Mirror & Scarf by Edmond Jabès
"We will gather images and images of images up till the last, which is blank. This one we will agree on." -Reb Carasso
Mardohai Simhon claimed the silk scarf he wore around his neck was a mirror.
"Look," he said, "my head is separated from my body by a scarf. Who dares give me the lie if I say I walk with a knotted mirror under my chin?
"The scarf reflects a face, and you think it is of flesh.
"Night is the mirror. Day the scarf. Moon and sun reflected features. But my true face, brothers, where did I lose it?"
At his death, a large scar was discovered on his neck.
The meaning of this anecdote was discussed by the rabbis.
Reb Aphandery, in his authority as the oldest, spoke first.
"A double mirror," he said, "separates us from the Lord so that God sees Himself when trying to see us, and we, when trying to see Him, see only our own face."
"Is appearance no more than reflections thrown back and forth by mirrors?" asked Reb Ephraim. "You are no doubt alluding to the soul, Reb Aphandery, in which we see ourselves mirrored. But the body is the place of the soul, just as the mountain is the bed of the brook. The body has broken the mirror."
"The brook," continued Reb Aphandery, "sleeps on the summit. The brook's dream is of water, as is the brook. It flows from us. Our dreams extend us.
"Do you not remember this phrase of Reb Alsem's: 'We live out the dream of creation, which is God's dream. In the evening our own dreams snuggle down into it like sparrows in in their nests.'
"And did not Reb Hames write: 'Birds of night, my dreams explore the immense dream of the sleeping universe.' "
"Are dreams the limped discourse between facets of a crystal block?" continued Reb Ephraim. "The world is full of glass. You know it by its brilliance, night or day."
"The earth turns in a mirror. The earth turns in a scarf," replied Reb Aphandery.
"The scarf of a dandy with a nasty scar," said Reb Ephraim.