To the point where, the mass does not understand him and calls him dishonest, a profiteer while he only seeks to improve life for society.
And yet this individual is wise, tolerant and serene. Here are other qualities, apart from the wisdom we have mentioned above, tolerance and serenity. What wonderful words, which we must associate with philosophy.
This philosopher spends his life arguing, reasoning and discussing many subjects. This reminds us of the students in the Yeshiva when they call each other and speak out loud to hear and reason with each other and at the same time think how to explain and philosophize about their subject. A philosopher goes out of the ordinary way because he goes so deep into things and uses such learned words that he is not always understood, which is why he likes to have as a companion someone who will follow him in his steps. However, and it is unfortunate to say so, there are not many people to answer this call and he often finds himself alone
Since the beginning of time, there have been several philosophies, because each culture has wanted, if not to impose its philosophy, at least to share it, and there is no reason why Judaism should be excluded from this panoply.
Many will say that Judaism is a religion of love and truth. I agree, for these two words, love and truth, are often found in many biblical and other writings.
Why not associate them with our Jewish philosophy? We could also add justice and concord. Moreover, these same words are found in the mouth of Simeon son of Gamaliel who borrowed them from the prophet Zechariah. And we must not forget knowledge. Socrates said: "Know thyself", and we must recognize that knowledge is one of the pillars of Kabbalah.
I'm going to pick out a passage and whoever reads it, will attribute it without hesitation to dear Socrates:
And here is the passage:
''Wisdom preaches in the street, on the public roads she raises her voice. It calls to itself in the middle of the noisy crossroads, at the entrance of the doors. In the middle of the city she makes her speeches heard: "Until when, you fools, will you love foolishness, and you persifleurs, will you have a taste for mockery? Until when, fools, will you hate knowledge? Give in to my admonitions, behold, I want to open the springs of my spirit to you, to teach you my words.
Socrates, isn't it? Don't be fooled, it's Solomon, in Proverbs. Could it be that Socrates was inspired by it? I firmly believe so. Didn't we hear that Pythagoras traveled throughout the Middle East to learn all the sciences?
I have always liked chronology, giving it credit for being there before anything else, in this case, I recognize that many of our sages existed and spoke long before the famous Plato, Socrates and Aristotle. And the learned words of our sages, to me, represent not a little, but a lot of Jewish philosophy.
There is a famous saying: "Know before whom you stand" and I know that there is a reference to God, but having decided to exclude God from my presentation, I will content myself with underlining the notion of knowledge. This has made some people say that knowledge is power.
Curiously, none of these philosophers, supposed to be endowed with knowledge, have ever been in power and several generations have wished to have a philosopher as a monarch, hoping that he will get them out of their misfortunes. And we are still waiting.
Speaking of wise men, we forget one of our first wise men. None other than king Solomon (about 1000 BCE, so much earlier than the famous Greeks). He had his own philosophy which we find in his Ecclesiastes and Proverbs.
He said: ''Blessed is the man who has attained wisdom and further '' who acquires wisdom, acquires reason ''.
Everyone knows the "Cicada and the Ant" from La Fontaine. Read this:
Go to the ant, lazy man, observe his ways and become wise: he has no master, no supervisor, no superior, and he prepares his food during the summer, he gathers his provisions at the time of the harvest''.
This passage comes from chapter VI of Proverbs. Could it be that La Fontaine read it there? I am sure of it.
If I understood myself, I would be tempted to consider these two books I just mentioned as being the very basis of all so-called Jewish philosophy. But there is more:
Let us take an example, the word, it is Solomon who said that a good speaker causes sins to those who listen to him, because by dint of speaking too much, one says bad things.
The multitude of words is not free from sin. He goes even further and warns us that a great talker is estimated to have a bad encounter.
Simon son of Shatah said: "Question the witnesses at length and weigh well the words you speak to them so that they do not learn by them to distort the truth.
Speak little and act much and welcome everyone with kindness.''
I am sure that many people later took up these beautiful words, but they were originally spoken by a Jew. I say this and think of all those demagogues, those political people who pretend to support the interests of the masses in order to better dominate them. So beware of these flatterers who profess their own theories. And the philosopher is far from being one of them.
And what about silence?
Simeon, son of Rabbi Gamliel said: I have spent my whole life among the sages and I have found nothing more sanitary than silence. It is not the study that is essential but the practice.
The most beautiful lesson of humility that I have ever learned comes from this saying: he who says something in the name of its author brings deliverance to the world. And all my life I have wanted to hasten that deliverance. That is why I will always give credit where credit is due. And this I have learned from Jewish philosophy.
The word philosophy itself, with time, began to be used for all purposes. The philosophy of painting is spoken of as the philosophy of work, the philosophy of thought as the philosophy of racism.
And what about this other saying: He who runs after honor, honor goes away from him. Shemaiah said: Love work, shun honors and do not seek the favor of the great
As for justice, it is Hillel who said: do not judge your neighbor until you are in the same situation as him. What the American Indians later changed to; don't judge your neighbor until you have walked a mile in his moccasins.
One thing I always taught my children: 'The timid student learns nothing,' again from Hillel. And I insisted that they raise their hands when they did not understand so that the teacher would repeat.
What a joy it was when my son, at the age of seven, in class having understood what the teacher said, realized that another little girl in his class did not understand, he thus raised his hand so that the teacher would repeat and thus enable her to understand better. When I heard this news, I held him hard and congratulated myself on this learning. And where did I learn all this? In Jewish philosophy.
In our business world today, the world tends to be absorbed by commerce and Hillel tells us: He who allows himself to be too absorbed by commerce does not acquire wisdom. So it is up to us to choose, for we must strive to be a man where there are no men.
A last word from Hillel that can sum up a whole life: "To increase one's flesh is to increase one's worms, to increase one's wealth is to increase one's worries, the more servants one has the more one is robbed. To increase one's knowledge is to prolong one's life, to consult often is to develop prudence. To do many acts of charity is to propagate concord. He who acquires a good reputation, acquires a good here on earth, but he who acquires the knowledge of the divine Law acquires eternal life. To conclude: He also taught us that the world is maintained by three things; truth, justice and harmony. In this way he took up the words of the prophet Zechariah.
I cannot finish without adding a very powerful recommendation of our King Solomon: ''Listen my son to the morals of your father and do not neglect the commandments of your mother''
The reader will notice that I have hardly mentioned our more contemporary Jewish philosophers, such as Maimonides, Spinoza or Buber and others, limiting myself to much earlier periods from which I firmly believe that we have all learned everything and I am strongly convinced of this.
It only remains for us to be proud of this marvelous heritage that has been bequeathed to us.
Some will say: "Happy who like Ulysses"... I will say: "Who like us had ancestors who knew how to distinguish us by the wisdom they gave us.
