Rambam: Aliya to Har Habayit | Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz | October 28th 2025

the old U center was uh just a much uh easier venue for me to get to. Uh anyway, uh today's share is sponsored anonymously. A reforgalinaem it should be bes. Okay. I had mentioned last week that uh we were beginning to look at uh some letters of the Rambam which are more of a personal vein. And uh the first one we looked at was a bit of an asseric letter he wrote to a friend of his, maybe a former friend of his, uh Ravie Sadayan, uh who was a Dian who was living in Erit Israel. Andra Viees had turned to the Rambam for help on a dinto Torah. Somebody was being sued and they needed the Rambam's help for cooperation. And Derek Agav incidentally uh Ravis mentioned you know I haven't heard from you from a long for a long time. Uh you know how are things going and the Rambam says this I'm happy to help you on your dtora matter but you know uh many things have happened to me. Uh I lost my brother. Remember the the Rambam's brother died in the Indian Ocean, lost my father. Uh I myself was accused of various things. The Rambam was in big trouble at various points with the Islamic officials. And the Rambam says, you know, even people from very far away countries sent me. They sent me letters of comfort. Uh and I haven't heard a thing from you about all of these things. He says, "How [snorts] good of a friend are you if you simply don't know what's going on?" Now, of course, obviously, Rabie didn't hear about things, but there's an idea that if you really care about somebody, you somehow find out even from a distance, and he gives Raves uh a lot of to maybe in a gentle way, maybe not in such a gentle way, saying that the idea of being a friend is that you have a sense of what is going on in a person's life. And the Rambam says, apparently Rabas's son was in Mitam. The Rambam says, you know, your son is a great great and a wonderful person and you should have much from him. Uh, and when if you ever visit, I will certainly give you all of the I would give a beloved friend. and he quotes the that when there is love, love covers up all of the sins and therefore you've sinned against me but my love for you covers it covers it up. So again it's an interesting letter in terms of the dynamics of friendship but there is a very very interesting historical reference in the letter that hakly is actually quite significant. Uh the Rambam reminisces as you know when we were in remember when the Rambam was in his late teens early 20s he and his father actually were in Erit Israel and they had planned to stay in Erat Israel which was under Islamic occupation at the time until they were driven away because of Islamic persecutions and they went to Morocco then they went to Egypt which was also under Islamic rule but a bit more benign and the Rambam even recounts his visit to the Kotto Maravi but he mentions to Ravves don't you remember the days when my father and myself and my brother and you we were a quartet so to speak in Erit Israel trying to make a life for ourselves and don't you remember the great day when we went to the site of the bashem the site literally of the house of God to dab in together for Mashiach and for Gulah. So this one little line creates an enormous bit of controversy. The normal meaning of betashem is the ma miktdash. The place of the mikdash is the Rambam asserting that he was mitz pale that he his father his brother Abdavid and Sadaya that they were a quartet that davended on the sights of the beta mikas. Now as you know there is a huge controversy putting aside politics and everything else. This is a rare instance where and the government are in full agreement on a particular issue. The government doesn't like Jews on the harat and don't like Jews on the harat. Uh so sometimes uh there can be agreement on something but as you know as you know and I'm not here to give you a on this in any way. uh there is a controversy uh whether halafically putting aside politics uh a Jew today is permitted to enter the area of the temple mount the Harabayat. Now let me explain a little bit what the background of this is. The truth is the Harabayat is not identical to the site of the beta mikdash. meaning to say there areim of the Harabayat uh the temple mount mounts Moriah whichever name you want to give it which are not part of the they did not have the holiness of the beta mikdish they were external to the beta mikdish now the problem that we have today and we've really had it for more than a thousand years is that all of us have the status of people who are tame met all of us have come into into contact with dead bodies sense of being in a cemetery or the like. Now once a person has the status of tame, there is no way to get out of that status unless they are sprinkled with the ashes and water, spring water of the pyra adum and in addition go to the mikvah. Meaning just like a nida, a woman that's a nida is a nida forever and ever and ever and ever until she counts seven days and goes to the mikvah. So too a tame is a tat forever and ever and ever and ever until they are sprinkled with the ashes of the paradum mixed with spring water and go to the mikvah. Now mikvah we have today but the ashes of paradum we don't have today. So as a result hakically all of us are in the condition of what is called to met. We are impure by virtue of our contact with dead a dead body. Now normally being a tet is not a big deal. A person who that's a tom dins learns keep chabas is taunted for a minion. Meaning I can go through my whole life being tame mets and there's no particular negative implication of being tame met but the one area where being a tame met makes a very very very big difference is a tame met who has not undergone a purification ritual is not permitted to enter the area that's designated as the beta mikdash which is either the building itself uh the where the temple building would be or the az the courtyard of the beta mikdash. Now technically any shak of the harabayat that is outside of the az outside of the courtyard of the beta mikdash technically a tat would be allowed to enter. Now here is the thing. There is a huge maklocus between Rambam in the Mishna Torah and by the way by the time the Rambam wrote this letter the Mishna Torah was already written. So he's already codified his position between the Rambam and the Ravid. Ravid is Rab Benit who was a great great French rabbi who uh basically he wrote many many things. In fact, it's some people say it's unfortunate that when we think of the raw, we only think of his critique of the Rambam. That was only one of many, many things that he did. But the thing that he's best known for is his very assurerbic critiques [snorts] of the in the Mishna Torah. So if you open up a Mishna Torah, every few paragraphs, not every paragraph, but every few paragraphs, you'll see a few lines beginning with Omar Abraham Alfra says and the will say different things and uh sometimes he just argues. Once in a while he'll say good thoughts, you know, Yafa Yafa Omar. That's pretty rare. Uh other times he actually gets insulting. He'll say, "How much paper did the Rambam waste on writing this uh for example in Chuva where the Rambam says anybody who believes that God has a body, the Rambam writes, even if he keeps all the mitzvot, he does not have a share in olamab because he's a heretic." The rivet says a lot of people better than him thought that God had a body. Now again the rivet is not saying God has a body but the rivet is saying if a righteous person is misled because of language of sukim the hand of God or whatever it would be he's not going to lose his olhaba for making a mistake. So the rabbit is not arguing on the substance of the idea that God doesn't have a body but he's arguing with the Rambam's conclusion that such a mistake could effect a forfeite of Mhaba. So another time when the Rambam tries to explain a very famous question that I'm sure you've discussed your children have raised and that is on one hand we believe in free will on the other hand God knows the future. So how do you reconcile that? Because here's the idea. I get up in the morning and I have to decide will I dive in or will I not dive in? So we say I have free will. I can make the decision either way. But how can I make the decision either way? If God knew yesterday what I would do and God knew a million years ago and God knew 10 trillion years ago. So by the time it's my moment of decision, it's already known what that decision is. So the Rambam struggles with the idea of reconciling free will with Hashem's knowledge of the future. The answer the Rambam gives is essentially it's impossible to answer the question because he says since God is an indivisible unity, God's knowledge is the same as God's essence unlike a human being where you can separate who I am from what I know. And since God's essence is unknowable, God's knowledge is also unknowable and therefore there's no way we can answer this uh how to reconcile it. So the rivid was annoyed with that answer. The rivet says, "If you don't have an answer to a question, don't ask the question." All right. Be it as it may, I was just giving you a few examples at random of the rivid's different styles. So be it as it may with respect to this particular issue entering the temple area if you are in a state of tumat the Rambam says the following idea. Even when the beta mikdash is destroyed, even when there is no binan, there is no ark, there is no kesh kadashim, there are no corpanotes, the sight of the beta mikdash has eternal holiness that will never go away. It is the mak of the shina. It is the place of the divine presence. And therefore the Rambam writes definitively that all of the restrictions on kisa all of the prohibitions of the tat entering the temple mount are absolutely in effect even bisman even if there is no betach because the kadush the holiness of the temple actually he says the same thing is true for the holiness of generally but that doesn't have a restriction on tame but specifically the area of the beta mikdash the Rambam's opinion is has kadusha even bisman and therefore according to the Rambam for a met to enter the of the beta mikdash or the which is the courtyard of the beta mikdash is an is the orita for which there is a of death in the hands of heaven now the rivet actually argues the rivet takes the very surprising position that after the destruction of the beta mikdash the temple site does not have kadusha which means according to the rivet it would actually be very very interesting there are no restrictions according to the rivet absolutely no restrictions in a tame entering the temple site And not only that but even entering although we don't know the precise identification but even entering the kodakim according to the ra these are going to be holy sites and these are sites where we remember important things but they don't have kadusha because the kadusha of the harabayat is a function of an actual beta mikdash that is there and when there's no beta mikdash The harabayat does not have kadusha which means the following. According to the rivet, if you were to ask me, am I allowed to walk anywhere on the temple mount even though I'm a tame met? The rivet's answer would be yes, you're allowed to. There is no kaduc like all of you. Shalai. On the other hand, if I were to be asked according to the Rambam, am I allowed to go if I'm a tame met? So, the answer is going to be more complicated. I would not be allowed to go in any area of the harabayat that is where the a was the courtyard or the hal the actual temple building but even like the ramb a tat would be permitted in the outer parts of the harabayat which are absolutely not the azar so in reality if a kedi or a god rasha tells you it's an isserior right uh to go on any area of the harayat uh that is absolutely hyperbole that absolutely is not the case it is a draot like the rivet everything is mudra that's obvious but even like the ram any area that's outside of the azar would be mut and even though rabbitically there's a certain area beyond that that's prohibited but even that does not embrace the outer rim so those who go on the harabayat obvious Obviously we we we have to be we have to be mak like the Rambam's opinion. Nobody nobody today is going to simply give you a green light like the rivid that you can go into the holy of holies or whatever it is. So the rivid is virtually a disregarded opinion here. All of the discussion is focusing on Rambam. So like Rambam the the underlying rule is going to be very clear. You can't go in the area of the a the or the keshakim. You can go in the areas outside of that. Now those groups mainly datomi groups those religious people who do go on the temple mount are careful not to go in certain areas. They they will map out a very detailed map of where you go, where you don't go. And once again, provided that you follow those guidelines, you're more or less okay. The only thing is, so you may ask the question, so why uh are people more to the right say you're not allowed to go in any part of the haray? Because they basically are worried about accidents. You may inadvertently wander into the wrong area. And hakically, it's like a minefield, right? uh you know if if if there are mines uh in a field and someone tells you as long as you stay 3 in away from this line you're going to be safe well I would I would be a little scared uh to kind of walk so close to a minefield okay so the point I want to make is that the issa to go on the harabayat is is absolutely hyperbole nevertheless nevertheless many many great rabbis have been against it simply because you might inadvertently cross a line. Okay. Now, be it as it may, we now come back to this letter of the Rambam where the Rambam writes to Rabief Sadayan that they davened together again the foresome of the Rambam, the Rambam's father, the Rambam's brother and Ravief. So, he was pretty pretty close to the family. They davened together in the house of God. Now, the house of God is a stronger expression than harabayat. If it just would have said harabayat. So that could be the outer part of the harabagayat. But bee [snorts] seems to conote the area of the and even the even the the actual temple. I mean there is no temple building but where the temple building was and that is a direct contradiction to the Rambamak that a to met is not allowed to go in those areas. Meaning if the raw would have written this letter that would have made sense but if the Ramban writes such a letter how could it be? So the post can you know discuss this and they basically say that they want to say little bit of a that it must be that the Rambam is using betashem in a much looser sense. He is not referring to the actual beta mikdash area or even the azor area. He is referring to the generally. Okay. But even that even that is interesting because it does indicate that the Rambam was not reluctant to dain at least on a certain meaning meaning even if you take not to be literal and it does not refer to the mikdash proper. It refers to the Harabayat as a whole. You still see that the Rambam was not an all or nothing person. The Rambam didn't take the position. You can't go anywhere on the Harabay. So it's an interesting point that uh this Rambam could actually be a duce uh regarding the present controversies uh that that we have. Now I do want to add a little bit a little bit uh of detail that with women there is a unique problem and this may be part of the equation. Although a tame met is allowed to go on the harabayat until they reach the area of the az and the that isly because the of theat outside of the a has the status of the camp of the levia and a met is permitted in the Levite camp. He just can't be in the mina. But a woman that is a nida or a man that has had a seinal emission, they are not permitted in machia either. So that would mean for example if a man had a seinal emission he could not go to any part of the harabayat unless he goes to the mikvah and waits until sunset. So for a man that's fairly easy but for a woman a woman is a need a lot longer. A woman is needed for at least uh 7 days 12 days actually. So it would turn out that a woman that's a need could not enter any part of the harabayat. And since it is our min that single women do not go to the mikvah at all then practically speaking there is noic way that a single girl once she's started menstruating would be permitted to go in any part of the harabay. This may be another reason why uh many Gdoleim have not been in favor of Kisahayat because it's going to be very very awkward to kind of say this group of people can go this group of people cannot go. It's just an easier arrangement to simply say we don't go. But it is important to know that even and of course the groups that arrange these tours that are show not all of them are but those that are they will make it clear they will make it clear that um uh women cannot go if they're in a state of need uh until they go to the mikvah and men with a seinal emission must also go to the mikvah and wait until night. I mean they will make it clear. Uh but as I say since legally these are not restrictions on harabayat I mean the the government doesn't care if you went to the mikvah or not. So once again uh there there could be a lot of confusion here. So again I I will once again repeat that statements like it's an isa to go on is is hyperbole. It absolutely is hyperbole. It absolutely is not true. But there may be logical reasons to discourage the practice. Again, I'm not giving anybody anybody a a psak uh but just uh to be aware of this issue. And of course, be aware of the rivet and the ram. It's interesting. Uh you know all of you have heard of the very very famous uh British philanthropist of the 19th century Mosha Monteiori, Moses Monteori. Uh his name is imprinted all over Eric but particularly all overlay. All of the neighborhoods with the with the word Moshe in it are named after Moses Montafi Kiryat Moshe Yin Moshe Maserat Moshe and a lot of other things. If you ever study the the old inscriptions above different gates and walls and you you'll see his name mentions quite a lot. He was an Orthodox Jew. Uh indeed he was a shmer mitzvot. Um he was uh a knight. He was sir Moses Monteori. He made four trips to Erit Israel in his lifetime. And every time he came because he was like supporting this is pre Zionist aliyah. So all you had was the Hayashan where very very few people had any parnasa at all at all at all. They were living in abject poverty. And he was the one who built up all sorts of things. The windmills are one of his great projects because he thought by building windmills that people could make a living grinding flour or or whatever it is. So the Montafi uh windmills and the like. Uh so the story goes in one of his trips and I don't have the exact date. So uh somebody convinced him to take a t on the temple mount on the harabayat and uh he walked around the harabayat and he showed him I think montafiori was not at katam. So I think the the person just showed him the rivet according to the rivet it's mutzer. So according to rivet it's mutra so it's muter. So Moses montori actually took at on the harabayat and this created a firestorm among the yishuashan that accepted as a msora not to go on the harabayat and uh basically they wanted to sever all ties with him uh not refusing to take any of his money undo his projects. Now that would have been absolutely economically catastrophic for the yisha. Uh but they were prepared to take that particular stance until things got worked out. Monteori explained he was misled by a mascll etc. wanted to push a certain progressive agenda. Uh so eventually you know we got reconciled to him and we were enabled to continue to take his financial RJS somehow a way a way was worked out uh to enable uh that arrangement to continue. >> Clarify amendment to commit or amend I always assume you just had to say you haven't had them. >> Are you talking about seminal no >> does that last forever? No, no. So the hal No, no. The halafa basically is that uh a man does not have to go to the mikvah if he has not had a seol mission. >> Well, well, it lasts forever until he goes to the mikvah. So, so for example, a person had a seinal mission on Monday. He went to the mikvah on Monday. He is to Monday night and he remains tohor forever until he has his next seinal mission. So technically uh if he wants to go to the harabayat on Wednesday and there was no seinal emission between the on Monday and his kisa on Wednesday he would not have to go to the mikvah but once again the reason why uniformally we advise a person to go to the mikvah is number one a person never really fully knows and number two we don't want to create confusion with people who do have to go to the mikvah it's just easier to say all men have to go to the mikvah but technically it would not be a It would be based on the seinal emission. By the way, when I say the word seinal emission, be sure you understand. I don't just mean a nocturnal emission or a a wet dream. Even if it's regular marital intercourse, that is called a seinal emission for purposes of tuma. So, it it doesn't make a it doesn't have to come from outside uh from an outside of marriage context. Uh I'm sorry. Yeah. >> Wasn't there [snorts] of the Temple Mount, a region where non-Jewish people could go and obviously they have that area. [clears throat] >> Yep. You you actually are correct. uh the outermost now now again the actual dimensions are a little unclear but the very outermost shak of the harabayat even non-Jews were permitted to enter and they did not have to go to the mikvah but here is the thing the thing that gets a little counterintuitive is that the laws of tuma actually do not apply to non-Jews meaning the laws of tuma are stricter for Jews than they are for non-Jews so the fact that a man a Jew Jewish man with a seinal emission would have to go to the mikvah would not be transferable to a non-Jew having to go to the mikvah. But you are correct. In fact, we actually have a sign an inscription from the second temple period uh both in Hebrew and in Greek and I think some other languages that kind of says no Gentiles may may go beyond this point upon pain of death. [laughter] So it was at least at some points in history it was a fairly strict idea like you know like they like like these electrical warnings they have here in Israel kind of they're a bit more they're a bit more dramatic than in the United States you know uh no touching this will be death or something what whatever whatever it would be so they actually had signs in the temple area non-Jews cannot go beyond uh beyond this particular area but as I say the concept of mikvah would not be would not be relevant and the like by the way. You may uh Yeah, sorry. >> Say again. Didn't hear you. >> Um I I don't know. Does anyone know about that? He was buried in in a vertical position. Um I'm going to check. I I honestly don't Why Why was that? So was that as a Why would that be so? >> Okay. I'm wondering. Okay. Uh yeah, >> I don't think New England. >> Okay. Okay. Um, you know, one of his big projects, again, just as a little aside, uh, was he wanted to get Jews out of the old city in those days, uh, there were no shikhunote, there were no shikhunot outside of, uh, uh, the old city, the old the old city walls. And many many Jews were afraid every night. Uh, they would lock up the old city gates. Uh, they would not leave because of animals, because of Arabs, because of different types of dangers. And he thought the conditions were so bad, crowded and starvation and filth and disease that he said Jews needed to build new shikunote. And uh the first I think was Mishkoshim kind of that long dormatory type thing and then Yin Moshe and he actually offered people money. He bribed them. He said you live outside of the the wall uh you'll get this money. But what people were doing is they were uh living there during the daytime and at night they would scurry back uh to the old to to the walls because they were they were too scared uh to be outside of the walls of the old city at night. Eventually, you know, the new were created. Uh, and he was he was kind of the builder or the financer of those first shuns. And then eventually Maya Sharim may at one time, you know, Maya Sharim, it's hard to believe, uh, was called the Riviera of the Middle East. [laughter] It was a really like it was always a religious neighborhood, but it was like a like fancy the most re best shops, you know, all sorts of things. It was called an attempt to make a rivier uh in inim uh okay and of course spiritually it was the tidum of the vil nagam that were also instrumental in building many of those of those shahun okay so that's a little bit of uh the point I'm making is that in mua in the ramb's letters are very very fascinating little tidbits that hakally can actually be very very important even on contemporary debates such as Kisa and the like. Okay, so that's kind of what I wanted to call your attention to to the letter to Yess Raves Haday. Now the next letter uh is a beautiful letter. I mentioned it last week to a Islamic convert meaning someone who was born uh Islam and became a Jew and he gave himself the name Oaja which is a beautiful name for a servant of God a beautiful name generally one of our prophets ovaja and he is known as Oaja and we don't really know how learned he was but he sent three sheot to the Rambam and it's fascinating how the Rambam responds the Rambam gives him a great deal of honor in his answer. He says verana ra ovaja. He says to our rabbi and our teacher ovaja. Now ovaja on the receiving end of that type of accolade must have been very very very excited that the rambam one of the greatest rabbis of the generation calls him his rabbi and his teacher and ravaja asked three questions. Now the most famous is the first question and that is Ra Vaja was told by his teacher whoever his teacher is that we're not given the name of his teacher that when he dabbins the amigga uh and we he says elanu right the amida says elo our god and the god of our forefathers Abraham elrau he's not allowed to say elos that he is the god of our forefathers because Oaja's forefathers are not Jews and therefore uh he has to say Elo God is our God aote Israel and the God of the forefathers not Avote not our forefathers but Elo aot Israel this is what he was told and similarly uh in like the Kaneka blessing or the porra that God did miracles to our forefathers. Well, he doesn't say that. He has to say Israel to the forefathers of Israel because it would be a sheer for him to say that Abraov are the forefathers or God did miracles to our forefathers. God didn't do those miracles to this guy's for he's a g but he comes from non-Jewish stock etc. So he asked the Rambam, "Is that emis? Is that true? Do I have to change my davining?" And by the way, the the rabbi who taught him said, "Not only do you change your dining when you're dabing privately, but even if you are the and in the repetition of the right, you must publicly change your text to correspond to your situation." Yeah. >> Because >> well, this Yeah. Yeah. But again I mean you know this because part of this is what the Rambam himself tells us. So it's so so the Rambam's overall response is very very beautiful. The Rambam says that you are a child of Ara not only if you are biologically descended from Ara. You are a child of Ara when you embrace the teachings of Ara uh who brought the world to a belief in Hashem and to the morality and goodness of following and emulating the ways of Hashem. So you are a Ben Abraham as much as any other Jew. Uh and therefore you do not have to change you should not change the although he makes an interesting distinction. This is actually a very subtle distinction. He does differentiate but then he walks away from it between eloenu in the amida and shaimu for kanuka and migill and and think about this. This is a bit of a subtle distinction in the amida. When I say I am very specifically referring to Abraham that that's what it says au so v your connection to the aot a g is certainly connected to the avot although I have to say that the rambom's proof is not as strong as you might think because The Rambam only shows how every g is connected to Ara and in fact that's the meaning of when Abraham got the hey he is the father of a multitude of nations but that does not directly show that a is connected to you see I mean all of the proofs of the Rambam are you are connected to the life of Ara so the Rambam I have to admit fudges it a little bit by then conflating ing Abraham with all the okay we'll give him back but here's what the Rambam then says when you look at the brah of Kaneka candles or even migill reading same braha sha nim lavosenu hashem did miracles to our forefathers now in that brah forefathers is not a reference to Ara, yitzk and yakov. It is a reference to the Jews at the time of the poor story or the Jews at the time of the kanaka story. Now even if a g is a child of Ara by virtue of the spiritual destiny he is not a descendant of th those generations. So there the Rambam actually says the following. if you want to change your blessed he says you're allowed to do that because there is a point in which that's true but he then walks back and says but you know you don't have to do that either because once you're part of the Jewish people then everything that happened to the Jewish people is part of your experience in other words you have made yourself part of our family And when you're part of our family, our history becomes your history. But it is interesting that apparently the Rama was was troubled a little bit by the distinction. In other words, in the Amida when you're talking about the avot, yeah, for sure you're a spiritual child of the avot. when you're talking about historical events, maybe there's a mo to change, but but the ram's mas is at least you don't have to change even even that. And the ram even goes further and says, you know, you're you're better than a Jew in some ways because we are described as the children of the you are described as the child of God. So you are the child of of Hashem. Hashem is your parent in that way and that's even higher. You know it's interesting there is a goramos the of conversion is in the fourth per of and there's a gumar that says and again I hope no one will be offended at the initial quote. I'll give you an explanation. Says converts are as bad for the Jewish people or as difficult for the Jewish people as leprosy. They're a pain. That sounds, you know, pretty negative. So there are two interpretations. One interpretation is, oh, there are so many converts who don't know and therefore they're doing things wrong, albeit unintentionally, and therefore, you know, they're just a pain. They're not doing things right. But tovos then brings ashhat in the name of a man who is called rebi Abraham Hager Abraham ben Ara which is and he says the reason we are difficult for the Jewish people is we are so meticulous in how we keep the commandments that we make everybody else look bad. So now the truth of the matter is the em is both explanations of tomos are 100% true. Yes v there are those who maybe didn't have all of the education they should have had or people occasionally god forbid didn't have sincere motivations. And then you have the other extreme of those who are so so righteous and holy and conscientious that indeed they are role models for how one should be a a righteous Jew. I mean there's no accident that Mashiach damel and eventually Mashiach Ben comes from Russ the Moabitete convert. I mean, Messiah comes from a guorit, not only a regular gorit, a giorit from a very despised nation, the despised nation of Moab, and that will be the source of of Mashiach. Now, the only thing is that the Rambam does the Rambam's analysis is very beautiful. But the Rambam now has to confront, and this is the basis of what the rabbi said, a Mishna that seems to say exactly the opposite. So as beautiful as the Rambam's answer is, he cannot argue with the Mishna. And this is a Mishna in Burim, right? The mitzvah burim is the mitzvah every year to bring your first fruits to the Bikdash and give them to a we don't practice this when there's no BA mikdash. And when a person brings bikurim, he makes a short declaration thanking Hashem for everything. And uh the declaration should be quite familiar to you because it is the basis of the hagada of pes beginning with the words arami ovi lavan the arian the syan tried to destroy my father. We went down to mitim and god took us out and god gave us the land that he swore to a to our forefathers Ara and Yakov. Now, here is the thing. These are two different mitzvah. There's a mitzvah to bring the borim and there's a mitzvah to recite these. That's called ka. A mitzvah of a mitzvah of ka. Normally when you bring beorim you do both. But the Mishna says some people are maybe the ano kore. Some people bring but they don't recite. And among those who bring and don't recite is a gear. This is a Mishna. Rabiosi says if a g brings his bikurim he has to bring them but he cannot say the recitation because the recitation has to be in the exact words of the Torah. You can't improvise. And in the Torah it says God swore to our forefathers to give us the land of not his forefathers. He can't say those verses. Therefore the Mishna says and this is why the rabbi told the in the you cannot say you have to say loc. So now the Rambam is stuck right the Rambam is stuck because the Rambam gave a whole beautiful explanation that you're a child of Avam because you embrace his teachings but the Mishna says no the Mishna says you cannot a cannot read the para because of so the Rambam has to answer that the Rambam cannot ignore a Mishna and the Rambam pulls the rabbit out of his out of his pocket the Rambam says yeah you're right That's what the Mishna says. But if you look at the Talmudi on the Mishna the Talmudi says Zi mayor the Mishna follows the view of Rabbi Mayor. But Rabbi Yehuda says a G can say the word Abu because Abra is the father of all nations who embrace God. And the tom shami says the is like rebiha. So yeah the Rambam is making no attempt to answer the problematical Mishnaya text. The Rambam simply says Tom Shami says we don't pass in like that. So that's enough for me. Okay. So as a case kind of a rabbit out of the hat because presum you know the tomi even then was not widely studied uh as much as the Babylonian Talmud uh and probably the rabbi who taught a looked at the Mishna and in the Mishna there's no makus there is no other opinion in the Mishna so he told you you got to follow the Mishna so the Rambam says aha there's a shi that says says the opposite okay so this was the first of the three questions. Next week we'll look at the other two questions. But the most f by far the most famous part of the letter uh is this and you see the Rambam's sensitivity to ovaja status as a gear and as I mentioned even the addressing he addressed him as Marana Vabana our teacher our rabbi to give a person cover and give a person understanding that he's part of clo Israel. Okay you all have a good week. Yeah.