ABSTRACT
In this text the author correlates, on the one hand, poverty, the nocturnal, and the righteous who have the ability to see God, and, on the other hand, wealth, day, and distance from God. The author plays on the rabbinic saying that one might see God in one’s death but not while alive. “In their lives they do not see, but in their deaths they do see” (Numbers Rabbah 14:36). The example of Moses verifies that God can be reached by night, which symbolizes distress and poverty: “but Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was” (Exod 20:17). It is clearly stated here that there is a profound link between poverty and mystical experience, suggesting that wealth is a great obstacle for attaining the Divine.
