Mishlei Methodology: Meiri - Nigleh and Nistar (Version 1.3)
In this article I wrote in 2013 (newly polished and republished), I explain why I’m wary of interpreting Mishlei metaphorically and why I prefer the Meiri's metaphorical commentary over all others.
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Mishlei Methodology: Meiri - Nigleh and Nistar
Preface: This post was originally published on 6/24/13 on Kankan Ne’lam and has been lightly edited twice since then. I wanted to share it with a new Mishlei student but realized it needed formatting updates. Once I made those changes, I began refining the wording. I was tempted to drastically revise and rewrite the entire piece in light of the 11 additional years of Mishlei learning I’ve done since writing the original, but I’m exercising restraint. It’ll have to wait until I write my Mishlei book (בג”ה).
The Perils of Metaphor
Over the years I've taught Sefer Mishlei, I've noticed a trend among new students: they almost always gravitate toward a metaphorical approach, and I must continually steer them back to the peshat (straightforward meaning).
The main issue with the metaphorical approach is that it lacks constraints. Once a person breaks free from the confines of the peshat and ventures into the speculative world of metaphor, a pasuk can be interpreted in nearly infinite ways, without restraint. Even worse, metaphorical thinking makes it easy to project one’s preconceived notions onto the pasuk or to twist its meaning to fit one’s own emotional and intellectual biases. Beginners often mistake their own projections and psychological associations for objective analysis.
One major reason for the popularity of the metaphorical approach is that many meforshim (commentators)—including Rashi, the Vilna Gaon, and the Malbim—utilize it. The problem is that they interpret pesukim metaphorically without explaining how they arrived at their interpretations. Consider, for example, the pasuk:
משלי טו:ו
בֵּית צַדִּיק חֹסֶן רָב
וּבִתְבוּאַת רָשָׁע נֶעְכָּרֶת
Mishlei 15:6
"The house of a tzadik (righteous person) is very sturdy,
but when a rasha (wicked person) arrives, it becomes sullied"
Rashi explains:
The house of a tzadik: this refers to the Beis ha'Mikdash (Holy Temple), which was built by David; it was a sturdy fortress of strength for Israel. But when a rasha arrives it becomes sullied: upon the arrival of the idol, which was brought by Menashe, [the Beis ha'Mikdash] became sullied.
Rashi's interpretation is certainly valid, but how is the student of Rashi's commentary supposed to understand how he derived this idea from the pasuk? The pasuk doesn't say anything about the Beis ha'Mikdash, David ha'Melech, Menashe, or idols—yet Rashi tells us that this is what it means! And even if we accept Rashi's interpretation on the basis of authority, that doesn't help us to acquire his methodology. Consequently, the Mishlei novice who looks to Rashi as a guide will be tempted to offer similar "interpretations" of the pesukim, thinking he is following Rashi’s method, when in reality, he is merely free-associating. I’ve seen this happen often, especially with students who lack training in analytical thinking.
Thankfully, my Mishlei rebbi gave me a rule of thumb which has served as my methodological anchor throughout my 24 years of Mishlei learning: always take the pasuk as literally as possible unless you are forced to interpret it otherwise. And even when deviation from the literal meaning is necessary, be extremely conservative and refrain from introducing anything not explicitly stated in the pasuk.
Still, as much as I gained from the literal approach to Mishlei, I was troubled by the many commentators who interpret Mishlei metaphorically. I wondered: how do they determine which of the many possible directions to take in decoding Shlomo ha'Melech's cryptic statements? Do they possess a highly developed Mishlei-specific intuition, or is their interpretation guided by a method I, too, could learn and apply?
Meiri’s Approach
To this day, I have found only one commentator who employs a metaphorical approach to Mishlei that I can both understand and utilize: the Meiri. Before explaining his approach, let’s review Mishlei’s overall subject matter.
Sefer Mishlei was written as a companion to Torah, designed to facilitate the same objectives: tikkun ha'nefesh (perfection of the intellect) and tikkun ha'guf (perfection of physical and psychological well-being, both individually and societally).
Exactly how Mishlei achieves this is a matter of dispute among commentators. Rashi and Ralbag maintain that the book contains a mix of pesukim addressing these two objectives—some teaching tikkun ha'guf and others focusing on tikkun ha'nefesh. Rabbeinu Yonah and the Metzudos, on the other hand, seem to hold that the majority of Mishlei concerns physical perfection, with only a handful of pesukim addressing intellectual perfection.
This is where the Meiri's approach stands out. He maintains that almost every pasuk in Mishlei can be understood on two levels: the derech ha'nigleh ("revealed path" or “exoteric approach”) and the derech ha'nistar ("concealed path" or “esoteric approach”).
The derech ha'nigleh corresponds to what we call the "plain peshat"—the most straightforward meaning intended by the author. According to the Meiri, the derech ha'nigleh conveys lessons about achieving success in the physical world. He even categorizes pesukim based on the types of lessons they teach, such as ethics, politics, mitzvos, and practical advice.
The derech ha'nistar, on the other hand, treats each pasuk as a metaphor or allegory for achieving intellectual perfection. Unlike derech ha'nigleh ideas, which are accessible to the average student of Mishlei, the derech ha'nistar requires a more advanced understanding, limited to yechidim ("elite individuals"). Meiri writes in his introduction:
[Shlomo ha’Melech] warns us in the opening statements of his book that although the nigleh ideas of these proverbs are beneficial, one must not mistakenly think of them like other proverbs, which do not contain any nistar ideas. Rather, these mashalim teach us nistar ideas which include all types of perfection—both perfection in decision-making and in analytical reasoning—so that this book encapsulates all virtuous conduct and benefits all people.
One of the advantages of learning Meiri's commentary is that he almost always provides both interpretations of pesukim in Mishlei. However, the challenge lies in his style: his derech ha'nistar commentary is itself exceedingly nistar. Rather than explaining these ideas in his typically clear and systematic manner, Meiri merely alludes to them with concise, enigmatic sentence fragments. Moreover, he frequently expresses his ideas using the allegorical language of other sources, including Shlomo ha'Melech's other writings, other books of Tanach, and the midrashim of Chazal. Without fluency in these references, one will struggle to grasp his derech ha'nistar interpretations.
My Approach to Meiri’s Approach
For many years, I focused exclusively on the derech ha'nigleh portion of the Meiri’s commentary and completely ignored the derech ha'nistar. At a certain point, I got into the habit of glancing at his derech ha'nistar interpretations as an afterthought to my study of the derech ha'nigleh. In recent years, however, I have begun devoting more attention to his derech ha'nistar ideas, and only now am I starting to grasp the core of his method.
In a nutshell, the Meiri's method of interpreting Mishlei metaphorically may be summed up in two steps:
Figure out the peshat of the pasuk in the derech na'nigleh.
Take the exact idea from the derech ha'nigleh, but apply it to the subject matter of the derech ha'nistar—that is, abstract the idea from its application to tikkun ha'guf and apply it instead to tikkun ha'nefesh.
Let's see how this plays out in a well-known pasuk from Eishes Chayil:
משלי לא:יג
דָּרְשָׁה צֶמֶר וּפִשְׁתִּים וַתַּעַשׂ בְּחֵפֶץ כַּפֶּיהָ
Mishlei 31:13
"She seeks out wool and flax, and her hands work with desire"
The most straightforward derech ha'nigleh approach to Eishes Chayil is to learn it as talking about an actual woman managing her household. Here’s my summary of the main idea in the Meiri’s derech ha’nigleh approach:
In every craft, there are both "glorious" stages—where the practitioner can showcase expertise in an impressive and rewarding manner—and "lowly" stages, which are necessary but tedious and unexciting. In the craft of making clothing, the glorious part is designing and fashioning the garments, whereas making the trip to the market to buy raw materials is a necessary but unglamorous chore. The Eishes Chayil is an ishah chachamah (wise woman); she understands that in order to produce quality work, she must strive for excellence at every stage of the process. Consequently, she approaches each task with the same alacrity and enthusiasm—even when merely seeking out raw materials.
Thus far, the derech ha'nigleh. As you can see, the Meiri’s idea emerges naturally from the peshat of the words and conveys a beautiful lesson about achieving success in the physical world.
Now compare that to his derech ha'nistar interpretation. Here’s my summary:
The most exciting and enjoyable part of learning is the abstract, conceptual, and creative analysis that culminates in new insight. However, one must be careful not to rush into this stage of learning without first taking care to collect, assess, and organize all relevant facts—no matter how tedious or unglamorous this process might be. Conceptual theorizing may be enjoyable, but if it isn’t rooted in accurate data, it is worthless. Consequently, a genuine truth-seeker approaches the fact-gathering stage with the same eagerness, focus, and diligence as the theorizing stage.
See what I mean? The Meiri’s derech ha'nistar conveys the exact same idea as the derech ha'nigleh, with only one difference: the former applies to achieving success in the physical world, while the latter applies to achieving success in the world of learning.
The brilliance of the Meiri’s method is that it avoids the pitfalls of metaphorical speculation. His approach allows the student of Mishlei to remain firmly grounded in an objective, conservative analysis of the peshat, while still yielding the reward of a valuable metaphorical insight about tikkun ha'nefesh.
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