אליגוריות החוקים, ספר ב ז׳Allegorical Interpretation of Genesis, Book II 7
א׳
1[19] “And God brought a trance upon Adam, and he fell asleep; and He took one of his sides” and what follows (Gen. 2:21). These words in their literal sense are of the nature of a myth. For how could anyone admit that a woman, or a human being at all, came into existence out of a man’s side? And what was there to hinder the First Cause from creating woman, as He created man, out of the earth? For not only was the Maker the same Being, but the material too, out of which every particular kind was fashioned, was practically unlimited. And why, when there were so many parts to choose from, did He form the woman not from some other part but from the side? And which side did he take? For we may assume that only two are indicated, as there is in fact nothing to suggest a large number of them. Did he take the left or the right side?
ב׳
2[20] If He filled up with flesh (the place of) the one which He took, are we to suppose that the one which He left was not made of flesh? Truly our sides are twin in all their parts and are made of flesh. What then are we to say?
ג׳
3[21] “Sides” is a term of ordinary life for “strength.” To say that a man has “sides” is equivalent to saying that he is strong, we say of a powerful athlete “he has stout sides,” and to say that a singer has “sides” is as much as to say that he has great lung power in singing.
ד׳
4[22] Having said this, we must go on to remark that the mind when as yet unclothed and unconfined by the body (and it is of the mind when not so confined that he is speaking) has many powers. It has the power of holding together, of growing, of conscious life, of thought, and countless other powers, varying both in species and genus. Lifeless things, like stones and blocks of wood, share with all others the power of holding together, of which the bones in us, which are not unlike stones, partake. “Growth” extends to plants, and there are parts in us, such as our nails and hair, resembling plants; “growth” is coherence capable of moving itself.
ה׳
5[23] Conscious life is the power to grow, with the additional power of receiving impressions and being the subject of impulses. This is shared also by creatures without reason. Indeed our mind contains a part that is analogous to the conscious life of a creature without reason. Once more, the power of thinking is peculiar to the mind, and while shared, it may well be, by beings more akin to God, is, so far as mortal beings are concerned, peculiar to man. This power or faculty is twofold. We are rational beings, on the one hand as being partakers of mind, and on the other as being capable of discourse.
ו׳
6[24] Well, there is also another power or faculty in the soul, closely akin to these, namely that of receiving sense-impressions, and it is of this that the prophet is speaking. For his immediate concern is just this, to indicate the origin of active sense-perception. And logical sequence leads him to do so.