על הנטיעה ל״גConcerning Noah's Work as a Planter 33
א׳
1[134] A very clear illustration of what has been said is found in the sons of Leah, who is Virtue; not indeed in all of them, but in the fourth and fifth. For, after recording the birth of the fourth, Moses says that “she ceased from bearing” (Gen. 30:35), and his name is “Judah,” which signifies “confession of praise to the Lord.” The fifth she calls “Issachar,” a name which interpreted means “reward.” And the soul, upon giving birth to this character, at once gave utterance to her experience; for it says, “She called his name Issachar, which is ‘reward’ ” (Gen. 30:18).
ב׳
2[135] It follows that Judah, the mind that blesses God, and is ceaselessly engaged in conning hymns of thanksgiving to Him, was himself the fruit that is really “holy and for praise to God,” fruit borne not by earth’s trees but by those of a rational and virtuous nature. Accordingly the nature which gave birth to him is said to have “ceased from bearing,” because she had no longer any way to turn, having reached the utmost bound of perfectness; for of all successful accomplishments ever brought to the birth the best and most perfect is the hymn of praise to the Father of the universe.
ג׳
3[136] The fifth son is identical with the using in the fifth year of the trees that had been planted; for, on the one hand, the husbandman does receive a sort of pay or reward from the trees in the fifth year, and, on the other, the offspring of the soul was called Issachar, “pay” or “reward.” He was very naturally so called, having been born next after Judah the thanksgiver; for the thanksgiver finds in thanksgiving itself an all-sufficient reward.
ד׳
4[137] Now, whereas fruits borne by trees are called products of the persons who own them, the fruit of instruction and good sense is not like these spoken of as being a man’s, but as belonging, as Moses says, to no other than the Ruler of all. For after the words, “His products,” he adds, “I am the Lord your God,” affording most clear proof that He to whom the product and the fruit of the soul pertains is One, even God.
ה׳
5[138] In harmony with this is the oracle given in one of the prophets: “From Me is thy fruit found. Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? understanding, and he shall know them?” (Hosea 14:9 f.). For not everybody, but only the wise man knows, Whose is the fruit of intelligence.