William Kolbrener @omtorah
Reclaiming Jewish Poetry: The Poetry of Dispute
One who proclaims, ‘I honor nothing but Aggada,’ is like the man who plucks the
blossom, but is heedless of the fruit. – H.N. Bialik
‘Philosophy should be written only as a form of poetry.’ – Ludwig Wittgenstein
I. Metaphysical Poetry
John Donne, ‘A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning’
As virtuous men pass mildly away,
And whisper to their souls to go,
Whilst some of their sad friends do say
The breath goes now, and some say, No:
So let us melt, and make no noise,
No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move;
'Twere profanation of our joys
To tell the laity our love.
Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears,
Men reckon what it did, and meant;
But trepidation of the spheres,
Though greater far, is innocent.
Dull sublunary lovers' love
(Whose soul is sense) cannot admit
Absence, because it doth remove
Those things which elemented it.
But we by a love so much refined,
That our selves know not what it is,
Inter-assured of the mind,
Care less, eyes, lips, and hands to miss.
Our two souls therefore, which are one,
Though I must go, endure not yet
A breach, but an expansion,
Like gold to airy thinness beat.
If they be two, they are two so
As stiff twin compasses are two;
Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if the other do.
And though it in the center sit,
Yet when the other far doth roam,
It leans and hearkens after it,
And grows erect, as that comes home.
Such wilt thou be to me, who must,
Like th' other foot, obliquely run;
Thy firmness makes my circle just,
And makes me end where I begun.
Wit...may be more rigorously and philosophically considered a kind of discordia concors; a
combination of dissimilar images, or discovery of occult resemblances in things apparently
unlike. Of wit, thus defined, they have more than enough. The most heterogenous ideas are
yoked by violence together; nature and art are ransacked for illustrations, comparisons, and
allusions... - Dr. Johnson, ‘Life of Cowley’
II. Poetics of Dispute
Hagiga 3b: [Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah] recited this proem: ‘The words of the wise are like
goads; like nails well-planted are the words of masters of assemblies; they were given by one
shepherd’ (Eccles. 12:11). Why are the words of the Torah likened to a goad? To teach you that
just as the goad directs the heifer along its furrow to bring forth life to the world, so the words of
the Torah direct those who study them from the paths of death to the paths of life. But [you might
think that] just as the goad can move [and be removed,] so the words of the Torah move [and can
be removed] - therefore the text says ‘nails’ [which once nailed down cannot be removed]. But
[you might think that] just as the nail only diminishes [as it is pounded into wood] and does not
increase, so, too, the words of the Torah only diminish and do not increase-therefore the text says:
‘well-planted.’ Just as a plant grows and increases, so the words of Torah grow and increase.
[What does the phrase] ‘the masters of assemblies’ [mean?] These are the disciples of the wise
who sit in assemblies and study the Torah, some pronouncing unclean and others pronouncing
clean, some prohibiting and others permitting, some declaring unfit and others declaring fit.
Should a man say: ‘Since some pronounce unclean and others pronounce clean, some prohibit
and others permit, some declare unfit and others declare fit-how then shall l learn Torah?’
Therefore Scripture says: ‘All of them “were given from one shepherd.” One God gave them,
one leader (i.e., Moses) proclaimed them from the mouth of the Lord of all creation, blessed be
He, as it is written, ‘And God spoke all these words.’ (Exod. 20: 1). Therefore. make your ear like
a mill-hopper and acquire a perceptive heart to understand the words of those who pronounce
unclean and the words of those who pronounce clean, the words of those who prohibit and the
words of those who permit, the words of those who declare unfit and the words of those who
declare fit.
‫ב‬/‫מסכת חגיגה דף ג‬
‫פתח ודרש דברי חכמים כדרבונות וכמסמרות נטועים בעלי אסופות נתנו מרועה אחד למה נמשלו דברי תורה‬
‫לדרבן לומר לך מה דרבן זה מכוין את הפרה לתלמיה להוציא חיים לעולם אף דברי תורה מכוונין את לומדיהן‬
‫מדרכי מיתה לדרכי חיים אי מה דרבן זה מטלטל אף דברי תורה מטלטלין תלמוד לומר מסמרות אי מה מסמר‬
‫זה חסר ולא יתר אף דברי תורה חסירין ולא יתירין תלמוד לומר נטועים מה נטיעה זו פרה ורבה אף דברי‬
‫תורה פרין ורבין בעלי אסופות אלו תלמידי חכמים שיושבין אסופות אסופות ועוסקין בתורה הללו מטמאין‬
‫והללו מטהרין הללו אוסרין והללו מתירין הללו פוסלין והללו מכשירין שמא יאמר אדם היאך אני למד תורה‬
‫מעתה תלמוד לומר כולם נתנו מרועה אחד אל אחד נתנן פרנס אחד אמרן מפי אדון כל המעשים ברוך הוא‬
‫דכתיב וידבר אלהים את כל הדברים האלה אף אתה עשה אזניך כאפרכסת וקנה לך לב מבין לשמוע את דברי‬
‫מטמאים ואת דברי מטהרים את דברי אוסרין ואת דברי מתירין את דברי פוסלין ואת דברי מכשירין‬