Avraham and Sarah in Provence - Hakirah

Avraham and Sarah in Provence : 253
understand that his body only has life because of its soul. The support
of the sailors represents this moment of understanding. The
midrash tells us 121 that the sailors had prayed to be saved for the sake
of R. Elazar. Their prayer is their acknowledgment that the only value
of their life and of all their worldly endeavors is their support of this
Rabbi Elazar. The physical body then rejoices in this knowledge—
and finds such joy in life itself that the poverty and suffering dissipate
in the mind of Rabbi Elazar and he is cured. 122
What does need explanation is Rambam’s acknowledgment,
based on this aggadah, that the Rabbi Elazar ben Shimons of the
world will accept having their physical needs provided for by society
when it is impossible for them to provide for themselves. According
to the allegorical explanation we have given, we have no reason to
believe that Rabbi Elazar ever took from others—but only from the
physical side of his own being. Why does Rambam feel that this allegory
is relevant at all to the halachic issue of taking money to support
one’s Torah study? Clearly, Rambam feels that a לשמ (metaphor) of
Chazal will be framed in such a way that even in its literal reading it
reflects the same Torah truth that is derived from its deeper reading.
As we have explained, the לשמ reflects the principle that all the
physical wealth in the world exists to provide for the Chacham that
which he cannot provide for himself, for alone he would not be able
to sustain a civilization that could make a life of study possible. 123 In
this light, the simple reading of the aggadah teaches that though the
world provides its riches to sustain the special person, he accepts
from the world only because he needs to do so to survive. 124
The continuation of the story tells us that when he is healed, he
answers all the niddah questions so that the male and the female parts
of nature can be joined in perfect union and the world can be fruitful
and multiply. This is a demonstration of how he sustains the physical
world. All the children born through his aid are males, meaning that
121 See note 114.
122 The fact that his wife recognizes this only via her daughter’s observation
is reminiscent of Maharal’s point (above) that the daughter, being
the woman who is a product of the father (tzurah), is a higher form of
chomer.
123 As explained in the hakdamah l’Peirush HaMishnayos noted above.
124 Similarly, R. Chanina only took the minimum needed to survive.