tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post162067036170825694..comments2024-01-06T10:36:04.084-05:00Comments on A Commonplace Blog: Jabotinsky’s “Samson”D. G. Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10659136455045567825noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-31503525707246462032011-08-10T14:59:36.182-04:002011-08-10T14:59:36.182-04:00Kudos for this from a Jabotinskyite of over 40 yea...Kudos for this from a Jabotinskyite of over 40 yearsYMedadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14333122797414935958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-34035242478551578752011-03-21T22:20:43.134-04:002011-03-21T22:20:43.134-04:00I like mystical rebbe heroes who have spiritual po...I like mystical rebbe heroes who have spiritual powers, as in Zaddik by David Rosenbaum. Only a mystical encounter can heal the lost Dov Taylor's broken heart. In our age, the mystical hero is more heroic than a physical one.AJnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-56822030238489730002011-03-21T21:33:02.385-04:002011-03-21T21:33:02.385-04:00But Samson is a military hero, a physical hero.But Samson is a military hero, a <i>physical</i> hero.D. G. Myershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10659136455045567825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-63582095640803505642011-03-21T20:31:26.796-04:002011-03-21T20:31:26.796-04:00The spiritual hero must reject the world, so he mu...The spiritual hero must reject the world, so he must reject the one that symbolizes the world. The spiritual hero is in the world, but he is not of it.AJnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-59685165252646434492011-03-21T20:09:32.004-04:002011-03-21T20:09:32.004-04:00No, she is Philistine to the core.No, she is Philistine to the core.D. G. Myershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10659136455045567825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-59631793326267994732011-03-21T19:35:48.794-04:002011-03-21T19:35:48.794-04:00There is another reading possible: the girl symbol...There is another reading possible: the girl symbolizes the world and, though it desires Samson, and he has noticed its charms, he has to, as a spiritual hero, reject it.AJnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-85458716303637516772011-03-21T19:30:55.523-04:002011-03-21T19:30:55.523-04:00Well, she is only twelve when Samson sees her in T...Well, she is only twelve when Samson sees her in Timnath: “Suddenly he heard a girlish voice calling his name. He stopped and turned his head towards the pond. A girl was bathing there—a girl whose hair was black, not reddish-brown, though in the sunshine it had a coppery gleam. Samson made a grimace; then his face took on a cold, stony expression. The girl stood up, and the water reached only to her knees. Samson was angry. He knew her tricks, but this was too much of a good thing. A girl of twelve years of age was, after all, a woman; and to stand stark naked before a man was considered unseemly even by the natives [i.e., the Israelites], still more by the Philistines.”<br /><br />To himself, Samson calls her “Snake-spawn.” At all events, fear of desire and psychological damage, while real enough, I suppose, are not in Jabotinsky’s vocabulary.D. G. Myershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10659136455045567825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-10491894265110308442011-03-21T18:42:08.233-04:002011-03-21T18:42:08.233-04:00Samson refuses the younger sister, who has always ...Samson refuses the younger sister, who has always desired him (it is she, not his future wife, whom he had noticed among the Philistine women in Timnath); he kicks her in the face to get away from her<br /><br />How can he refuse her if he has "noticed" her? I think he's simply afraid of his desires and therefore psychologically damaged.AJnoreply@blogger.com