is in His mind and the concealed will, if so, how is it possible to reach His ultimate righteousness until He is justified in His righteousness, even more so that He is justified by Him? ”

“ To rest the matter, one could question anyone who believes that everything exists solely for this ultimate purpose - that is, the existence of humans. They may ask, "If the Creator can create humans without the rest of existence, or if it is only possible to create humans because of other matters, what is the benefit of all these other things, if they are not the ultimate purpose?" And even if everything exists to serve the ultimate purpose of humans serving God, the question still remains: What is the purpose of serving Him, if He will not add or subtract anything in return? ”

“ When Israel does the will of their heavenly Father, they reign as kings on earth, and that power is before them as a servant, and then all the nations surrender to them, for that was the intention in creation. And behold, they rule above and below. But when they do not do the will of their Father, they fall and become enslaved before that power, and the nations that come from that power dominate them and take the abundance that should have come to them. ”

“ She is the handmaid who inherits her mistress's greatness, the wisdom of Solomon. She is the kernel of wisdom, her glory the daughter of the king within, and true wisdom flows and emanates from her to those who sit before the Almighty. ”

“ I argue that an individual born of woman who believes he has attained great wisdom is considered small in the eyes of the Lord, devoid of any true understanding, knowledge, or wisdom. Who can restrain himself from responding to his words? Especially those who fear the Lord and contemplate His name, who bear the burden of refuting such foreign opinions, so as not to appear wise in his eyes. This famous scholar, though he did not involve himself with the making of idols, cursed those in power by criticizing the authority's enforcement of the just and upright laws of the Torah. ”

“ And you, my lord the king, are equal to the angel and even greater than him because you encompass two ways to discern good and evil, and you have the possibility of change. Despite that, you are eternal and unchanging.' This is an amazing level that greatly resembles the relationship of the formed to its creator, and it is fitting that they participate and be united. ”

“ Thus, intellect and religion shall grow stronger, and so on and so forth. To this the wise one said, "Intellect and religion are two luminaries." This shall be justified in the established and organized religions according to human intellect. And with this, intellect shall grow stronger alongside that religion, and they shall unite. Go and see who has attained spiritual greatness by not beholding the structured Torah lights derived from divine intellect. But they shall not be justified in the true religion, inscribed and investigated from supreme wisdom, which surpasses all human intellect. ”

“ They are well aware that they have not attained the lowest level of understanding even in comparison to the stars and celestial spheres, let alone surpass them. And once they believe that their understanding, achieved through intellectual inquiry, represents the pinnacle of human perfection, they consider the astral bodies to have attained an understanding far greater than their own. ”

“ How fortunate are the people of Israel, for they are more beloved before the Holy One, blessed be He, than the ministering angels. For when the ministering angels wanted to sing before Him, they would first come around the throne of glory carrying mountains of fire and fiery hills. ”

“ Why do the angels not sing before Israel? Because they have no permission until Israel opens the way by singing first. When Israel sings, the angels join in, as it says in the verse, "Lift up your heads, O gates, and raise them, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in." "Gates" refer to Israel, and "ancient doors" refer to the angels. When the lower beings sing, the upper beings follow their lead.
Thus, it becomes evident that even in the realm of holiness, Israel has a prominent role to play, as does the principle of unity. ”

“ The truth is, it is impossible for a person to exist without Heaven, for he is like rain and needs a place to go, and the place needs his service. It is impossible to exist without serving, for this world is a world of action and one must necessarily complete and rectify whoever needs rectification, just like the world itself. If there was a high need in the creation of man and his service, and perfection was necessary for his completion, the Rabbi should acknowledge that the question of seeking a purpose is necessary. ”

“ And this is why the righteous were chosen as the reason for creation, as hinted in the Midrash which says, "The creators and planters in the garden, who work with the King in His service, will sit there." This refers to the fact that the garden refers to the universe and its secrets, and the tree of life represents the sun, which gives light and sustenance to all of creation, and the moon represents the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which arouses the good and bad aspects of the world every month. ”

“ All that the philosophers deduced regarding the inferiority and insignificance of humans, lowering their status compared to the celestial bodies, is even more applicable to the angels. Indeed, they are justified in their conclusions, and their judgments are true, for they have not enlightened their eyes with the light of the Torah, which elevates and exalts them above all the upper and lower creatures. This is because their entire welfare, desires, and perfection, as they perceive it through their diligent inquiry and intellectual acumen, are limited to their intellectual pursuit. ”

“ And behold, according to the degree of the soul and its closeness to God, so is the degree of the righteous person that will take hold of him and his proximity to God. And behold, it is higher than that of the ministering angels, as we have written above in Chapter 5. And we have no business with those muddled in their hearts, from whom shapes flow according to their false understanding, saying that the acting intellect is the one that gives them knowledge and understanding, and they walk in darkness. ”

“ For one may not measure by intellectual reasoning, any thing that comes closed in that book or any other book he mentions, for philosophy has no part or memory in them, for behold he admits they are not encompassed by the intellect of any philosopher or wisdom/science of those books. ”

“ The world of intellect attains it and its perfection is always not subject to change, except that from what has been granted to it from its Creator, it is always contemplating and giving birth to great wisdom. ”

“ And one who lives by these words we have spoken shall truly be likened to the world of intellect. And from this perspective, perfection shall be called the owner of divine intellect, for the Torah and wisdom are engraved within divine intellect, and they are one in essence, requiring each other. And the believer must embrace both for their completeness. However, the beginnings upon which the philosophers build and propagate are not true, for they do not come from divine intellect. ”

“ And philosophy opposes that despised wisdom, the external wisdom which is outside the upper boundary, which destroys the roots of the holy Torah and tears them down below, just like her. Her power is upward, accusing and seeking to destroy and uproot everything, as is known to the wise of heart. And behold, all this is in contrast to one another, and our wise people greatly desired her in their eyes, for she enticed them, for her example would entice and ensnare. ”

“ Indeed, there is no connection or likeness between them in terms of form and intellect, and the difference between them is great, even from the perspective of living beings. The angelic watch over the righteous is not like the human watch over the sheep, for the patriarchs chose the task of shepherding to distance themselves from society and focus on the wisdom they were given in a place where no one hindered or disturbed them. ”

“ If the purpose would not have been fulfilled, it would either be His will or His wisdom decreed it, and He must acknowledge that the purpose of existence is the true human being - both the upper and lower - and each was created for a higher purpose. ”