על הזיווג לשם ההשכלה (על לימודי היסוד) כ״טOn Mating with the Preliminary Studies 29
א׳
1[163] For this cause I believe the lesson of the statutes of the law was given in a place whose name is bitterness, for injustice is pleasant and just-dealing is troublesome, and this is the most infallible of laws. For when they had gone out of the passions of Egypt, says the text, “they came to Marah, and they could not drink water from Marah, for it was bitter. Therefore the name of that place was called bitterness, and the people murmured against Moses, saying what shall we drink? And Moses called aloud to the Lord, and the Lord shewed him a tree; and he threw it into the water, and the water was sweetened. There He laid down for him ordinances and judgements” (Ex. 15:23–25).
ב׳
2[164] “And there He tried him” (ibid.), the text continues. Yes, for the trial and proving of the soul, with all its uncertainty, lies in toil and bitterness of heart, and it is uncertain because it is hard to discern which way the balance will incline. Some faint ere the struggle has begun, and lose heart altogether, counting toil a too formidable antagonist, and like weary athletes they drop their hands in weakness and determine to speed back to Egypt to enjoy passion.
ג׳
3[165] But there are others who, facing the terrors and dangers of the wilderness with all patience and stoutness of heart, carry through to its finish the contest of life, keeping it safe from failure and defeat, and take a strong stand against the constraining forces of nature, so that hunger and thirst, cold and heat, and all that usually enslave the rest, are made their subjects by their preponderating fund of strength.
ד׳
4[166] But this result is brought about not by toil unaided, but by toil with sweetening. He says “the water was sweetened,” and another name for the toil that is sweet and pleasant is love of labour. For what is sweet in toil is the yearning, the desire, the fervour, in fact the love of the good.
ה׳
5[167] Let no one, then, turn away from affliction such as this, or think that, when the table of joy and feasting is called the bread of affliction, harm and not benefit is meant. No, the soul that is admonished is fed by the lessons of instruction’s doctrine.