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Those Who Follow Their Eyes Are Lost

Apocrypha & Pseudepigrapha Alphabet of Ben Sira, Letter Vav

Curated by The Jewish Mythology Team · Published March 15, 2026

<p>The letter Vav arrives, and Ben Sira delivers one of his sharpest proverbs yet:</p>

<p>"Woe to one who follows after his eyes! And know that they are the product of straying, and there is nothing to them."</p>

<p>There it is. Woe. Not a polite caution, not a gentle suggestion — a curse. In biblical and rabbinic Hebrew, "woe" (oy) signals genuine doom, the kind of pronouncement prophets issue before kingdoms fall. And Ben Sira, still technically an infant prodigy in this strange medieval text composed between 700 and 1000 CE, is deploying it against anyone who lets their gaze guide their decisions.</p>

<p>The second half of the proverb is even more devastating. Whatever your eyes chase after is "the product of straying" — born from wandering, from losing your way. And there's nothing to them. The beautiful things that draw your eye? Empty. The neighbor's wife who suits your eye so well? An illusion. The entire pursuit is hollow from the start.</p>

<p>What's remarkable about this particular exchange in the Alphabet of Ben Sira is what's missing: the teacher's rebuttal. For the first time in the series, the educator doesn't argue back. He doesn't protest, doesn't rationalize, doesn't share another embarrassing detail about his personal life. He simply says, "Say Zayin." Maybe the proverb landed. Or maybe he's just moving on, too stubborn to engage with a truth he can't deflect. Either way, the silence speaks.</p>

Themes

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