על הנטיעה ו׳Concerning Noah's Work as a Planter 6
א׳
1[23] This is why those who crave for wisdom and knowledge with insatiable persistence are said in the Sacred Oracles to have been called upwards; for it accords with God’s ways that those who have received His down-breathing should be called up to Him.
ב׳
2[24] For when trees are whirled up, roots and all, into the air by hurricanes and tornadoes, and heavily laden ships of large tonnage are snatched up out of mid-ocean, as though objects of very little weight, and lakes and rivers are borne aloft, and earth’s hollows are left empty by the water as it is drawn up by a tangle of violently eddying winds, it is strange if a light substance like the mind is not rendered buoyant and raised to the utmost height by the native force of the Divine spirit, overcoming as it does in its boundless might all powers that are here below. Above all is it strange if this is not so with the mind of the genuine philosopher.
ג׳
3[25] Such an one suffers from no weight of downward pressure towards the objects dear to the body and to earth. From these he has ever made an earnest effort to sever and estrange himself. So he is borne upward insatiably enamoured of all holy happy natures that dwell on high.
ד׳
4[26] Accordingly Moses, the keeper and guardian of the mysteries of the Existent One, will be one called above; for it is said in the Book of Leviticus, “He called Moses up above” (Lev. 1:1). One called up above will Bezeleel also be, held worthy of a place in the second rank. For him also does God call up above for the construction and overseeing of the sacred works (Exod. 31:2 ff.).
ה׳
5[27] But while Bezeleel shall carry off the lower honours conferred by the call above, Moses the all-wise shall bear away the primary honours. For the former fashions the shadows, just as painters do, to whom Heaven has not granted power to create aught that has life. “Bezeleel,” we must remember, means “making in shadows.” Moses on the other hand obtained the office of producing not shadows but the actual archetype of the several objects. Nor need we wonder at such distinctions. It is the wont of the Supreme Cause to exhibit the objects proper to each, to some in a clearer, more radiant vision, as though in unclouded sunshine, to others more dimly, as though in the shade.
