In a past post, I raised some points about a story on Heichal HaNegina about how the letters in the Ohr haChaim's tefillin flew away. But there were actually two stories there, and I did not address the first one.According to the first story, the Ohr haChaim survived a shipwreck, then encountered a lion coming from a forest, but prayed and was saved, and finally encountered a hideout of thieves. It turned out that the head of the thieves was a former student of his, and he caused the student to repent.
This is an impressive story, and has all sorts of exciting elements in it. It is Yonah meets Daniel meets Ali Baba.
I am not sure I believe this story. I certainly was less likely to believe it when the protagonist was St. Sabas. And we know the following story about Saint Sabas:
He went into the desert of Scythopolis, near the river Gadara, where he went into a great cave to pray. It happened to be the den of a huge lion. At midnight the beast came in and finding this guest, dared not touch him, but taking him gently by his garments, plucked him as if it had been to draw him out. The saint was no ways affrighted or troubled, but began leisurely and with much devotion to recite aloud the midnight psalms. The lion went out, and when the holy man had finished matins, came in again and pulled him by the skirts of his clothes as he had done before. The saint spoke to the beast and said, the place was big enough to hold them both. The lion at those words departed, and returned thither no more. Certain thieves found St. Sabas in his cave, and were so moved by his example and discourses, that they all embraced a penitential life.
Perhaps the same vector of events happened to both of them. Or perhaps it didn't happen to Saint Sabas, but did to the Ohr haChaim, and it is just weird coincidence that the story of Saint Sabas presages his story.One thing we know -- this story, about St. Sabas, a monk who lived in Israel, was
"From his life, excellently written by Cyril, a monk of Palestine, in 557"and St. Sabas was an abbot from 532 CE.
Meanwhile, Rav Chaim ben Attar lived about 1739 CE.
Another possibly important point. Heichal HaNegina uses the following illustration, and notes:
(Actually, an illustration from another famous Ohr HaChaim story, "Tzaddik in the Lion's Den," but it applies here as well).
Rav Chaim ben Attar would have done well to have found some lion repellent, for he seems to continuously attract them. :)
9 comments:
I once told a Morrocan freind of mine that the story with the baba sali with the flying carpet is an old wives tale actualy its from the famous book that alladin is in the name escapes me he was livid
For the record, Scythopolis is the Roman name for Beit Shean, and the "river Gedera" is probably the Yarmuch, running between Israel/Syria and Jordan...
The points of similarity you identify (being approached by a lion and then running into thieves) are too vague to be useful. The same elements crop up in the story of R' Nahum Ish Gamzu.
true, and you can say that Stith-Thomson numbers apply.
however, those were not the only two points. The four points (which were bolded above) were:
1) desert
2) lion does not harm to praying man
3) thieves do not harm
4) who encounter and then *repent*
in that particular order, which are paralleled by the same items in that particular order by Saint Sabas. Still somewhat vague, but not as vague as it first seems.
In the story of Rabbi Akiva, often used to illustrate the principle of Nachum Ish Gamzu, there is no desert, though he sleeps in the forest. And the order is:
1) cannot find lodging in the city
2) wind blows out candle
3) lion eats donkey
4) wild cat eats rooster
all leading to escape from being killed by entirely unrepentant robbers. In the Rabbi Akiva story, the vector of events and their nature (seeming like bad things) are different; they serve different roles. And there are extraneous details which are non-parallel. Thus, it is true that both Rabbi Akiva and the Ohr haChaim story involve a lion, but in the Rabbi Akiva story the lion inflicted damage by killing the donkey and then left. In the Ohr haChaim story and in the St. Sabas story, a lion was tamed by a holy man who prayed. The same for the other examples.
Anonymous:
Rav Shmuel Abuchatzeira, after arriving at his destination, was asked how was his trip.
His reply: Rugged.
:)
Josh all that you've pointed out (together w/ Rabi Akiva's Gam zu l'tovah)
is that a common theme of stories of holy people are thieves and lions. In fact there are many stories that involve a holy person and a lion or a holy person and theives.
These are some of the few occurrences of stories that involve both a lion AND thieves.
In the case of either a lion OR thieves, fate was usually death. Which means any story about either would NECESARILY involve miraculous survival.
which means the only common/unique point is the repentance of the thieves.
but then repentance of theives is also a theme found in a number of stories about pious people.
The desert is not a useful point, because of the situation of these peoples in an arid climate--travelling almost anywhere would either require travelling through a desert or (avoiding the desert and travelling) by sea. If the ship didn't make it to the destination, then one had to revert back to the more difficult situation of traversing the desert. So a shipwreck would either be followed by being saved at sea, or by making it through a desert.
Davka, the coincidence of finding a student as the "leader of thieves" is so hard to imagine that it lends credence to the whole story. Why wouldn't someone make up a story that was more believable?
It's also symptomatic of the difference between Christian and Jewish literature to begin with. The Christian literature generally seems more vague and the Jewish usually has specific, seemingly irrelevant, details. (compare Revellations and Daniel for instance)
except the theme of Rabbi Akiva and the lion was *not* miraculous. It was not presented as miraculous that he was saved from the lion. it was just another step of what appeared to be a negative thing.
the only miraculous/saving aspect is that he was thus saved from the brigands. (check it out on Berachot 60b.)
the thieved in the St. Sabas story effectively became his disciples, so the stretch is not that far.
This is certainly not a slam-dunk case, but it is enough to make me more suspicious than I was even initially.
And this is a common feature in both Jewish and non-Jewish tales -- substituting one hero for a more local one. Other examples will be detailed as they occur.
If you had true Emunas Chachamim, you wouldn't be looking for clarification/validation/refutation in Xian or Moslem sources. It's well known that both the Xians and Moslems stole from our tradition, whether they be Midrashim [compare the Yoshka tale to Moshe Rabbeinu's birth], stories of great Tzaddikim like the Ohr HaChaim, or Chassidishe ma'asios.
yitz:
looking at other sources is a *good* thing, and often necessary for clarification of truth. For example, see how I use Tertullian to better understand what Chazal mean in their prohibition on circuses.
But what in the world are you saying? that the Christian source STOLE from our tradition in advance??? The Christian tale was *written* (not just purported to have happened) over a thousand years BEFORE the Ohr haChaim lived! Did Cyril have a time machine??
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