על שינוי השמות ט״זOn the Change of Names 16
א׳
1[97] Again, when the sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, were likened to the two elder sons of Jacob, Reuben and Simeon, have we not something perfectly true to nature? Jacob says, “Thy two sons who were born in Egypt before I came to Egypt are mine. Ephraim and Manasseh shall be as Reuben and Simeon to me” (Gen. 48:5). Let us observe how the two pairs tally with each other.
ב׳
2[98] Reuben, whose name is by interpretation “Seeing son,” is the symbol of natural excellence, because the man who enjoys facility of apprehension and natural excellence is endowed with sight. Ephraim, as we have often said elsewhere, is the symbol of memory. For he is by interpretation “Fruit-bearing,” and memory is the best fruit of the soul. And no two things can be so close akin as memory and natural excellence.
ג׳
3[99] Again, Simeon is another name for learning and teaching, since Simeon is by interpretation “hearing,” and it is the peculiar mark of the learner that he hears and attends to what is said, while Manasseh is the symbol of recollection, for his name is “From forgetfulness.”
ד׳
4[100] The advance from forgetfulness necessarily involves recollection, and recollection is akin to learning. For what he has acquired often floats away from the learner’s mind, because in his weakness he is unable to retain it, and then emerges and starts again. When it flows away we say he is in a state of forgetfulness, and when it returns we call it a state of recollection.
ה׳
5[101] Surely then memory closely corresponds to natural excellence and recollection to learning. And the same relation which Simeon or learning bears to Reuben or nature is borne by Manasseh or recollection to Ephraim or memory.
ו׳
6[102] For just as natural excellence which resembles sight is better than learning which resembles hearing, the inferior of sight, so memory is in every way the superior of recollection, since while that is mixed with forgetfulness memory remains from first to last free from mixture or contamination.