He attributed his son's apostasy to the fact that he, the father, had never been able to make a decent livelihood. A century later, the Ramban comes along, a physician, a Rabbi, highly respected, affluent, a leader of his community, in fact, when he left to resettle in the Holy Land, he saw his own son appointed as the Rabbi of the community. What is so fascinating to the student of the Torah and of its commentators, is that what appears to be on the surface an intellectual argument between two great commentators is really much more. The real debate reflects two entirely different worlds, two different experiences, two different approaches to understanding life, and suddenly a seemingly ordinary verse in the Torah has become a vehicle for expressing the innermost tragedy of a man's life. Ramban made fun of Ibn Ezra's comments, because he had no idea of what lay underneath, no idea of the pathos and the sadness that was expressed in those words.
People deal with our Temple all the time.
They make arrangements for Bar Mitzvahs, they come to name children or grandchildren, they come for Yahrzeit. They never stop to think what is going on in the minds of the person who is telling them. An American artist travelled all the way to Denmark to see a classic statue by a famous Copenhagen sculptor. When he arrived, he hurried to the place where it stood. A disappointed look came over his face.