It seems odd that there were only nine verses of tens, but there it is: the tenth verse (which I am presenting in the Joseph Hertz translation below) begins a list of sevens:\n
There are seven marks of an uncultured, and seven of a wise man. The wise man does not speak before him who is greater than he in wisdom; and does not break in upon the speech of his fellow; he is not hasty to answer; he questions according to the subject matter, and answers to the point; he speaks upon the first thing first, and the last last; regarding that which he has not understood he says, I do not understand it; and he acknowledges the truth. The reverse of all this is to be found in an uncultured man.<\/blockquote>\n
These seven marks are ways in which you can distinguish if your fellow is wise or not—you may amuse yourself in your next committee meeting or family picnic by assessing who is wise and who is not. For some reason questioning according to the subject matter<\/i> seems to pop out at me, as I’m afraid my conversation tends to the amusing anecdote related to the subject matter<\/i>, which is not the mark of a wise man at all. I do often address the first thing first and the last last, though, which was a mark of the APDA debater, but not so much the willingness to either admit that we don’t understand things or to acknowledge when the truth lies with the other side.\n
However, if I feel I don’t make the cut to be included in the wise, there is hope, as I discovered when attempting the Hebrew. The verse begins shiv’ah d’varim b’golem v’shiv’ah b’chacham<\/i>. The wise man is a chacham<\/i>, which is pretty much just the term for a wise man—a talmid chacham<\/i> is a man learned in Torah, who merits the respect of the community, and who also accepts certain added obligations to uphold that respect (f’r’ex, it is forbidden for a talmid chacham<\/i> to walk around with a stain on his clothing). So that’s pretty clear. But the person being distinguished from the chacham<\/i> is a golem<\/i>.\n
You know, a golem.\n
The Golem<\/a> from Tablet Magazine<\/a> on Vimeo<\/a>.<\/p>\n