על הגירת אברהם י״בOn the Migration of Abraham 12
א׳
1[64] For it says: “Whatsoever hath many feet among all creeping things that creep upon the earth, ye shall not eat, for they are an abomination” (Lev. 11:42). Now, is not a soul deserving of hatred which moves over the ground not on one part of itself but on all or most parts, even licking with a relish the things of the body, and altogether incapable of lifting its eyes to the holy revolutions of heaven?
ב׳
2[65] And further among creeping things just as that which has many feet is disallowed, so too is that which has no feet, the former for the reason just given, the latter because it lies its full length sprawling upon the earth, lifted out of it by nothing even to the smallest extent: for it says that all that goeth upon the belly is unclean (ibid.), indicating by this figure the man who is in pursuit of the pleasures of the belly.
ג׳
3[66] But some, exceeding all bounds, in their determination to kindle into activity all the irrational portion of the soul, and to destroy the mind, have not only indulged all that comes under the head of desire, but taken to them also its brother passion, fierce spirit. For that which was said, “Upon thy breast and thy belly shalt thou go” (Gen. 3:14), in the literal sense applies to the serpent, but is really a truly Divine oracle applying to every irrational and passion-loving man; for the breast is the abode of fierce spirit, and desire dwells in the belly.
ד׳
4[67] The fool’s whole course through every moment of his journey depends on this pair, fierce spirit and desire; since he has got rid of mind, who is the charioteer and monitor. The man of the opposite character has exscinded fierce spirit and desire, and chosen as his patron and controlling guide the Divine Word. Even so Moses, best beloved of God, when offering the whole burnt sacrifices of the soul, will “wash out the belly” (Lev. 8:21), that is, will cleanse away desire in every shape, but “the breast from the ram of consecration he will take away” (Lev. 8:29). This means, we may be sure, the warlike spirit in its completeness; and the object of taking it away is that the better portion of the soul, the rational part, that is left, may exercise its truly free and noble impulses towards all things beautiful, with nothing pulling against it any longer and dragging it in another direction.
ה׳
5[68] In these circumstances it will improve both in number and greatness: for it is said: “How long shall the people provoke? and how long shall they refuse to trust Me in all the signs which I wrought among them? I will smite them with death and will destroy them, and I will make thee and thy father’s house a nation great and numerous beyond this one” (Num. 14:11 f.). For, in the soul when once the great concourse is broken up, in which fierce spirit and desire prevail, there rises and springs up without fail another concourse, even that which wholly depends on the rational nature.
ו׳
6[69] Now just as the creature with many feet and that without feet, opposite species in the genus of creeping things, are proclaimed unclean, so also atheism and polytheism, mutually antagonistic doctrines in the soul, are alike profane. Here is the indication of this: the Law has expelled both of these doctrines from the sacred assembly, atheism, by debarring a eunuch from membership of it; polytheism, by likewise forbidding the son of a harlot to be a listener or speaker in it (Deut. 23:1 f.). For the sterile man is godless; and the son of a whore is a polytheist, being in the dark about his real father, and for this reason ascribing his begetting to many, instead of to one.