Mashal (allegory)
A mashal (Hebrew: משל) is a short proverb[1] or parable with a moral lesson or religious allegory, called a nimshal.
The Talmudic writers believed in the pedagogic importance of the parable, and regarded it as a valuable means of determining the true sense of the Law and of attaining a correct understanding thereof (Shir haShirim Rabbah.
Thus, parables dealing with kings were frequently chosen to illustrate God's relation to the world in general and to Israel in particular, as in Bamidbar Rabbah 2:24, since the idea of the God-king had been made familiar to the people by the Bible (Ps.
Similarly, the flight of the prophets Jonah from God is illustrated by the parable of the servant who runs away from his master (Mekhilta, Bo, i.
The following Talmudic parables may be quoted to show the manner in which the writers employed this form of argument: A pagan philosopher once asked R. Gamaliel why God is angry with idolaters and not with idols, whereupon R. Gamaliel answered him with the following parable: "A king had a son who raised a dog which he named after his royal father; and whenever he was about to swear he said, 'By the life of the dog, the father.'
Once Akiba was asked to explain why persons afflicted with disease sometimes returned cured from a pilgrimage to the shrine of an idol, though it was surely powerless.
Emperor Antoninus asked Rabbi how there could be punishment in the life beyond, for, since body and soul after their separation could not have committed sin, they could blame each other for the sins committed upon earth, and Rabbi answered him by the following parable: "A certain king had a beautiful garden in which was excellent fruit; and over it he appointed two watchmen, one blind and the other lame.
Johanan b. Zakkai illustrates the necessity of daily conversion and of constant readiness to appear before God in heaven by the following parable: "A king invited his servants to a banquet without stating the exact time at which it would be given.
When the king suddenly called his servants to the banquet, those who were wise appeared in clean raiment and well adorned, while those who were foolish came in soiled and ordinary garments.
The king took pleasure in seeing those who were wise, but was full of anger at those who were foolish, saying that those who had come prepared for the banquet should sit down and eat and drink, but that those who had not properly arrayed themselves should stand and look on" (Shab.
When R. Ḥiyya's son, R. Abin, died at the early age of twenty-eight, R. Zera delivered the funeral oration, which he couched in the form of the following parable: "A king had a vineyard for which he engaged many laborers, one of whom was especially apt and skilful.
The other laborers were angry at this and said, 'We have toiled the whole day, while this man has worked but two hours; why does the king give him the full hire, even as to us?'
Hence he has fulfilled his life-work and is entitled to be called to paradise earlier than others from his work on earth; nor will he miss aught of his reward" (Yer.
1-16 this parable is intended to illustrate the doctrine that the heathen who have accepted Christianity have equal rights with the Jews in the kingdom of heaven.
The teachers, philosophers of religion, and preachers of the post-Talmudic period also had recourse to the parable to illustrate their meaning, such as Bachya ibn Pakuda in his "Chovot ha-Levavot – Duties of the heart" (ii.
In the eighteenth century Jacob ben Wolf Kranz of Dubno (Dubner Maggid) was especially noted as a composer of parables, introducing them frequently into his sermons.
His homiletic commentaries on the Pentateuch and on certain other books of the Old Testament contain many parables taken from life and which serve to illustrate the condition of the Jews of his time.
