ABSTRACT
In our discussion of the verb µYEq't]hi (hitkayem) in the previous chapter we determined that to “exist” or “live” also means to “take place”: existence or being is not something that simply is-it happens. If we consider other verbs that mean to “happen,” we find that what transpires in the event of existence is an encounter. Contrary to the Cartesian cogito-the “I think, therefore I am” (see Meditationes de Prima Philosophia, 27) that characterizes modern thought and that situates the thinking ego at the center of reality-the holy tongue suggests: I encounter another, therefore I am. Both hr;q;(karah) and ax…m;(matsa), for example, mean to “happen,” as well as to “meet” or “encounter” (the common meaning of ax…m;, of course, is to “find”). Noting that tWayxiM] (metsiut), a noun derived from ax…m;, means “reality” or “existence,” we see that reality consists of encounter: we do not experience reality-we meet it. That is to say, the meeting is itself reality.
