And behold! The sages ask: "Was she righteous, or merely afraid?"
Rabbi Eliezer of Akihabara says: “She desired dominion over her fate — a holy yearning.”
But Rabbi Hanina of Shibuya replies: “No, she lusted for the past and scorned the freedom of her friend.”
And I — a humble teacher — I say: Why not both?
“And she drank of the vial of Eua, and her eyes were opened, and she saw the possibility of the eternal school year.”
The text is clear. The vial — a vessel of divine recursion — is not a blessing, but a test. Just as Avraham was tested with Yitzhak, so too is Satoko tested with… Rika.
"And Satoko saw Rika and loved her, and yet envied her, and yet clung to her, and yet desired her suffering, that they might never be parted."
A contradiction? No. A midrash. This is not love as the nations understand it. This is loop-binding affection, the kind that speaks not “I love you” but “You shall never escape me.”
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