EPISTLE MEZAHAB ON DRINKING GOLD

BENJAMIN MUSAFIA

1640



EPISTLE MEZAHAB

On Potable Gold, from the Reserve of the Holy Letters and Opinions of the Rabbis, wisely written for his most learned friend, now well known throughout Europe, by a scholar who wishes to remain unknown.

I cannot speak of your praise, for I know that even immoderate praise would fall short of your very great merits, and consequently the sympathy that brings me to you, because we once practiced common studies, would not contribute to increase your fame, when others , who make a fair judgment, without affection, without passion, have deliberately found the rare words capable of translating your superiority. When you show me how to honor you with dignity, when you offer me with benevolence an example of your honesty towards one of your supporters, when you now make me the arbiter of a higher search, why would I refuse without gratitude obey your command? It's better to pay for your humanity with a lack of trust in me, than not satisfying you entirely while preserving my own tranquility.I will write with precision, because for a scholar, so much do we hate spouting words, it is a drop of wisdom; and we do not envy the beauty of style when we offer a statement, not elegant, but true. You asked me whether the term potable gold, then discovered by the scholars of our people, was formerly properly examined by them.

You insisted that I present the texts to you, that I quote the authorities, and that I add real defenses to them. Know that here is the realization of your wish, which will have given me great pleasure if I have provided you with some entertainment! it is a drop of wisdom; and we do not envy the beauty of style when we offer a statement, not elegant, but true.You asked me whether the term potable gold, then discovered by the scholars of our people, was formerly properly examined by them. You insisted that I present the texts to you, that I quote the authorities, and that I add real defenses to them. Know that here is the realization of your wish, which will have given me great pleasure if I have provided you with some entertainment! it is a drop of wisdom; and we do not envy the beauty of style when we offer a statement, not elegant, but true. You asked me whether the term potable gold, then discovered by the scholars of our people, was formerly properly examined by them. You insisted that I present the texts to you, that I quote the authorities, and that I add real defenses to them.Know that here is the realization of your wish, which will have given me great pleasure if I have provided you with some entertainment! and add real defenses to it. Know that here is the realization of your wish, which will have given me great pleasure if I have provided you with some entertainment! and add real defenses to it. Know that here is the realization of your wish, which will have given me great pleasure if I have provided you with some entertainment!

The Hebrews possessed all the sciences and arts, of which it is reported that day by day they pretend to novelty. The Ancients had already discovered them: like the technique of the printing press which they indicated exactly with the printing of the Decalogue in the two tables of the Law, and the frontal with the breastplate of the sovereign pontiff. It is thus that the Holy Scripture makes known clearly the dangerous character of the thunders of the powder of nitre, when in Deuteronomy XXIX, 23 we read the severe threat to set the whole earth ablaze with sulfur and salt (we must underline hear the nitre ).

But I pass over a lot in silence. I will add little on chemistry. Adam - whether he was instructed by the supreme founder of things,or that he was driven by his search for the most difficult recesses of nature to penetrate - was the first, I dare not say researcher of chemistry, just like of the other arts, but the first doctor. It was probably instructed by him that Tubal-Cain then applied himself to metallurgy, as reported by Genesis IV, 22. Moses, David, Solomon, according to the testimony of the sacred text, thoroughly knew the most secret operations of the chemistry, and cultivated them. So why dwell on it? I propose to present things that we have not heard of. Not only does Holy Scripture mention potable gold, but above all and richly has proposed six other alterations and reductions of gold, two of which have not yet been sought by mystery hunters, without even knowing the name.As for the other four,

The first kind, potable gold, is named mezahabh , ie water of gold, in Genesis XXXVI, 39.

The second is called refined gold, zahabh mezukak , in I Paralipomena XXVIII, 18.

The third, the lime of gold, is called zahabh saruf , burnt gold, in Exodus XXXII, 20.

The fourth, the essence of gold, zahabh tahor , pure gold, in II Paralipomena IX, 16-18.

The fifth, vegetative gold, zahabh Parvaim , in II Paralipomena III, 6-8.11 is said in the rabbinic language zahabh mosi' perot , the gold which produces fruit, sometimes also zahabh she-hu' 'oseh perot , l gold that bears fruit .

The sixth, a gold unknown to the Hermetists, zahabh mupaz , resistant gold in I Kings X, 18. It is said among the rabbis domeh le-gaphrit musutat ba'ésh , similar to sulfur lit in the fire, or sometimes domeh la- paz , similar to the so-calledpaz gemstone .

The seventh, which was not discovered by the Hermetists, zahabh shahut , tapered gold in I Kings X, 16. This gold the rabbis here and there called zahabh she-nitwah ka-hut , the gold which is spun like a thread, or sometimes shenimshakh ke-sha'wah , which stretches like wax.

Rabbis further added knowledge of a gold, some of which in Bemidbar Rabbah , or Rabbi Simeon ben Lachish in Shemot Rabbah , f. 45, or Rabbi Hisda in Yoma , f. 44, persuaded themselves that it is the gold of Parwaim of II Paralipomena III, 6-8 and say it domeh le-dam ha-parim , similar to the blood of bulls, an intensely red gold, of this altar of the incense which the high priest used on the day of atonement, completely melted.

And Rabbi Bib adds on this text quoted in Shir ha-shirim Rabbah the gold of the Mercy, which presented a scarlet color, but as I would not dare to affirm whether this color is natural or a product of art, I thought it useless to examine it among the operations of gold; therefore after having given the knowledge of the names, I intend to define exactly, with the help of God, the seven species of gold.

Potable gold is a liquor made from gold, capable of converting all metals into gold, the recipe of which was in the possession of Matred the father, of Meheytabel, of Mey-zahabh, according to Genesis XXXVI, 34. C This is why the Chaldaic interpreter, and even the paraphrase from Jerusalem, have carefully translated "the daughter of Mey-Zahabh" as "the daughter of him who melted gold".

To present this opinion the rabbis changed in the words Meyzahabh the vowel point tzeré to chirik, and claim that one can correctly read mi zahabh : "what is gold?" like politely suggesting that Matred held the gold cheaply, and like he despised him he used to ask "what is gold?" ". For he practiced the art of completely transmuting gold into water capable of bringing all metals back into real gold.

It is appropriate when the sacred text offers us examples, to draw from them two transmutations, that of silver into gold, and that of bronze into this same gold, by the affixing perhaps of the liquor in question. It is clear indeed that David converted silver into gold, because otherwise the sacred text would lack coherence, for we read in I Paralipomenes XXIX, 4: David had devoted seven thousand talents of refined silver to coat the walls of the temple, and in II Paralipomenes III, 6-7-8, it is said that Solomon clothed the Temple with good gold.

If the father spent silver to clad the walls, while the son used gold, would he have brazenly disregarded the father's orders? But the rabbis cleverly removed a difficulty they had raised. It's in Shemot Rabbah, ch. 35, Bemidbar Rabbah chap. 12, as also in Shir ha-shirim Rabbah , where they testify that the silver consecrated by David was in reality gold, which no other can surpass. And all the rest of the Holy Scripture testifies to nothing other than sometimes the bronze was converted into pure gold since Ezra in book I, VIII, 25 expresses himself thus: And I weighed in their hands 650 talents of silver, utensils of silver for 100 talents, 100 talents of gold, 20 cups of gold for 1000 darics, 2 utensils of the best brass, precious as gold .

Who will deny that these brazen cups, since there were only two of them among so many silver and gold offerings, did not presage something rare, especially since the text affirms that the estimation of this bronze was in no way inferior to gold.

I persuaded myself that it had consisted in the mutation of the vessels of bronze into gold, and this, not by a vulgar hypothesis, but because I reason in the following way. Those who have the rudiments of grammar know well enough that in the holy language gold is of the masculine gender, and bronze of the feminine gender.However, the text says thus: "vases of red bronze" [by putting "red" in the masculine], whereas it should have said "red" in the feminine, which indicates quite implicitly that this bronze had been converted into gold. red, as the masculine adjective implies. Besides, mustahab , means without any corruption, according to the rules of grammar where the letter tsade is changed to zain, "golden", which amounts to saying that the brass is truly golden, or that what was first brass is now gold.

Refined gold is gold separated from any alloy of minerals, without the help of any fire or fusion, such as, according to the testimony of the Holy Scripture in I Paralipomenes XXVIII, 18, David consecrated it in the foundation of the altar of incense.

The manner of bringing this purity to gold, according to the tradition entrusted to memory, Rabbi Judan with his school declares in the Shir ha-shirim Rabbah that it was as follows: The gold was buried in hot manure for seven years; when it was dug up afterwards it was found to be absolutely pure, the filth having been consumed by this gentle heat. Rabbi Jannai with his school shows that there was a shorter process: The gold was cut into pieces the size of an olive, which were fed to ostriches, whose stomachs turned it into gold. very pure. This is the view clearly held by Ris Lachish in Shemot Rabbah , chap. 2.

The lime of gold is a very fine powder, in which by the force of salts and spirits the corroded gold is dissolved or reduced. I correctly distinguished dissolved gold, because it cannot be reduced, but perhaps it is capable of reducing other metals to gold. As for the corroded gold, it comes out renewed, when the acridness has been removed. Moses proceeded to this regeneration, as reported by Exodus XXXII, 20: Then he took the golden calf, burned it in the fire, and reduced it to a very fine powder. .It is good to add on this text the Commentary of Rabbi Abraham Aben Ezra, where he wrote: "Others explain the word 'it burned' as if it were written 'it melted', but it is not need such an explanation, because there is a thing that you mix with gold in the fire, and the gold is immediately burned, it remains black, so that it cannot be brought back to gold again. This thing in truth is consistent with experience and true. So far Abraham Aben Ezra .

I am well aware that common salt mixed with gold, in a lamppost fire, is reduced to spongy lime. Now he objects to the rabbis quoted that the gold of the golden calf was not corroded, but dissolved, since he affirms first of all that the burnt powder cannot be reduced to gold .Should we imply the raven's head, who makes the hermetists happy? But it is with good reason that he judges that this gold was not corroded, because it would have been a fatal poison, whereas Moses drank from it, without sorting, wicked and innocent. Our master Moses of Girona in his Commentary on the same text, embraced the same opinion, saying "Burnt gold, perhaps not melted, but really burned and reduced to powder, as Rabbi Abraham esteems, because thrown into water, given its lightness, it floats on the surface. ”
The essence of gold is gold reduced by art to its own mass, and to a weight a thousand times less, which added to other metals converts them into gold according to a certain defined mass.

We certainly grant that gold abounds in mercury, and that when this has been largely extracted by art, the sulphur, as a more vivid form, continues spontaneously, by a natural push, to expel the forms of the others. metals, to combine materials, in the measure of the extent of its actions and its forces. It is this essence that Rabbi Juda son of Soul, in Shemot Rabbah , chap. 12, left us in memory: "Solomon had taken a thousand talents of gold, which he put on the fire, to reduce them to a single talent".This opinion had been held, in almost the same terms, by the rabbis in the Jerusalem Talmud .

Vegetative gold is gold that feeds, grows and produces like itself. Such gold is preserved in a land which perhaps exceeds the powers of philosophy. King Solomon, to the testimony of Sacred Scripture in Il Paralipomenes III, 6-7-8 when he says: and the gold the gold of the fruits , suggests it to the sagacious, as if he were saying that in the Sanctuary there is has gold that produces fruit. The more inward looking rabbis say in Shemot Rabbah , chap. 35, and in Bemidbar Rabbah , chap. 12, that the gold of Parwaim was so named because it boron fruit. Opinion that elegantly illuminates Rabbi Oshaia in Yoma, f. 21, when he says: "When Solomon built the Temple, he planted there all kinds of delicious fruit trees, and which from gold produced fruits in their time, which fell when the breeze blew on them, for it is written in Ps. LXXII , 10: And its fruit is shaken like Lebanon . But afterwards, when the Gentiles entered the Temple, they withered away. For it is written in Nehemiah I, 4: and the flower of Lebanon was withered .

This same doctrine is repeated extensively, with few changes, by the rabbis in Yalqut, chapters 8, 24, and in Shir ha-shirim Rabbah I am not able to state the mysteries which are hidden in the quoted sentence;it suffices to note that in order to melt vegetative gold, several things are needed which we wanted to point out in veiled terms.

First: It is God's greatest and best favor and blessing that the building of the Temple presents, so that no one thinks of acquiring this art by his own industry, his intelligence, the light of reason, and that each convinces himself that he needs the light of grace.

Second: By the wisdom of Solomon is suggested that there is a possible intellect, natural dispositions, habits and acts acquired by long study.

Third: When Solomon is shown planting, it appears that without the philosophical earth gold will never grow.

Fourth: a fixed time is necessary for the work, because such an operation takes place slowly; also it is rightly added: "they produced fruit in their time".

Fifthly: for the ripening of the fruits, and their picking, it is suggested that there must be breath and breeze.

Resistant or diamond gold is a luminous gold so compact that it cannot be melted down or worked with a hammer. It is with him that Solomon covered the throne with ivory in I Kings X, 18. He is indeed called in Hebrew mupaz , from the root pazaz ; it is fortified because of its solidity and hardness, as Rabbi Hasda says again in Yoma , f. 44, because it is similar to certain precious stone named paz .

What again reads in Yalqut, chap. 22 and it is not wrong that the great commentator on the text quoted from Kings says that this tawny gold was resplendent like a precious stone. Finally Rabbi Patriki brother of Rabbi Drossai affirms, as we can read in Shemot Rabbah , ch. 35, which is repeated in different places, that this gold appeared as sulfur kindled in the fire.

Stretched gold is gold whose hardness gives way to stretching, as Rabbi David Kimhi adds in his Commentary to I Kings X, 6, saying that this gold stretches like wax, an opinion that he taken from Shemot Rabbah , chap. 35 and the texts cited above, where it is established that the aforesaid gold is pulled like a thread, and that from this gold like wax one can extract an ointment to cover. Rabbi Hasda testifies to this in Yoma , f. 44, saying that this gold could be stretched like a thread. Rabbis in Shemot Rabbah affirms that this gold became very rare in the past after the destruction of the Temple, and that now it cannot be found anywhere on earth; they say in fact that Hadrian had them the size of an egg, and Diocletian the weight of a denarius. But currently the Roman people have nothing of the sort. From this affirmation, I judge with good reason that the books of chemistry collected and burned by Diocletian, according to the testimony of Suidas, did not belong, as he says, to the Egyptians, but to the Hebrews.

Indeed, the histories of Egypt attribute several facts to them, especially when it comes to the sciences, to which the Hebrews were more firmly attached. This was said either out of jealousy or contempt for this people, or, what I am more kindly inclined to think,

All that I knew about gold, I gladly presented it to you, gold not vulgar, but taken from the treasure of Holy Scripture, and to which no other besides can be compared, as Job says. XXVIII, 17.

Well.