When Maimonides says that the Messiah will come but that 'he may tarry,' we see the origin of every Jewish shrug from Spinoza to Woody Allen.

Christopher Hitchens

Mots clés irony woody-allen judaism baruch-spinoza maimonides messiah

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One notorious apikoros named Hiwa al-Balkhi, writing in ninth-century Persia, offered two hundred awkward questions to the faithful. He drew upon himself the usual thunderous curses—'may his name be forgotten, may his bones be worn to nothing'—along with detailed refutations and denunciations by Abraham ibn Ezra and others. These exciting anathemas, of course, ensured that his worrying 'questions' would remain current for as long as the Orthodox commentaries would be read. In this way, rather as when Maimonides says that the Messiah will come but that 'he may tarry,' Jewishness contrives irony at its own expense. If there is one characteristic of Jews that I admire, it is that irony is seldom if ever wasted on them.

Christopher Hitchens

Mots clés religion atheism self-deprecation irony jews judaism curses heretics maimonides messiah abraham-ibn-ezra hiwi-al-balkhi jewishness orthodox-judaism

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אל תחשוב שהסודות הגדולים האלה ידועים עד תכליתם וסופם לאחד מאתנו. לא! אלא שפעמים האמת מבהיקה לנו עד שאנו חושבים אותה לאור יום. אחרי-כן החומרים וההרגלים חוזרים ומסתירים אותה עד שאנו חוזרים להיות בלילה אפל, קרוב למה שהיינו בתחילה.

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Mots clés religion secret-of-life maimonides

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