קטע מפירוש מגילת רות המיוחס לר' נסים בן משה ממרסיי

Ms. JTS, ENA 1836, contains a copy of the early fourteenth-century philosophical-exegetical treatise, Ma'aseh Nissim by R. Nissim b. Moses of Marseilles. Following this treatise is a fragment of a philosophical commentary on Ruth (folios 110v-112r). The remaining folios of the ms. are lost. J.H. Schorr, who had before him the entire commentary, published a small part of it in his heavily abridged edition of Ma'aseh Nissim in Heḥalutz 7 (1865). He maintained that R. Nissim was the author of the commentary. The present article discusses the intellectual background of the commentary, its main ideas, and the question whether R. Nissim was in fact the author. An annotated edition of the fragment concludes the article. The commentary is singular in that it is the only known example of a medieval philosophical-allegorical treatment of the Book of Ruth. It is also one of the few commentaries of this genre on any of the historical books of the Bible. While other philosophers of the period wrote commentaries on Ruth, those that are extant do not present an allegorical approach. The uniqueness of this commentary notwithstanding, it reflects the tendency of the medieval philosophers in Provence, Spain and Italy to adopt allegorical interpretations of the historical accounts in the Torah, in addition to accepting the literal truth of the accounts. It is argued here that this tendency represents an important break with Maimonides' approach, despite the profound indebtedness of these philosophers to Maimonides' philosophical exegesis of the Bible. When Maimonides brings an allegorical interpretation of historical accounts, he appears to be suggesting that the literal understanding is to be rejected. Allegory is not used to supplement the literal understanding, but rather to replace it. Subsequent medieval philosophers, however, adopted the rabbinic approach to the allegorization of history, viewing it as a complement to, rather than a substitute for, the literal understanding. The author of the commentary under discussion insists that the story of Ruth is a true one, but should be interpreted primarily as an allegory for the human soul and its character traits. The quest for human perfection is what is being described beneath the surface level of the story. He polemicizes against those who do not ascribe a deeper meaning to the story. While there are many points in common between the exegesis of the Book of Ruth contained in the fragment and R. Nissim's exegesis of the Torah in Ma'aseh Nissim, there are also many disparities, which cast doubt on R. Nissim's authorship.