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Thus far we have considered the phenomenon of the gentile chassid whose fulfilment of the Noahide covenant is based on (the Noahide, Abrahamic or Mosaic) revelation - primarily, Christians and Muslims. What of Maimonides' second category: the chakham whose religion and ethics is based not on revelation but on reason?
There is a fundamental difference between wisdom and revelation. Whereas we believe that Torah is the totality of Divine revelation, we also believe that wisdom - the knowledge of G-d derived by reflecting on nature and the human situation (sometimes called "natural theology") - is widely dispersed through human cultures and civilizations. Chokhmah does not mean "secular" knowledge: that is an anachronism. The concept of secular knowledge hardly existed before Sir Francis Bacon's The Advancement of Learning (1605). Chokhmah has many meanings in classical Hebrew,73 but in its primary sense I define it as the knowledge of the natural universe as the creation of G-d, and of the human being as the image of G-d. The following sources concern its spiritual significance:
R. Shimon b. Pazzi said in the name of R. Joshua ben Levi on the authority of Bar Kappara: He who knows how to calculate the cycles and planetary courses but does not, of him Scripture says, "but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither have they considered the work of his hands" (Isaiah 5:12). R. Shmuel b. Nachmani said in the name of R. Johanan: How do we know that it is a religious obligation to calculate the cycles and planetary courses? Because it is written, "For this is your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the peoples" (Deut. 4:6). What is wisdom and understanding in the sight of the peoples? It is the science of cycles and planets. [45] 74
The Talmud here states that the acquisition of scientific knowledge, especially astronomy, is a religious obligation.
Our rabbis taught: on seeing the sages of Israel one should say: Blessed be He who has imparted of His wisdom to them that fear Him. On seeing sages of the nations, one says, Blessed be He who has imparted of His wisdom to his creatures. [46] 75
This is a striking passage. The rabbis instituted a blessing to be said in the presence of a gentile scholar, renowned for his wisdom. Note that the blessing states that such a scholar possesses (not human but) divine wisdom.
Maimonides lays down general guidelines as to the type of wisdom one should acquire:
Consequently, he who wishes to attain to human perfection, must therefore first study logic, next the various branches of mathematics in their proper order, then physics, and lastly metaphysics. [47] 76
He includes the study of pardes, "esoteric subjects" - by which he means physics and metaphysics77 -- within the obligation of Torah study:
The time allotted to study [of Torah] should be divided into three parts. A third should be devoted to the Written Law, a third to the Oral Law, and the remaining third to . . . Talmud . . . The subjects known as Pardes are included in Talmud. [48] 79
Maimonides regularly brackets madda (science) or chokhmah (wisdom) with Torah. The following are typical examples:
[When Shimon ha-Tzaddik says that "The world rests on three things: on Torah, worship and acts of kindness"] he means madda which is Torah. [49] 79
One should always cultivate the habit of silence, and only converse on topics of wisdom [chokhmah] or on matters essential to one's existence. [50] 80
Above all this [marrying young and avoiding drink and frivolity, so as not to be tempted into sexual misconduct] as the sages have declared, a man should direct his mind and thoughts to the words of Torah and enlarge his understanding with wisdom [chokhmah], for unchaste thoughts prevail only in a heart devoid of wisdom, and of wisdom it is said, "A lovely hind and a graceful doe." [51] 81
The combination of Torah with chokhmah is, for him, the highest of spiritual achievements:
A person who has a true knowledge of the Law is called wise [chakham] in a double sense: he is wise because the Law instructs him in the highest truths, and secondly because it teaches him good morals. But as the truths contained in the Law are taught by way of tradition not by a philosophical method, the knowledge of the Law, and the acquisition of true wisdom, are treated in the books of the sages as two different things. Real wisdom demonstrates by proof those truths which Scripture teaches by way of tradition. It is to this kind of wisdom, which proves the truth of the Law, that Scripture refers to when it extols wisdom and speaks of the high value of this perfection. [52] 82
Here and elsewhere in his writings, Maimonides understands wisdom as the process of demonstrating through science and philosophy the truths taught by the Torah. Far from being an ancillary intellectual accomplishment, it constitutes the most powerful means of fulfilling the supreme spiritual commands of the love and fear of G-d:
This G-d, honoured and revered, it is our duty to love and fear . . . And what is the way that will lead to the love of Him and the fear of Him? When a person contemplates His great and wondrous works and creatures, and from them obtains a glimpse of His wisdom which is incomparable and infinite, he will straightaway love Him, praise Him glorify Him and long with an exceeding longing to know His great name . . . And when he ponders these matters, he will recoil frightened, and realize that he is a small creature, lowly and obscure, endowed with a slight and slender intelligence, standing in the presence of Him who is perfect in knowledge. [53] 83
It should be noted that this statement occurs, not in one of Maimonides' philosophical writings but in his law code.
Many modern Jewish thinkers - from R. Samson Raphael Hirsch to R. Joseph Soloveitchik - have echoed Maimonides' view that it is, at least in part, through "wisdom" in the broadest sense that we are able to understand and improve the human condition under G-d. The following passage, from the Sefardi sage R. Ben Zion Uziel, is typical:
The settlement of the world [yishuvo shel olam] in its many ramifications is a precondition and vital need for our attaining our proper way of life. In the settlement and building of the world knowledge is increased. In our knowledge of the mysteries of nature, our eyes are opened to new and very wide horizons, from which we will awaken and announce the wonders of the G-d, the Creator of the universe, and the ways of His wondrous and hidden providence, all of which are love, justice, kindness and compassion. [54] 84
One of the most striking statements to this effect was made by R. Zadok haCohen of Lublin (1823-1900):
Every day there are new interpretations of Torah, because every day, continually, G-d "renews the work of creation". Since the world was created according to the Torah . . . presumably, the renewal of the world comes about through new aspects of Torah. That is why, after the blessing [in the morning prayers] "creator of the heavenly lights" which speaks about the daily renewal of creation, the sages instituted a second blessing which is a form of blessing over the Torah . . . in which we ask to know the new interpretations of Torah which come about through the new aspects of creation. (This is in accordance with an idea I heard, namely that [in the beginning] G-d wrote a book, the universe, and a commentary to the book, namely the Torah, because the Torah explains the possessions of G-d among creation). [55] 85
The encounter between an ever-changing universe and a never-changing Torah generates a succession of new insights, as we bring our knowledge of the two into juxtaposition.
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