Rambam's Letters: Olam Haba | Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz | October 21st 2025

Okay. Hi everybody. Hope you're well. Again, I hope the Yamim toim were beautiful and inspirational. Uh a joke, although it's not such a joke that that I once heard is that when a Rebi was asked, "How was your rashashana?" He said, "You have to ask me next rashashana, which I guess uh is is true." But bezos hashem um we should have a good and a sweet year. I know that onshana rabba we were zoka to a a great great great Yeshua with the freeing of the hostages and we hope and we hoped that that would be the beginning of shalom. Unfortunately, as you say the the road is a bit torturous and winding and uh even after these uh ceasefires there are going to be unfortunately there have been obstacles there have been that have died already. Uh but we hope we hope we hope that it'll be a hopefully a small interruption and and God willing we should return to the pathway of peace. Uh the share today is dedicated anonymously for the raffle of Okana Bat Bluma and Ebolina Balina. May they have a refu Israel. And in addition uh another anonymous you see if you sponsor my share you're in trouble. You got to keep your name uh you got to keep your name private. Uh but responded anonymously Eloy for his sight. May the D Torah be an aliyah. Um I I do want to take the liberty of really starting on on a different note. I think obviously in the OU all of you are very very aware of the the tragic death of Mosha Zraa the executive vice president of the of the Orthodox Union really the the head rabbitic leader of the entire OU structure. Um and I know that yesterday I believe was a memorial service held um in the U center in Harotim. Um I was not able to go paradoxically because Rabbisenhower's sister Rachel Newberger made a inlay yesterday. So the family itself was split between the Kasna and the memorial and the memorial service. Uh but I I I do feel that I I have to say say something. Uh I knew I've known Rabbi Hower for many many many years. uh he was a RV in Baltimore uh with great distinction for 26 years. He was a tom of Ner Israel also with great distinction and um I know that uh everybody who interacted with him felt they had a special relationship and I could say I felt they had a special relationship but not really. The nature of his personality was such there was such sweetness, such humility, such respect with everybody that he interacted with that everybody thought they had a special relationship with him. And as say who is a person who is deserving of honor, he who shows honor to all of God's creations. And if any of you ever had the sus to even talk to him briefly or even hear him talk, uh you would see that he was a person who gave you unconditional covet. And what's fascinating is as I was looking at the different eulogies and the different statements that were made, I saw a statement issued by a good Israel. A good Israel is yeshiva institution to the right of the U. without getting into uh all of the uh politics there and is normally not particularly friendly to the UOU on a number of issues although I may hear from a good on this uh but they issued a beautiful statement about Ra Howard's Petira in which you could really see the love that they had for him uh the respect that they had for him and that was quite unusual that Aurores Israel uh would issue a statement uh not just a proformer statement It it had a genuine genuine affection. I was a little surprised because sometimes even when a good leaders die, I have not seen statements written with the same affection and respect. At the other end of the spectrum, Rick Jacobs, the head of the reform movement, I don't know exactly what his title is, issued a statement bemoning the loss of his kabusa and dear friends that they loved so much. And he talked about the fact that they disagreed on everything, but they were friends and they talked and they were united in their concern for Ammy Israel, for Erit Israel, even though it took different forms. Not too many people in the world are going to get accolades from both a good Israel and the reform movement. And I think it shows you what a remarkable bridge builder Rabbi Hower was. That every single Jew on any point of the spectrum was able to come to him, interact with him, be treated with respect to see that he would see the legitimacy within every position of the little facets of truth that are everywhere scattered. And he was able to be a consensus builder, an is shalom. And God shalom, one of the names of God is the name of Shalom. And he truly was a godly man. Uh in that way, I do want to emphasize that he was a person in spite of his openness, his akus, his aas is he was a person who was very very rooted in Torah. He was a phenomenally great to he loved learning. He loved his entire life. He loved learning. uh I don't know once he worked for the OU I'm not sure how much time he had but when he was above in Baltimore when he was not involved in rabbitic duties he was in the ner Israel based medish I mean he went I mean he learned uh you know five six hours a day uh in the nar is based medish so he loved learning uh he was good at it he was a creative thinker in detra and everything every decision that that he made even if he didn't you know I guess when he's talking to Rick Jacobs, he's not necessarily going to quote a toos or a a Rambam. Uh but every decision that he made was always based on what he took out of the Dra the D Torah. But he combined his great great knowledge of Torah and not just his knowledge but his love of Torah with a love for Amy Israel. He was a man with a mission. You know there is a medish in Tana de Ali Leah in which Alio Hanovi is quoted as revealing a great secret that he heard from God himself where God said there are two things that I love with a complete love. I love my Torah and I love my Jewish people. And alien then said he asked God but which do you like more and God initially didn't want to answer it says I don't want to answer that question I plead the fifth uh but aloi pushed him and Hashem said I love the Jewish people even more this is the medric I think in this way Rafa once again emulated the ways of God he loved the Torah tremendously ly and he loved ami Israel perhaps even perhaps even more I can't say even more but on that type of level in which every single Jew mattered truth is every single person mattered I mean uh when there was a conference and this is a little controversial of different rabbis even interdenominational about uh Israel and the time of danger and all the struggles we've gone through in Gaza and obviously the the point of uh it was to address the suffering of the Jewish people. Rabbi Hower who of course addressed that and that was his primary concern. But he was the only one the only one who alluded to the fact that we have to have rakamim for everybody including again don't don't kill me I'm kind of I think uh quoting him but including even Palestinian suffering has to enter into an equation obviously uh the protection of Jewish lives is going to be our primary goal and he he made that point many many times but he said we can't forget the other side of the equation as well just as When the Egyptians were drowning in the sea, God said, "My creations are drowning. It is not a time for joy and jubilation." You know, Rav Cook once remarked that by chauffeur, we start blowing from the narrow end and it goes out to the wide end. And he said, "This is really a message for how a person grows as a Jew and how a person grows spiritually." When you're first born, a baby, the only thing you think about, if we could use the word thought, is what you need. You're hungry. You need to be cleaned. Whatever it would be, your preoccupation is with yourself. As you grow, you eventually embrace more and more people, your family, your community, and spiritual growth progresses from the egotism or the narcissism. I'm not suggesting babies are narcissists but from that preoccupation with the self to kind of go broader because you regard them as part of yourself becomes expanded and Rafuk says that is the rem of why the chauffeur you start with the narrow and you blow outwards family you know wife children community I'm Israel even the world to some degree. And I think in Rafara we we definitely saw that growth. Again, at one point in his life, he was totally focused on his learning in in Yeshiva, which he became very very accomplished. As he grew older, his ambit of concerns gradually expanded. his sh the Baltimore community eventually the entire Jewish community of the United States and indeed the entire world Eric Israel where Jews were everywhere and in that sense although he's younger than me u he was a role model a mentor a teacher someone that we could all look up to uh for so many reasons his Torah his aas is his modesty his humility and the unconditional respect that he showed uh every uh every person. Um I should also emphasize that he had a special love for Eric Israel and all of his life he wanted to come to Erit Israel and he used to say with a great deal of sadness that perhaps his name is Moshe and just as Hashem decreed that Mosheu could not enter Erit Israel perhaps that gazer is on him as well. Although again obviously that's not a compelling logic. There are many Moshas init but he felt that perhaps he was Niklau in that. But when he was a Rav I think even when he was ameritus because he continued to dabin in in his B he lived in Baltimore although he was running the OU he actually lived in Baltimore but he would get to Torah and when Hashem says to Moshe I have shown you the land but you shall not go. He always started crying. He started crying at that puss because he felt it was almost as if the Torah was speaking to him at that particular point, but he did work tirelessly uh on doing whatever he could regarding the hostages. And and some pointed out although who knows the mi the you know the mystery here that his felos and his efforts were so powerful that when an hosana rabba the 20 hostages that were alive were finally freed finally released and that itself has great cababalistic implications why it was rabba [clears throat] he died the next day it's almost as if he completed his mission hashem wanted him to see the fruits of all of his efforts and then Hashem took him took him. So have the famous saying alas for those who are lost and they cannot be replaced. You know we have many Torah scholars on one side. We have many o Israel big tense people who are kind and tolerant on the other side but sometimes it's a little hard to get a combination of the two not that many people around and each one is so precious each one is so needed and when like leaves the world there's an enormous void that is created and as is always the case when a void is created we have to step up and try to fill that void. So if he you know had a million things that he contributed each of us takes on know something and maybe cumulatively we can replace or at least supplement all that he accomplished. So um again I it's really very very very devastating and again I was at a the kasna of his family vafa yesterday and it was kind of a a very mixed atmosphere. It was a joyous on the other hand but connected with with the Shiva with the may his memory blessing uh and may we uh as Kazal sayim even in their death are called alive because if we follow their ways and we learn from their then in a sense their life continues to permeate the existence of that we go through. So, and again, I I apologize for talking off topic a little bit. Uh but I think it was very very important. I feel very bad that I was not able to be misht uh in the zikuran yesterday. So, I thought today might be a logical opportunity to give honor to a truly truly great man and a great beloved man as well. Okay. Uh so now uh we go back uh to to the Ramdam's letters and um just to remind you uh although we've been given the giving this course for a while we have only covered three letters but these are the three public letters that the Rambam wrote. Uh the Rambam wrote many letters just like all of us may write many emails. Uh but the three great public letters just to remind you get us back on the same page uh was um hashmad or mamar keshashem the two titles that were given uh by later people and that dealt with the duty of martyrdom and when you must die al keshashem and when you need not die al keshashem and it was written in response to Islamic persecutions and the ram develops the ideas of martyrdom and uh he actually pointed out that in that Islamic persecution there was no duty of martyrdom but he then made the the critical point that even when a person must give up his life if he fails to do so he is still a Jew in good standing and should never have the attitude that I renounce Judaism so what's the point that was mamar keshm ores hashmad it has two titles neither of which is from the raam these were titles that were given by the translators. Uh the second great public letter was Eger Tman uh a letter to the Yemenite community and that too arose out of roughly the same types of Islamic persecutions but it had a different focus instead of focusing on martyrdom and the duty to give your life. This was largely a letter of and encouragement uh and uh talking about Mashiach and warning us against false mashiach and the Rambam gave actual case histories of how false Mashiach have misled the Jewish people. and Earrett Tman uh the Rambam actually requested that the letter that was written in Arabic with Hebrew letters actually be read publicly in all of the Bateio that it should be read in all of the Scholes in Yemen even though the Rambam conceded that he might get in trouble uh with the authorities with this letter and I think I had mentioned just to forgive the the repetition that from that time onward the Yemenite communities had enormous respect and admiration uh almost hero worship uh for the Rambam. That is why the traditional practice in Yemen was that even after the publication of the they continued to follow the Rambams earlier uh because they considered the Rambam to be their authority and during the Rambam's lifetime they actually amended the Kadesh that when we ask when we ask in the Kadesh may God bring the redemption in your life you're speaking to the congregation Israel They actually added may the Mashiach come in the lifetime of right. So that was so in truth therefore the hash or keshm and which also has a second name the opening of hope are really dealing with different aspects of the forced Islamic persecution against Jewish communities and the Rambam was addressing it in different ways. one was focusing on the duty to give up your life or not and the other was focusing on the idea of and strength in times of of difficulty and God's love for the Jewish people. Now the third letter that we spent a few weeks on uh was written uh in response to a controversy in which the Rambam was accused of denying the idea of physical resurrection of the dead. uh because the Rambam describes olumabah as the world of the soul, the spiritual world of the soul. And the Rambam even uses the phrase goof. There is no goof, there is no there is no eating and drinking. It is simply the disembodied soul connected to God in joyous uh infinity. Ah so uh the Rambam was accused by some rabbis some some very great rabbis in Baghdad in Iraq in Bavl of not believing in physical resurrection and therefore the Rambam is an apicorus. The Rambam is a kofair because physical resurrection uh is a fundamental dogma of Judaism and the Rambam's defense is well what do you mean I deny physical resurrection? I gave you the list of 13 principles of faith and the 13th principle is physical resurrection. Right? So the Rambam says you can't accuse me of not believing in it because I I I stated it as an amuna. But the thing is though that the Rambam does have the way I said it and again I I stand by it although it's it's a little irreverent. The Rambam believed in it because he was stuck with it as a matter of tradition. uh I don't think emotionally he was so happy with it because the Rambam's idea of the body having some eternal existence was fundamentally contradictory to his overall philosophy that matter always decomposes and the only thing that matters is and therefore he couldn't imagine an olhaba where we're sitting around feasting on the wild ox and the leviathan but the rambom was stuck that the rabbi clearly believed in physical resurrection. So the Rambam accepted it. But what he did was he relegated it to a kind of limited place. In other words, the way the Rambam's view of resurrection is that sometime after Mashiach comes, it may be right away and it may be a thousand years later, the soul will come back into the body and there'll be resurrection. But then they're going to die. It's going to be a one-time event like the splitting of the Red Sea and then it'll be over and the only thing that is eternal is Maba. So in effect, you might say the Rambam has his cake and eats it as well. Meaning he officially says I believe in physical resurrection but he relegates it to a one-time phenomena without any type of eternal implication. And this is absolutely unique. The Rambam's position is not even taught in Yeshivos or Bishakos or anything else. It's not even not even mentioned. The standard narrative of resurrection is that that is offered by Ramban and taken up by the cabalists and the Ramal in Derak Hashem that resurrection is the end of the game. Resurrection is the final eternity. That the world of the soul is a temporary holding station. until we have resurrection which will essentially be forever and ever and ever. Uh so in fact in terms of nomenclature once again according to the Ramban the word I'm sorry the phrase olabah refers to the world of resurrection and the place where the soul goes now is called olanes or ganed. So there is a nomenclature according to the ram according to my manities is the world of the soul is a short-term thing they get resurrected they live a life and then they die and that's it that's not going to happen again so in a sense I think it reflects the idea that again I maybe I shouldn't say it this way the Rambam was stuck with certain doctrines that he had to accept but he he tried to limit them as much as he possibly could based on his understanding. No, so seen in that way, it could very well be that the accusation of the Rambam's opponents was largely true. I mean, they said, "Hey, Rambam, you deny physical resurrection." Well, the answer is the way they defined physical resurrection, the Rambam did deny it, right? The Rambam denied their understanding of physical resurrection because the Rambam had a much more limited understanding of now as I say um in normative Jewish teaching uh the Rambam's view is virtually not even mentioned. It's almost contraband. So you're hearing something that uh you know u your children might not hear in their yeshivos or their bash. But it is after all the Rambam's opinion. Now the question that one would then raise is so what's the point of it? Uh meaning like the Ramban we can understand what represents. It actually represents a union of body and soul in receiving the eternal reward for one's mitzvah. And the tomet explains that since we do mitzvot with both our gof and our na. So it's appropriate that the gof and the nama share in the eternal reward. So according to the raan we can understand what the role of is. It's simply the fullness of reward based on the g and the nish. But according to the Rambam, it's just going to happen and then stop. And the only thing that's eternal is so one could raise the question, okay, even if you define in that narrow way, what what's the purpose? Why why does God do it? Like why why even have it done at all? So here we have a very interesting answer that may depend directly on an earlier question and that is what is the role of mashiach. In fact, one might even ask this question. Why? If the main eternal reward according to the Rambam is Allah aba and Maba exists now somebody dies they go to Maba hopefully right so what's the purpose of Mashiach why do I need a mikdash mashiach why do I need it mashiach anyway is going to die and that itself is temporary and the Rambam explains an interesting idea the purpose of mashiach is to create an ideal world where more people will do more mitzvot and therefore God will give them more habad. This is a very amazing idea. The purpose of mashiach is to create greater opportunities for amhab by removing the distractions, removing the impediments, removing the difficulties. Ah now if you understand that idea now you understand even in a limited sense because here's the point. If the purpose of mashiach is to enable people to do more mitzvot without limitation and therefore get more that only helps the people that are alive when msiach comes but all the people that died earlier seemingly don't get that opportunity answer they come back for a while they're given another life of resurrection meaning is simply a way of enabling those earlier generations to partake in the blessings of your moto mashia. It's not an end stage. Okay. Now, I know this may be hard to hear because what we've absorbed over so many years uh is the end of the road. It's eternal, but the end of the road. And that indeed is the shittita of Ramban Mosha Lutato, the cabalis. And that has become the mainstream theology of religious Judaism. Uh but the Rambam viewed in a very different way. Now you can understand therefore why his opponents found it confusing. And as I say uh in terms of what they're accusing the Rambam of there may be a great great deal of truth in the accusation uh because they defined in a certain way. The Rambam indeed rejects that interpretation. So they accuse the Rambam of not believing in and the Rambam's answer is well I believe in the way I define like um okay I shouldn't use irreverent analogies but I think of Humpty Dumpty in Alice in Wonderland uh words mean whatever I choose to make them mean yeah I believe in and I will give it this very very limited definition Yes. Thank you. >> How long the Rambam is? >> So the Rambam said now, well, we don't we don't know when it'll happen, but the Rambam seems to say they will live a long life, but you know like a hundred or whatever. In other words, it's not uh going to be a thousand years. It'll be a long life blessed with health, but uh it will not be extraordinary. They will they will die. Okay. All righty. Um Yeah. world doesn't >> uh yeah yeah yeah that's that's very very true uh again when I'm when I'm quoting Ramban I'm not quoting from the perish Allah Torah I'm quoting from Shahagul which is his treatise uh but but ne but nevertheless it's not it's not a contradiction because the truth of the matter is according to Rambim is the completion and the fulfillment of Yamote Mashiach. So essentially Yo Mashiach is going to morph into and the process of perfection will start from the coming of Mashiach even before the resurrection. So the Rambam the Ramban didn't have to go into the end stage because those braots will will come even even at an earlier point. Um, okay. So, as I say, uh, yeah, >> people I'm sorry, say again, I didn't hear you. for people according to how they >> um as far as far as I know the actual process of resurrection is going to be the same according to Rambam and Rambanifications. >> Yes. >> Yeah. I I believe I believe that's correct. I I believe so. Yep. Yep. Yep. Okay. Now, I want to point out, and we're going to see this in some other letters, which we're not going to get to today, that as you would expect, uh, the controversy did not die down. Uh, for good reason, because the Rambam did not concede anything. Uh, and we're going to see that this was used to attack the Rambam on a number of other things as well. And, uh, this was one of the cornerstones of what's called in academic literature, the mymanadian controversy. And there were four different stages of that which lasted around 100 or 120 years even after the death of the Rambab till it finally uh died down. And uh was only one of the issues I mean some were against the whole idea of the Morinim which was an attempt to reconcile arisatilian philosophy uh with Torah. And there were those who were against the Mishna Torah which is a pureic work because they felt that the Rambam didn't give sources and the Rambam was trying to take people away from Tomudic learning. So the Rambam got attacked on many many different uh issues. Yeah. >> So if the Ram says that the hapa is Yeah. >> When does the come in like I from what I understand people are getting right now. Oh yes. Yes. The in fact the Rambam's and then the >> No, it's really the same. Basically, it's almost as if you know someone dies and hopefully they go to right now, right now. And at some point, God calls them back to active duty. God says, "Okay, you got to be in the body a little more." So they're taken out of Alamaba. They're put into a body. They live another, let's say, hundred years. and then they go back to Haba. But the hope would be that because they were given a hundred years of mitzvot, they will get more better hab. So essentially they're sent out of olabah to earn more oolhaba. You know there's a uh this is actually something that we have to think about. Perkyos basically says, you know, ola Maba is wonderful, but your olaba is only based on what you do in Ola Maza, perhaps augmented by your children or your students, you know, etc. Uh, and therefore, one has to make the most of this world. Uh, because this world determines the olhaba that a person that a person gets. So there was um a mad you know in Europe know in America when we think of a rabbi we think of a rabbi as someone who gives sermons gives dras but you know in Europe the rav of a kahila only spoke twice a year I spoke on shabas shouva and shabas sagodo now sometimes the drussa might have been four or five hours long to kind of make up for but the r was not the darian but there was a functionary in the life and even in the big cities called the magit who would normally I mean some big cities actually had a mag on staff others [snorts] had itinerant magim that would go from city to city the mag for example was a very famous famous preacher a big some magidam were great some were not you know different different things but there was a famous magid in the 19th century called the magged of kellum now do not confuse kellum is a city on the German Lithuanian border. Do not confuse the mag of Kellum with the altar of Kellum. They are not the same people. The altar of Kellum was Rais Solanter's closest Talmud and he had a yeshiva. The maggot of Kellum was also a Talmet of Raisant. it happened to be but he was a mag and he was extremely dramatic in his style and uh he would be ma people felt that he could be moer people to chuva and and and tikun and the like so um he once came to a community I'll give you an example of a drussia that he gave before yum kipper he once gave to a community came to a shaw speaking to the community and right outside of the shaw was a cemetery I think the cemetery was in back of the shell just like in in Poland that was often the case. If you look in the Ramos baset, there's the a great bas. Huh? Say what? Um okay. So uh the mag of Kellum looked out at the cemetery as he's talking and he said a miracle happened that all the mason in the cemetery came back to earth came back out of the out of the graves came back to to life and they were given one half an hour to try to fix whatever it is they needed to fix. Half an hour after that they go back to the graves and their olaba will be totally limited to whatever it is they do in that half hour and what they did in their lives before. So people were rushing around and he was very dramatic. I can't I cannot do justice to the drama of his presentation. Some person went and he took a gar and was learning. Another person said to him, another person's dabing. Another person goes to his wife and his children to ask forgiveness and all of these things. And each time they're running around, they're looking at the clock. 29 minutes left, 28 minutes left, 27 minutes left. And they're getting more and more frenetic as they're moving and moving and moving and moving. And finally, it's 29 minutes. Countdown, you know, 10 9 8 and then there's a sab, a whale, an unbelievable whale coming up from the hundreds of people who were buried in that cemetery as they returned to their graves and they realize this had been their last chance. So the way he he took him like a half an hour to go over this description and uh people were sobbing. They were wailing. There was a and then he said and Rabosi what is so bad if you have more than a half an hour and then he said and this is again relevant to Rabbi Hower. And who says you have a half an hour? So this can drive a person crazy. I understand that. But ultimately it's a positive message to make every minute count to take your life look at it as precious look at it as special and even like the Rambam is highlighting the preciousness of life in which God gives us a bit of a second chance to come back and make things better. And if we still have our first chance, we should try to use it in the best in the best way. Okay. So this was uh by way of kind of what we uh what we covered. Uh so now I'm going to move on to something new and uh the new thing will portray the Rambam in perhaps a more personal light. I want to look at a few personal letters uh that the Rambam wrote. Now it's amazing. I I still don't have a clear picture how did we get access to those personal letters. I mean the Rambam wrote a letter to one person. It was not a public letter for which many copies were made. Uh like you know who who got hold of it and the like. In fact one wonders even are you allowed to publish private letters you know um well of course the Rambam lived way before actually he didn't live before but the Rambam lived after Rabenu but the Rambam was not Ashkanazi. was not subject but you know Rabenu Gersam uh was called Moragola the light of the exile was the greatest leader of Ashkanazi jewelry in the generations before Rashi Rashi is a student of a student of Rabenu Gersham and Rabenu Gersham's authority was absolute over Germany and Poland and he's considered to be the the primary source of authority for Ashkanazi jewelry and uh it is known that he proclaimed with his bin a number of proclamations backed up by excommunication that became accepted by Ashkanazic jewelry. The most famous one is the ban on polygamy. Now the Torah permits and even khadal permits a man to have more than one wife although maybe it's not encouraged that much. uh Rabenu Geon Geom banned prohibited the practice of polygamy among Ashkanazi jewelry. Nowardim officially never accepted the ban of Rabenu Gersham. Uh so theoretically according to Halaka they would be allowed to practice polygamy to this very day. There are a number of historians that try to make the assertion that Rabeno Gersham lived in Christian countries and under Christianity polygamy was never permitted. So it would have been hashem if Jews were to practice something that the Christians considered repugnant. Lived in Islamic countries that did allow polygamy. Um this is an interesting historical explanation. I do find it a little problematical that the parameters of Hashem should be defined by what Christians consider to be repugnant behavior. But nevertheless, it is a fact that Ashkinazim accepted the ban of Rabenu Gersham. Sardam did not. But I have to qualify this by two points. Point number one is Rabenu Gersham's ban was originally given a time limitation. It was until the year 5000. Now given the fact that we're in 5786 uh the ban would have expired almost 800 years ago but Raose Cairo reassures us that the Ashkanazi bin renewed the ban. So the ban remains in effect. Uh the second point to keep in mind is that in the year of the establishment of the state of Israel and uh part of the structure is that there's a Rafaashi Ashkanazi and Ravarashi Sardi uh the two chief rabbis the Ashkanazi rabbi uh was um Rhertz Rhook died before the state of Israel. So the first Ashkanazi rabbi was Ravis Kurtza, the namesake of the grandfather of the president of Israel. And uh the Sparti rabbi was of mayor and they came to a that in order to create unity in AmIrael, the Spardim agreed to give up polygamy and adopt the Ashkanazi takana of Rabeno Geram. Uh so based on that at least in the state of Israel besides the law of the Knesset laws is illegal anyway that's a separate thing but besides the law of Knesset the raashi of the kilo of was mabel the ban of rabeno gersam on polygamy but what's interesting is in the 1970s roaji ysef who at the time was the chief rabbi said Ravuzu didn't have the authority to give up the minagoardim and therefore he asserted as a matter of were still permitted to practice polygamy. Note the later Rafa Rashi denied the authority of the earlier Rafa Rashi and then Raaja made political points which he was very sharp as and says how come whenever Ashkinazim and Sardim come to compromise it's alwaysardim giving up something for Ashkenazim he says what have Ashkenazim given up you know for okay so that's why Roaja was not only an enormously great but he was a very popular political leader or even non-religious spartim look to him as a role model. Yes, >> we're ready to give up. [laughter] >> Yeah, that's the biggie. Right there. Okay. But are you going to go to at dawn for the whole month of Right. You got to be a package deal there. Yeah. connected to protecting >> uh to protecting a Well, well, I I I well, as I say, one motivation was it was a lashem in the eyes of the Christian world, but uh but the other motivation would be shalom bias. I mean, presumably, we don't have minutes of Rabeno Gersham's deliberations, but presumably uh there was an issue of Shalom Bias. There was an issue of of of how the home was run. Maybe there were economic concerns concerns as well. We we don't really we we don't really know. Now the other of was that a man cannot divorce a woman against her will. Under Torah law, a man could divorce a woman without her consent. He required consent. But what's interesting is he gave the man an out. And this is the famous or the infamous hater mayor Rabanim where if a hundred rabbis from three different countries authorize it, a man can deposit the get in basin that she could pick up whenever she wants and he will be given a heter uh to marry technically another wife. But again um this itself has conditions when it can be issued and unfortunately in the modern world it has sometimes been abused including bribery and and the like. Now this has nothing to do with our subject. The reason the only reason I'm mentioning it is there's a third and that is it is aim to read somebody's private mail to read somebody's private mail. uh and uh there's a mahlo does that apply to emails does that apply to faxes how does that apply to WhatsApp conver whatever it is how does that apply to new technologies or is it limited to the old paper and pen type of thing so I'm just thinking out loud in light of the are we allowed to ever publish private letters correspondence now I know that um Mark Shapiro some of you might have heard of him Mark Shapiro is a fascinating guy from a religious person, an academic. Uh he writes uh historical stuff. Mark Shapiro is one of my guilty pleasures uh similar to candy or whatever whatever it would be. Uh but he always has interesting things to say. So he wrote a among many things that he wrote he wrote a wonderful biography of the sidesh of Yakov of Weineberg who was a fascinating fascinating person who really lived in two worlds. Uh he was a tom of the altar of Slabatka and he was a godra but he also was very interested in academics. He was director of the Hildashimer seminary in Berlin uh before the war and then he went to Switzerland and he used to talk about his agony. People urged him to come to Eric Israel and he says he doesn't fit. He says he's too firm for the university world and he's too liberal for the yeshiva world. the yeshiva world will not accept him because of his academic interests and uh the academic world will reject him because he's too in the worlds of the yeshivot. So as a result he lived in comparative isolation in Switzerland. you know he um whatever uh but Mark but it happened to be it happens to be that one of the sidesh's best friends was a prominent reformed rabbi Samuel Atlas who happened to be a very accomplished scholar maybe I shouldn't use the word but he was very very well-versed in Gomorrah and reishonim and yakaw would be able to have a very deep tomudic discussion with Atlas and Atlas was his probably his best friend. And in his private letters to Atlas, he rips a lot of the Orthodox worlds for their intolerance, their narrow-mindedness, uh their failure to understand the multiplicity of ideas. And he was able to talk to Atlas in a way that he could not talk to anybody else. So Mark Shapiro drew on those letters. in writing his book and in different articles. So it's a very very interesting question again I'm not posing on the question about you know is a bio is a religious biographer obviously a secular biographer will will will use this this is gold this is gold material but is a religious biographer allowed to draw on private letters is that a violation of the ban of Rabeno Gerson so this was a long segue to going back to my main point that we're now going to talk about some private letters of the Rambam and I wonder indeed uh whether there would be au problem uh but nevertheless uh I want to share it with you. So the we're not going to look well I have three letters that I I chose. We're not going to get to all three. In fact, we may just get to the beginning of the first letter. Uh the first letter was to a rabbi who lived in Israel who had been an old friend of the Rambam and he was Revy. He had the unusual name. It's not used that much uh in the Jewish community, right? Noah had three sons. This week's para shame I am not aware even though even shame there are not that many shames although shame is occasionally used as a name. I'm not aware of any uh any uh person being come ye I've not heard as a name but this person's name is Yees and he is re he is addressed as rebes had and he was a dian who lived in Eric Israel and the Rambam is living in Egypt at the time and apparently Rabas asked the Rambam's help in bringing a litigant to a basin we're not even told what the dispute was but he says can you put influence on this guy to go to a basin and then he adds something haven't heard from you for a long time how are you doing and the Rambam devotes most of the letter to saying how am I doing says my father died my brother died uh you know I was sick for a year um I noticed that you didn't send me any condolences uh during that time even though I got messages from Babylonia from Bavl and Persia all sorts to places. You're not so far away. He says, "You really shouldn't be asking why I haven't contacted you. I haven't heard that much from you over many years." Again, there's some more stuff there I want to talk about. Uh but the Rambam says, "Nevertheless, uh there is a verse." We say this in the prayer of the kazin before mut that all of our sins will be covered by your love. So the ram says I will cover up your sins with the love that I have for you and if you ever visit me I will show you all the honor that I would show a dear friend. So on one hand the Rambam gives the guy gives him and for not really staying in touch but he says I will forgive you and the like. The second and third I'll just mention them by by title. The second letter I want to look at is a very very famous letter. You may have heard of it. A letter that he wrote to a non-Jew who converted to Judaism. Oaja Bear. Obviously he came from an Islamic background and Dovajir was told that when he davins the Amida he should not say Eloenu God is the God of our forefathers because God is not the God of your forefathers. God is the God of Abraov and you are not descended from Abraov. And the gear was told that when you dab in you have to say alo a vote is and he asked the Rambam if that's true and the Rambam goes into a dietry about how insensitive and sinful that behavior was obviously you are a child of Abraham not based on biology but based on your belief system and you are and to this very day of course Agar is called Ben Abraham And therefore the Rambam says you are a child of Abra. Again, a very very famous letter. Well, we'll go over it in more detail. The third letter is [snorts] even more fascinating to me. There was a man, you know, most of the people who wrote the Rambam were this was a man who didn't know how to read Hebrew, didn't understand Hebrew, but he studied everything the Rambam wrote in Arabic. And he said, "I know I'm an ignorant person and I know I don't have the right to correspond with you, but there are things I don't understand." And the Rambam writes words of great tenderness, I think I'm going to try to duplicate it and distribute it in which he said, "A person who wants to learn Torah and a person who strives to learn Torah is certainly not an ignorant person. He is a person that Hashem loves and you should get much much strength in your desire to become close to God and I regard you as my student. Don't feel that you know you can't be my student. You are my student as much as anyone else. And here you see a kind of a different side which we've seen before. A tenderness, a kindness, a willingness to give. Now in fact uh the man records that when he's getting these responses from the Rambam his community is very surprised like why is he getting a letter from the Rambam like it's like you know a 10-year-old getting a letter from the gutador or or whatever it is and uh he basically says you know people were very very surprised that you wrote to me and the ram says well why why should they be surprised you're a person who is seeking to serve God my job is to give people only encouragement and strength. So, we'll look at that uh in a little more detail next week. Uh you have a good week and be well.