A well-known fable from the philosopher Schopenhauer, a story that Freud liked to cite. It tells about the dilemmas of closeness between porcupines who must huddle together to keep warm in the winter, but soon spread apart to prevent the pain of being poked by each others’ quills. This is the perennial problem of human intimacy: can our autonomy bear the closeness that our dependence demands?
אַתָּה מִתְרַחֵב
וּמִצְטַמֵּק
בַּתָּוֶךְ שֶׁבֵּין קוֹץ לְקֹר
וְהַהוֹוֶה שֶׁלִּי פּוֹחֵת
עִם כָּל פְּעִימָה.