[Avodah] Secular knowledge

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Feb 01, 2011 at 06:39:15AM -0500, Prof. Levine wrote:
> Question:  If this indeed the case, namely, that "from plumbing the  
> depths of the Torah he can know all the wisdom of the world,"  then why 
> is there no mention in the GRA's sefer Aiyel Meshulash of Torah sources 
> for the mathematics he presents?  YL

The Gra didn't write Ayil MeShulash, he pushed R' Barukh Shklover to
do it. The book was finally completed by R' Menachem Man (R' Barukh's
son) and R' Simchah Ziml (grandson). C.f. this 1833 edition title page
<http://books.google.com/books?id=LeVDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PT4#v=onepage>. I know
later editions attribute it to the Gra, but that's simply incorrect.

I cannot tell you if the Gra, had he written it himself, would have been
able to find the Torah sources. However, since this is clearly an ability
one finds attributed to the Gra, the CI, and other yechidei segulah,
I don't understand the usability of the idea.

It's nice hashkafah to say that all of the other wisdoms come from
the middle trunk of the menorah, the Torah. (And that all the neiros
should face the middle neir, applying all those wisdoms back into what
is ultimately the service of Torah.) But if only the most brilliant
can actually derive the other wisdoms from Torah, this *increases*
the desirability for the rest of us to learn them directly. The direct
opposite of the Maharsham's conclusion.

And I think that's exactly a lesson RSRH takes from the menorah, no?
Quoting CW (III, sec: The Menorah, ch: 5 - The Tree and the Branches, pg 217
-- and you really must see the whole chapter at
<http://books.google.com/books?id=_821HGqz74QC&pg=RA2-PA217#v=onepage>):
    ...
    Let us now examine the individual components of the menorah. First,
    the fact that there are seven lamps implies that the spirit nurtured
    here is not restricted, so that one lamp would have been sufficient
    to represent it, but that this spirit encompasses a great diversity
    of elements. If we recall the symbolic significance of the number
    seven, which we already have noted in the essay on milah, we will
    see at once that this is not simply a random number but is meant to
    signify the depth of all spiritual perception and moral volition. If
    we consider the lamps more closely, we will note that this character
    of diversity is joined by the ideal of utmost harmony and unity. We
    can see that the lamp in the center turns its light to shine upward,
    or straight ahead, while the lamps with their lights on either side,
    to the right and to the left, shine toward the center lamp. All the
    lamps are, accordingly, united in the same direction. Thus, the light
    in the center represents the ultimate goal of all the other lights
    on the menorah; or, that object upon which this central light shines
    is the goal common to all the other lights on the menorah. These
    lights, in turn, are borne by six branches. However, none of these
    has a separate base or shaft of its own. Rather, they all stand
    upon one base; they all have one root, and one shaft supports them
    all. Indeed, a more detailed examination will show that, as specified
    also in Scripture, the shaft on which the center light rests and which
    rises straight upward from the root stock, is the menorah itself,
    from which starting only at midpoint the other six branches sprout
    forth upward in pairs on either side.

    Our attention is repeatedly called to the fact that these six branches
    emanate from the center shaft. Thus the light in the middle is not
    only the ultimate goal of all the lights, which serves to unite
    them all, but also the starting point from which all other lights
    emanate. All the lights go forth from the one central shaft and
    all of them together strive toward the one central light. Thus we
    must interpret the presence of seven lights not in terms of simply
    seven, but in terms of one and six, as the single entity from which
    six lights come forth, and within which these six eventually come
    together again.

    In our essays on milah and tsitsith we described the number six as
    symbolizing the physical world of creation, with the number one the
    seventh representing the One Being Who stands outside the physical
    world, yet remains linked to it. Thus the number seven stands for the
    One God and for the godly elements that emanate from Him. We would
    therefore have to interpret the one central shaft and its one central
    light as symbolizing the spirit of cognition and volition that aspires
    toward God, the spirit that strives to recognize and to serve Him.

    As for the six branches with their six lights, we are to see them
    as symbolizing mans spiritual endeavor of cognition and volition
    that are directed toward the physical world. But then it is the
    one central shaft itself that branches out into these six lateral
    branches; the six lateral branches all emanate from the same central
    shaft and, with their six lateral lights turn in the direction of
    the one central light.

    This teaches us that the concept of the recognition and service
    of God is not an abstraction, or a concept isolating us from the
    general knowledge and aspirations of the outside world. Rather,
    it is a concept that is fully activated in endeavors to understand
    and build the world. Thus, no motive of thought and deed is alien
    to God and His Service, because both source and goal are rooted in
    God and give basis and sanctity to thought and action. All that is
    truly moral and spiritual has only one base, one root, and one goal:
    God is its beginning, God its end, tkhilat khokhmah yirat hashem
    (Prov. 9:10) and reishit khokhma yirat hashem (Ps. 11:10). The fear
    of God is the beginning, and the crowning glory of all wisdom is the
    fear of God. The text clearly stresses the distinction between the
    one central shaft the candlestick proper and the lateral branches;
    - vasitah mnorat zahav vshishah kanim yotzim mitzidehhah. But
    the text repeatedly speaks of the lateral branches themselves,
    dividing them into two sections: Three branches of the candlestick
    out of its one side and three branches of the candlestick out of
    its other side. This distinction is further defined by showing that
    two branches each project from the same point on the candlestick
    above one knob; vkaphtor takhat shnei ha kanim mimehnu vgomer. In
    this manner the central seventh light, the light of Spirit, that
    is turned toward God also dominates the physical world (symbolized
    by the number six). By turning its light toward the physical world,
    it seems to support a dichotomy between the spiritual and physical,
    which, however, is reconciled by the harmonious reunion of all the
    lateral lights at their central point of origin.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             A person lives with himself for seventy years,
micha at aishdas.org        and after it is all over, he still does not
http://www.aishdas.org   know himself.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                            - Rav Yisrael Salanter