Avraham and Sarah in Provence - Hakirah

240 : Ḥakirah, the Flatbush Journal of Jewish Law and Thought
Rashi vs. Rambam in Sefer Mishlei
Rashi, however, on this verse in Koheles (“more bitter than death, the
woman”) comments, “ ‘The woman’—Apikorsus,” interpreting that
woman herself, not her heart, represents foreign heretical ideas. Rashi
introduces his commentary on Mishlei by saying, “The entire content
is made up of metaphors and parables with the Torah allegorized as a
good woman and idolatry 80 as a harlot.” Then, when the הרז השא first
appears in Sefer Mishlei, 81 Rashi again explains that the metaphor of
the “straying woman” (Mishlei 2:16) refers to heresy, while Rambam
tells us that this metaphor always refers to physical desire. 82 Rambam’s
view is also that of Ibn Ezra, who begins Sefer Mishlei by explaining
that it deals with the pursuit of wisdom and the exhortation
“to distance oneself from the corrupted woman; one is called upon to
kill foolishness and desire which come from the part of the human
that was created from the ground, and to breathe life into the pure
soul.” Ralbag (Mishlei 2:16), the Provencian philosopher, also explains
the Sefer Mishlei in this light. “ ‘The straying woman’—this is the desirous
soul for it is foreign and strange to man, i.e., it is not the essence
of one but the human spirit is.” Thus the battle lines of the allegorical
treatment of woman are drawn in Sefer Mishlei. Rashba follows
in the tradition of Rashi as well as that of kabbalah in his understanding
of the allegorical meaning of woman.
Sarah or the Torah as the Eishes Chayil
Rambam explains 83 that the close of Sefer Mishlei refers to the per-
80 The Metzudas uses the term תונימ rather than הרז הדובע used by Rashi. As
we see that later Rashi uses תונימ, it would seem that they are interchangeable
in his mind. We need not deal with the differences according
to Rambam here.
81 And many times after.
82 See above: “The Symbolism of Man and Woman, Chomer and Tzurah, in
Rambam, Plato, and Jung.”
See Malbim who maintains both metaphors. It would seem that some
see the drive to sin in all forms as represented by this straying woman.
83 Introduction to Moreh Nevuchim as brought above in “The Symbolism
of Man and Woman, Chomer and Tzurah, in Rambam, Plato, and Jung.”