The Contribution of the Maimonides to Judaism - Rabbi YY Jacobson

the yeshiva.net. I was only 13 or 14 years old at the time, but the memory of that Friday night, I could still see in front of my eyes, growing up just a few blocks from here. It was Friday night. Paras Shabas paras Vakel other this monthshin mev 1986. I always davened Shabas and much of the week in 770 and already as a young child I had the place where I stood when the Reb would come down Friday night for Cababala Shabas. But as the Reba walked in to the shul, I like everybody else noticed, physical anguish on his face. And then I saw the Reb limping and almost had to be caught a few times to the point that for the way back they put tables that he should be able to lean on them as he walked out. Later I heard that it seemed like this was a case of very severe sciatica. Those whoever endured sciatica and a severe case of it could know the physical pain. And I think it was already the next morning that the Reba davened upstairs and this went on for quite a while. But that shabas was also shabas. So the Reb came down to Fabang and it was not easy to watch him coming down and reaching his place at the Fabang as a young child a baker actually shortly after Bitzvah I didn't understand much I still don't understand much but it was very obvious that at least from a physical perspective the Reb was in tremendous tremendous pain I asked myself What's the fabang going to look like? Is the Reb going to do a very very short fabangan? And it was already later years theba sometimes would fang much shorter maybe he'll do a very short fabang. So the will want to say something and fabang but we'll go up earlier. I was just thinking to myself, I didn't know. But every step literally you could see every step was korim. It was extremely it seemed excruciating. And as somebody who never saw the reb like that certainly not in public walking into shul would usually walk in with his full malus and glory and it was very very difficult. Some people connected it at the time. Shortly before that began the court case of the library of the swarim of audi kabad. I don't know that's beyond me what the connection was what the cause was. But then the reb started to fab and it was the shabas of the camb. This was the second cmam. The first one was yal nissan mh 1985 exactly 40 years ago. This was the second saram which was tshin mev 1986 vayaka that fabangan turned out to be one of the longest fabangans of those years and if I'm not mistaken the hadin on the raam that I still remember parts of went for an hour an hour and a half and when the rebba got into the raam suddenly all the pain The anguish that I observed the night before and just a little while earlier as he walked into the fabang. It was literally you looked at the Reb's face and you can experience as much as the human eye can perceive a bliss. as he analyzed and dissected the opening of the Rambam in one of the timeless classic hadronum of the Rambam known as the toshv had explaining the first and the other is what is hashem and for a 14-year-old you have to understand it wasn't just an impression suddenly I saw wow it was literally as the rebba went into the raam like everything was forgotten. He was living in the world of the Rambam of the Mishna. And as the Reb developed the semium of the Rambam and the of the Rambam, the end of the Rambam, especially the beginning of the Rambam, you could viscerally feel, the excitement, the joy, the ecstasy, and the celebration. You saw that the Reba himself was in a completely different world. reminds me in parentheses very powerful lesson I once heard from Rabbi Label he said that it was the last few months it was I think it was the month of shortly before the Reb stroke and they said the Reb told him one day in his room he says Zen sabak when I want to learn it's hard for me to see and read which is very small which was the way of saying that he needs somebody to help him with the eyes and that's when the went to an eye doctor rabbi groner wanted to tell so another part of the story the's conversation with the eye doctor but then I thought to myself he could have told his secretary I have a problem seeing he didn't say that he said I have a problem reading hagos That's my challenge. That's my prop. So I saw that viscerally that chabas but there's one thing in that I want to share with you today on the opening of the Rambam. As you know the Rambam opened up every one of his 14arim with a PK and it's always interesting to note which PK he uses and Reb would discuss these frequently. What's the opening PK for the opening of the Mishna? It's a PK from Kufas right before the introduction of the Ramba. Remember the POSK O then I will not be ashamed and humiliated when I gaze when I look at all your mitzvah. And the Reb asked why did the Rambam choose this POS as an opening for the Mishna. True, it mentions all the mitzvah. Much of Kufuas mentions all of the mitzvah. But the Rambam uses this word, I won't be embarrassed. Why should he be embarrassed? Why would anybody be embarrassed? What's the pusher? Pusher. What's the busher? What's the shame? And how does this shame get refuted and healed through the Reb's answer was and I'm going to use my own words a little bit because I want to try to explain it is the way I understood it or I understand it today is the Rambam single-handedly wanted to change the landscape of Jewish scholarship of Jewish learning and therefore of Jewish history. It's hard for us today to appreciate it, but it's important to understand this. When the Rambam was living, the Rambam was born in the year Daled Tuft 1135. Some say 1138, but approximately that zip code in Cordova in Spain. Eraf Pesam passed away 1204. Dalit tuft of course in Egypt in the Rambam's lifetime you didn't have a work that organized Yiddish in any conceivable way if you wanted to have a full perspective of as the Rambam says in the introduction you had to learn through Bavi and Shali the midash ment and cphree and all the troubles of the and their abundance of course besides and then and then you can have the full picture and how many people in a generation can do that and wanted that every Jew should have a king in every Jew should have a full vision and perspective of the entire body and experience of what is Hashem's vision what is the Tyra's vision for the world. And for this, the Rambam literally had to take everything and begin almost from scratch to categorize and on his own he divides into 14 categories. Each one encompassing encompassing convey that this is the applause but okay encompassing 83 that go into those 14. This was not just an achievement. It was an extraordinary historic achievement as he puts it. I want a safer that takes the whole the whole and organizes it in a way that when you go from the beginning till the end, you have a full picture of every single on every subject of life that Hashem addresses and nothing is excluded. Not the of the Bikdesh, not of Msiah, not Chevitz, not things that seem completely irrelevant at that time. The same seriousness that the Rambam discusses when it comes to the of which are always relevant is the same meticulousness when he's describing the during the time of the BD when he writes about that anybody who learns seriously. Unfortunately, when I was growing up, there was an expression. I don't know if they still use it in yeshiva. I didn't do rambom yet. Do how do you do? How do you do Rambam? I didn't do Ramba. But that wasn't the purpose. The purpose wasn't to do Ramba. The purpose wasn't even to say Ramba. Okay, maybe it's like debates on the fine. You want to have a for so you do Ramba. That was not the point of the Rambam and not the point of the rebon of the Rambam. The Rambam just like the Reb felt the truth and it's a truth you could still feel today. We live in a generation where there's endless endless endless classes of Tyra spar imprinted on every subject of the world between MP3s and podcasts between live sharim and virtual sharim in almost every language on so many different platforms in every country anybody could learn whatever they want and people are learning malahar People in recent years began learning in ways that were maybe unprecedented in previous times because of the tremendous accessibility. But one thing you still see and that is somebody once said in English, people are today are reading more and more about less and less. People know the price of everything and the value of nothing. Sometimes you meet people they graduated 17 years of yeshiva and if you have kids who survived the system you know that takes a lot they learned a lot. Yeah. Whatever they learned they talking about guys are serious. But then you want to see if they have a grasp of they don't. There's something missing. There's a clarity that's missing. There's a broadness that's missing, an expansiveness. There's a decisiveness that's missing and there's a tums that's missing. When you learn Rambam seriously from beginning to end, but seriously, that means you need to understand not only every you need to understand the structure of a chapter. The Rambam didn't only want to give people the whole he wanted to teach people how to think, how to build ideas. Kashabas 30 chapters. Why 30? Why not 20? Why not 40 built? He took a subject. Could be shab could be eight of could be in could be could be could be could be or and he built it. He built it. What are you applauding that? What that I know few of Okay. [Laughter] I'll dig out the Ramba wanted to teach people how to build how to think every but not only for a gle for a cotton some people are sitting and they I'm not a big I'm not a big bent I barely survived yeshiva but that was the whole point of The Rambam the Rambam became a bestseller in his generation. I don't know if you know suddenly the Rambam was the ultimate man like the Reb felt Yiddish belongs to the masses. He wanted to empower every person to master. He didn't want to give reasons. He didn't even give sources and he was criticized for it because he wanted people to come out and have a clear synopsis and summation of somebody asks you what's trum what's my what's my what's the difference of tumasum what's anatum what's if you learned raom seriously you know that but you also know how you can prove God's existence you also know why we to leave is binim. You also know what it means to be a prophet, what it means to be a ni. You also know what the world is going to look like when Msiah comes. You also know what the schedule in the B mikdesh was. And you also know exactly every detail till the Rambam's day of Shabas. So the Reb comes and says this takes what we call in English guts. And the Rambam knew it. And the Rambam writes in his introduction of the Rambam says, "I saw what's happening. I saw the crisis. I heard my lawyers. I took the courage and I compiled and I wrote a safer that you'll give you the whole and then says you have and you have this safer and you don't need any other safer ever again for now here here now who you applauding now the okay fine I was just it sounded interesting. I was just quoting the introduction of the rabba. In honor of the Reb, please do not disturb. They're not disturbing. They're applauding. You see what you want to say? I just see them applauding. Now here, if you may, this is God's sense of humor. The Rambam says after my safer, you got everything. So what's Hashem's humor? No safer in history has created so many commentaries on top of on it like the Rambam. I think till today we know of more than 10,000 written on the Rambam by the greatest of the great from the BV all the way down to great in our generations analyzing they said the Rambam says you're not going to need another safer there was even one of the who accused him and said because of you nobody will open up a garra again you're causing the garra to go obsolete in reality what happened because of the Rambam. There was a whole new gimmar, a whole new depth in gamarra. No safer has so many I don't think even rash if I'm not mistaken the fella it's kind of an interesting little story I saw this in the introduction to aer from he says he was ones by the he writes well I think it was in the 1970s and he asked the an interesting question. How does the Rambam start off? Two of [Music] history. He goes through the whole history of Kaneka briefly. He speaks about the war the miracle of the and that's why that's why they made the eight days of you look at coming now now is the time for you expecting that give us a summation they made he doesn't do that and McGilly starts off right away You're supposed to read the migilla by night and by day right away into the so this Jew as the rebba I don't understand it's not fair why doesn't he give you historical context of put good question so he said without without a moment the reb said it's pushet read the introduction of the most people who learned in yeshivas didn't learn the introduction of the and by the way if tonight you're going to go home and you're going to decide just to learn the of the isu you'll never look Perish the same way just introduction of the to is something you could learn a whole year and if you'll have afterwards a to learn the introduction to which is like 50 60 pages then you'll see why you can't put it down everything this should be obligatory study in every yeshiva I believed to the to the because you can't understand anything of the whole structure of works without it but most people don't learn the introduction So said look in the introduction in the introduction the Rambam says readath read this and then you don't need any other safer to know soam expected that before you learn Mishna what do you read first has migillis he doesn't have to give you an introduction to migillis you learn you know purim but doesn't say anywhere in Tanakh you have Learn you have to learn you have to learn all this. So the he has to give you an introduction. You see how thought out it was, how calculated, very positive words from the butas guidance as a clar of course this is the Rambam not a joke anyone who takes the learning of the Rambam seriously if you can't three pro in one P but one P but learn it grunt know what he's saying look at the go back the Rambam was the most organized writer thinker I don't know if this I'm sure a few people remember here the first yard set of the Rambam After the Shia Rambam that the established was tough, the end of 84, the beginning of 85, the made a surprise for I think around 6:00 p.m. I was in yeshiva. I was before Bitzvah, but we heard. So, we ran over to 770. I remember when I walked in, they were just putting out the tablecloth and the Reb was already walking and the place was empty. So, the Reb sits down and he asks a question about himself. He says, "The Rambam was the most organized person. How is it that a faban honoring the yard is such a balagan such a faban you have to prepare you let know before you don't make people coming in and coming in nothing was ready I'll never forget the's answer it still guides me and the said you know how you see an organized person you don't see an organized person when you give him three months to prepare what you see an organized person when you tell him it's happening now and then you see if he's organized internally internally or he's just a control freak. what we call in other words if you're really organized right now right now there's an internal rhythm and so he says was a real so this right here is the example of real seder and then the said the famous says once in about why you send a reb to mikl v who rn I remember saying that should say this is a spiritual reason together was like you know almost the embodiment of msiach right before comes in maza try it out and you'll see so the says back to for those who are following how could the raam say this people could say this is a little arrogant you should be embarrassed really you're the one This is what the says you know why I'm not [Music] embarrassed just like the Gmorra says just like if you don't know and you make believe you know it's a crime if you do know and you make believe you don't know it's an equal crime. You know why says Hashem gave me the ability to see the bird's eye view of Allah. It's a responsibility. Embarrassment at such a moment is not humility. It's a complete complete disregard of your of your mission in life. How classic viter in life humility doesn't mean you sit on your couch like a couch potato and say I'm just another no you were chosen to cast your light in the world says because I gaze at all the mitzvah for me not to do it would be a betrayal of Hashem's vision Hashem's plan for me and what the Jewish people need most in Galos. And then some of us still remember vividly the first in 770 and it was surprising because the made a lot of but he wouldn't read from inside the made every few years every said he made a but he never read it inside. He would say over the Gmorrah by heart and also not necessarily the words. He would explain it sometimes. He said some of the words but that seal that and he read through and he said he's going to do it the last and he typed it up like a teacher would type it up to little children like he used to do with the rashis pointing and then he read the first and he typed it up word for word. And here we come to one more aspect but it's really a derivative of the first of what the Rambam really did and I think part of the incredible power in learning and internalizing Rambam. wanted to give people not just the details of people learn how other stuff in their whole life and it's so granular it's so detailed wanted to not zoom in only but zoom out and show people the vision of mata the vision of mata as the Reb once put it in to take the world and turn it into a world that reflects and hence the Rambam gave the Jewish people a gula consciousness. What do I mean? You weren't only a Jew impoverished living in Spain or wherever you were living in Africa or in Europe or in the Holy Land, downtrodden in Gulos. Yes, that was the Rambam's age as it's still our age sadly. But the Rambam wanted to give the Jewish people the vision of creation. And therefore he wrote a safer to show what does the world look like when the vision of the is ultimately manifested and embodied. It was one of the explained answering the big questioner in I think he says he doesn't understand why the made one of the 13 principles of faith. The once said over this with because he understood the beheld very much I don't understand is the cherry on the cake mashiach is the reward mashiach is gald but why is it the of he says he says we know mashiach will come but let's say god says I'm not he says do this change anything he says according to the They they're not coming back. He said, "Are they not? They're not in filling. They're not in sharp. They are if you get rid of you don't have you don't have." But even if you take away mashia says, "I know Mashiach will come." But what makes it? It's not a foundation. It's a beautiful thing that we're going to have. But even if we didn't have it, you still have to do as the put it then the great question of what's the deb's answer for this question. The Reb's answer for this question is the Rambam saw in Msiah the of Das because Mashiach basically tells you that God's plan, Hashem's plan is actually going to be realized at Mata. Hashem gave the Jewish people a blueprint. Take the world and change it. Turn it in. Turn it into a TA world. Is it ever going to happen or is it just a nice dream? Most of the mitzvah we don't even have today is essential to because it basically means the vision of Hashem for the world is happening. It's going to happen. It's real. Jews are ch we're changing the world through mitzvah. And that's why the rah holds that mashia doesn't have to make miracles. It's not a little detail. If Mashiach has to make miracles, it means you don't believe in the power of andite to create the world of according to the which is the whole vision of and therefore the end of the Rambam according to the Reb is not just beautiful things that are going to happen in the future. It's the submission of it's the concretization and embodiment of the divine vision for the universe happening in real time in real space. when he says and by the first sem you know what the Reb said on these words everybody learns the Rambam we just heard this from it looks like beautiful words there won't be hunger there won't be war that's nice there won't be jealousy there won't be competitiveness Why? A lot of goodness. All the delicacies will be as common as dust. It looks a little redundant. So the Reb said, "No, no, no. Listen, there won't be hunger and war. It'll be so much good. I won't be hungry. You won't be hungry. We won't have to fight. But we could still be jealous." Just because you think billionaires are not jealous of each other. They're more jealous of each other. Just because there's a lot of goodness, it doesn't take away jealousy and competitiveness. That's why adds well say it's going to be there. But it's meaningless. So you're going to get jealous that you have more sand in your sands than me. explains explains. Now people always learn their said which world is he talking about but look at this world look at this world everybody is worried AI is taking over the world artificial intelligence in 20 years will anybody have a job so the rabb says no you'll be out of jobs solar energy AI can't experience his the visceral experience of Hashem when the said I sit in my room and I open a is AI can do that. AI can take care of everything else. Abak told me the other day, he says, "That's going to be boring." I said, "No, the moment you will experience what dasis Hashem is, any bliss you ever had in life is not even of a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of this because it's the source of all bliss." And then finally, as we live in a world where sadly sadly the great tragedies of our times, great tragedies of our times happened through the most vicious of anti-semmites. But even more sad that it was Jews themselves who resurrected the enemy. Even if they had good intentions and they did not realize what they were doing. They did not realize as Anvi Hashem pleaded with prime minister after prime minister after prime minister after prime minister with every man of influence in Israel, every concession of territories, even talk of concession, every compromise, every demonstration of weakness is not creating peace. It's creating a a catastrophe of generations. And it's here again with can heal the Jewish people and heal the world because telling the Jewish people, stop being embarrassed with who you are, with what you are, with what your vision is. Speak to the world the truth. Tell them that this is one piece of land that the creator of the world gave to his eternal people as an eternal inheritance. It's not even ours to speak about to negotiate to give away. The world is craving for it's only the vision of the vision of the vision that in our generation the Reb has sacrificed his entire life to inculcate in the masses to be able to stand up to a world and say we have a mission to create a into a loy The world respects Jews who can stand up with conviction respecting their Judaism, their God, their history, their heritage, their roots. A non-Jew, a non-Jew is not embarrassed to say, "I'm ready to occupy a whole section of this land." And Jews who God gave it to them and gave it to Yako are afraid to say it. Comes the Rambam and says, "There's a vision. There's a grand vision. Speak the truth to the world so they will listen. They respect you. When you respect your God, when you respect your soul, when you respect your ta, this is the time when as you go home, take out that Rambam and again whether it's the 44th, 45th time, ma or it's the 40th time or maybe it's the second time or maybe sh it's the first time. If you don't tell, I won't tell. Take him out. Take out the Rambam. Let Jewish history come to life. Let divinity come to life. Let come to life. And let your soul come to life. Yes, it's not always as loud and inspiring as a big event. You're going to get to Shabas and you're going to have to plug away 30 difficult chapters. You're going to get to m and we wish you a lot of on behalf of all the lamb. plow it through. Give that gift to yourself. Give that gift to your home. Give that gift to your brain and soul with patience, with consistency. And with the Reb didn't start learning Rambom in 1984. The Reb would make a summar every few years when nobody realized that Reb was learning for years and years and years and years. that made a hydr a huge historic had one of the most amazing Hadron Alfdal one year before he started Ramb he made a Hadr on the Ramba a year later he probably finished Rambam again it's just my own estimation and he came out with the takana for everybody exactly tshin meal why then I don't know I do know that that was exactly 40 years before tshin palid and I also know that dminatis at night The Reb danced more than usual and he said the next night that he saw that and therefore he already started. The Reb also said that the Rambam has 83 and is the measure. And he said that learning Rambam has a power to help us heal from illness. And I think it meant not only physical illness but also mental, spiritual, emotional, social, psychological. Somehow learning and living with the Rambam has within it power that we can see. Power that is above what we can see. And in one of the last, the Reb said an expression and I could still hear it from the Reb's mouth. He said then for this you have to know Yiddish. Anybody knows how to translate the word far in English? Far is a very unique word in Yiddish. Far in simple English means it's one of the reasons why I became obsessed and overwhelmed and completely dedicated. Fal like completely entrenched and immersed in learning Rambam. Those of us remember the Rebu would come back from the oil. There were times in later years he came back close to midnight late late at night fasting a whole day standing standing on one place six seven eight hours and when you saw him coming home what was the learning he was in the car late at night theba was learning as we celebrate tonight the haram and I have to say one of my earliest memories as childhood is Rabbi Schmman the legendary chairman of the SMA visiting my father Alam Marshalam in our house and making sure that the SM gets promoted and advertised and I also heard a little negotiation here and there but what happens inside the house stays inside the house and uh remember those years of the dedication the ms nephesh to ultimately fulfill the vision and the real vision is not this is beautiful and it's amazing The vision of Samaram is that 90,000 Jews should fill up a huge huge stadium because the moment people will realize the extraordinary value of learning and the consciousness of will literally spread to the whole of Thank you. 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