[Avodah] ha-sameach be-chelko

[Simon Montagu]

On 9/20/07, Micha Berger <micha at aishdas.org> wrote:

R Simon Montagu <simon.montagu at gmail.com> replied to RETurkel's orignal
> question on Mon, 17 Sep 2007 14:25:41 +0200:
> : On the linguistic level, I suppose what I am saying here is
> that  "sameach
> : bechelko" doesn't mean "happy with, one's chelek" in the sense of not
> : wanting to improve one's position or to have an easier time finding
> tuition
> : fees, but "happy, with one's chelek", and I think this fits better the
> : Mishna's proof text from Tehillim "Yegia` kapeicha ki tochel, ashreicha
> : vetov lakh".
>
> But "be-" means "with" in the sense of "via" or "through the aegis of".
> Not "together with".
>
> And I think the proof text is exactly my thesis -- simchah with one's
> particular version of the task of continual growth.
>

I expressed myself unclearly. I don't understand the "be" in "bechelko" as
"together with". IMHO the sense is more of perceiving something in a
particular way, as in "hibit be-", "shama` be-", "chafetz be-" etc.

Having said that, I don't agree that "be-" can't mean "together with":
"vayetze Edom likrato be`am kaved" could be either "together with" or "by
means of"; "be-makli `avarti et hayarden" might just be "by means of", but
in context Ya`akov's point seems to be his lack of possessions at the time
(Rashi gives the latter as peshat and the former as 'midrash aggada') ; and
I think "bi-nechasim rabim shuvu el aholeichem uve-mikne rav me'od be-chesef
uve-zahav" can only be "together with".

And having said *that*, I much prefer your interpretation to my own! I
wonder if one's chelek le`olam haba is also something dynamic, not static? I
remember several ma'amarei chazal that make the contrast between `olam hazeh
as dynamic and `olam haba as static, but maybe it's a question of
perspective, and `olam haba has its own dynamic.

Chatima tova!
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