Born Without A Star
"Im kesef talveh et ami, et he'ani imach"
i
"When you lend money to my people,
to the poor person who is with you."
o
The Ibn Ezra writes that G-d refers to poor people as "My people" because the most righteous of people are generally poor, and G-d is particularly fond of them - they are are uniquely His.
If you know what may have prompted the Ibn Ezra to think of this, speak up.
posted by rabbi neil fleischmann @ 11:22 PM
9 Comments:
His own poverty. He wrote that his financial misfortune was such that if he were to become an undertaker, people would surely stop dying.
Oh, my, I love the explanation as posted by Kishke! Wonderful. And, not to be at all disrespectful, but it rings of Catskills comic routines, no? Rodney Dangerfield?
I think there is much truth in his words. If someone would follow the letter and spirit of the law, when it comes to Choshen Mishpat, it would be nearly impossible to become rich, certainly in the field of business. Madoff is just the latest example of this.
Anne, there's more to the quote, in the same vein. I'll try to look it up and post it. And yes, it is a good line.
Pesach, I can't accept that. There have been many fine, upstanding people and Torah scholars who have become very wealthy. I refuse to believe that it was b/c they transgressed the Torah. In fact, the Torah contains promises of wealth: are they made only to the sinners? As for Madoff, he is an outright thief, and on an unprecedented scale, and you say no one can become rich w/o emulating him? Come on now.
I am looking for it, but can't find it - could b=have sworn I had my own translation of this poem somwhere in my computer.
He also writes that if he sold candles the sun would never again set. And he describes trying to meet with a big money man early in the morning only to be told that he's out for the day and then returning at night and being told that the rich man had gone to sleep for the night. He ends the poem by writing - woe to a poor man, born without mazal (which can be translated as luck or as a star). Pesach thanks for the genuine comment and Kishke for the retort.
Here's a translation of the poem:
On the day I was born,
The unalterable stars altered.
If I decided to sell lamps,
It wouldn't get dark till the day I died.
Some stars. Whatever I do,
I'm a failure beforere I begin.
If I suddenly decided to sell shrouds,
People would suddenly stop dying.
It's from here:
http://www.thepoetrysearcher.com/poems/ibnea/mystars.html
I don't have the Hebrew text available, so I can't comment on whether the translation is good.
And on this page you'll find a poem by Robert Browning entitled Rabbi Ben Ezra:
http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/brown01.html
It contains the famous lines:
Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
Thanks Kishke, from my memory of this original, this seems to take some pretty heavy liberties. Also, thanks for the links.
Translating poetry is often about taking liberties. It's difficult to strike a balance between fealty to the original language and poetic expressiveness.
Hillel Halkin had an interesting article on the Hebrew poets of Old Spain that dealt with this. It was in Commentary, July-Aug 2007, but is not available online.
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