על הנטיעה י״זConcerning Noah's Work as a Planter 17
א׳
1[69] Some, paying regard to outward want and outward superfluity, and reckoning no one rich if found among those without money or possessions, have looked on the assertion that all things belong to the wise man as a paradox. But Moses considers wisdom an object of such admiration and emulation, that he thinks its worthy portion to be not merely the whole world, but the very Lord of all.
ב׳
2[70] These are not, we must remember, opinions held by men who halt between two opinions, but by men possessed by stedfast faith; for even now there are in the ranks of those who wear a semblance of piety, men who in a petty spirit find fault with the literal sense of the word, urging that it is irreligious and dangerous to speak of God as the portion of man.
ג׳
3[71] What I would say to them is this: “The frame of mind in which you approached the consideration of the subject was not a genuine one, but spurious and illegitimate. You imagined that there is no difference between the way in which God is said to be the portion of the wise, and the way in which plantations of vines or olive trees or the like are said to be the possessions of their owners. You failed to notice that portrait-painting is spoken of as a lot or portion for portrait-painters, and generally any such pursuit for him who pursues it, not as an earthly possession to be owned, but as a heavenly prize to be striven for.
ד׳
4[72] For things such as these bring benefit to those who have them, without being under them as masters. Pray, then, you petty fault-finders, when you hear the Existent One spoken of as Portion, do not take it to mean a possession similar to those which have been mentioned, but to mean One bringing vast benefits and the Cause of exceeding great good to those who regard His service as their fit employment.”