"They who know the truth are not equal to those who love it, and they who love it are not equal to those who delight in it." -Confucius

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

There is Hope for Us All

Just for fun, here is an interesting midrash from the prologue to Tanchuma haKadum (a midrashic work), about G-d's power to unite soulmates:

King Sh'lomoh (Solomon) had an extremely beautiful daughter; none was like her in all the Land of Israel. He looked into the constellations [to see] who was her soulmate and who would marry her and he saw that [her soulmate] was a poor person and there was none in Israel as poor as he. What did [Sh'lomoh] do? He built a tall tower in [the middle of] the sea... He took his daughter and placed her in this tall tower, and he placed with her seventy officers from [among] the elders of Israel, and in this tower he made no opening so that no man could enter, and he placed in it an abundance of provisions. He said, "I shall see the acts of HaShem and His deeds."

Some time later, that poor man who was her soulmate had gone out upon the road and was naked, barefoot, hungry and thirsty and had nowhere to sleep. He saw the carcass of an ox cast in the field. He entered into it between the ribs of the carcass to ease the cold. While he was sleeping, a great bird came and picked up the carcass and carried it up to the roof of the tower above the maiden's chamber and there the bird was eating the flesh of the carcass and sitting on the roof.

Upon the morning light, the maiden left her chamber to walk upon the roof as was her daily custom and she saw this young man. She said to him, "Who are you and who brought you here?" He said to her, "I am a Jew, I am from Ako, however, a bird brought me here." What did she do? She took him and brought him to her chamber and dressed him and washed him and annointed him and he became very handsome until there was none like him in all the borders of Israel and the maiden loved him with her heart and soul and her soul was bound to his soul and the young man was sharp and sophistic and shrewd and scholarly.

One day she said to him, "Do you want to betroth me?" He said to her, "Were it possible!" What did he do? He drew [his own] blood and wrote for her a k'thubah (marriage document) and a dowry with his blood and betrothed her and said, "G-d is witness today, and [the angels] Micha'el and Gavri'el are witnesses." He consumated the relationship and she became pregnant from him.

When the elders saw that she was pregnant they said to her, "It seems to us that you are pregnant." She said to them, "Indeed." They said to her, "And from whom have you become pregnant?" She said to them, "Why do you need to know?" The faces of the elders fell, for they feared the king Sh'lomoh, lest he place a libel upon them, so they sent to him to speak with them. Sh'lomoh embarked upon a boat and came to them and they said to him, "Our lord the king, this is what happened, and please, may our lord not place iniquity upon his servants." When he heard, he called to his daughter and asked her about the matter. She said to him, "The Holy One, Blessed is He, brought me a certain young man, handsome and learned and scholarly, and he betrothed me." She called to the young man and he came before the king and he showed him the k'thubah he had made for his daughter. The king asked him about his father and mother and his family and from which city he came and [the king] understood from his words that [this man] was the one whom he had seen in the constellations and [the king] greatly rejoiced and said: "Blessed is the Omnipresent One, for he gives a woman to a man."

1 comment:

David Cameo said...

I like how it tops it off with one of the 7 Brachot. That Shlomoh... always pushing God's buttons... heh. Sneaky devil!