Of Metaphors and Melitzah

ב''ה


The wisdom of metaphor can be found in the Torah 1,000 years before the Greeks. Aristotle, Plato and "Demostinus" (Democraties?) pride themselves in having invented it, yet in the Torah you can find all five forms.

1. Changing the nature of something. For example: --תִּבְלָעֵמוֹ, אָרֶץ. -שמות טו,יב – "The earth swallowed them." or: א הַאֲזִינוּ הַשָּׁמַיִם, וַאֲדַבֵּרָה; – דברים לב – "listen heavens and I will speak."

2. Using the singular part to connote the totality of something. For example:  סוּס וְרֹכְבוֹ רָמָה בַיָּם. - שמות טו,א – "Horse and rider were upheaved in the sea." Or oppositely, using the totality for the single part:   
(וַיְנַעֵר ה'  אֶת צְרַיִם, בְּתוֹךְ הַיָּם.  (שמות טו,א - "Hashem shook Egypt into the sea." 

3. Exaggerated imagery. For example:
 וַתִּבָּקַע הָאָרֶץ, בְּקוֹלָם. –  מלכים א פרק א, מ 
"The Earth shook from their din." - referring to the joy of coronating Shlomo.

י שִׁמְעוּ דְבַר- ה' קְצִינֵי סְדֹם – ישעיהו פרק א
"Listen to the words of Hashem, oh elite class of Sedom!" - referring to the sinners of Israel.

4. A given name:  אָמַר אוֹיֵב אֶרְדֹּף אַשִּׂיג  – שמות טו,ט – "The enemy said, "I will run after and catch!" - The enemy being a name for the Egyptians. Also, אָשִׁירָה נָּא לִידִידִי, שִׁירַת דּוֹדִי לְכַרְמוֹ - ישעי' ה,א – "Please sing a song to my beloved, the song of my beloved to their vine." The navi himself explains: 
ז. כִּי כֶרֶם ה'  צְבָאוֹת, בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל – "for the house of Israel is the vineyard of Hashem..."

5. Length of metaphor and repetition of concepts in a number of ways: 
כז אֵין-עָיֵף וְאֵין-כּוֹשֵׁל בּוֹ, לֹא יָנוּם וְלֹא יִישָׁן; וְלֹא נִפְתַּח אֵזוֹר חֲלָצָיו, וְלֹא נִתַּק שְׂרוֹךְ נְעָלָיו.  כח אֲשֶׁר חִצָּיו שְׁנוּנִים, וְכָל-קַשְּׁתֹתָיו דְּרֻכוֹת
–ישעי' ה
"There is no exhaustion or stumbling in him, he does not sleep or slumber; the guards on his armor do not come undone and his shoe strings do not break. His arrows are sharp and all his bows are bent..."

...

'מה מתוק מדבש נחמתם. ומה עז מגערת תוכחתם. ומה צח מצחות לשונם' – "how much sweeter than honey is their comfort. How brazen is their rebuke and how much clearer than clarity is their language. (a reference to מַה-מָּתוֹק מִדְּבַשׁ, וּמֶה עַז מֵאֲרִי - שופטים יד, ח - "What is sweeter than honey, and what is more brazen than a lion.")

כוזרי שני לר' דוד ניטו – ויכוח שלישי פרק ח

Free translation of "The Second Kuzari" by Rabbi David Nito, Third Debate, chapter 8 by yours truly. :)

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