Rambam’s Letters (Pt 9) | Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz | Jul 8 2025

is dedicated anonymously for the Rafu Shimma of Okana Bat Bluma and Eveina Batgalina Hashem. May they have Rafu Bhar Israel. Uh there's a lot of stuff here, but I believe I believe that's the only one that's relevant for this shift. Okay. Thank you. All righty. So uh we're still in eeran which is also called uh mamar pak tikva and uh you'll recall that uh the Rambam is addressing many many issues and the particular issue uh that he was addressing at this particular point in the letter uh was the false Moshiach or some guy who claimed to be Moshiach and uh as a result many Jews were led astray and the Rambam addresses this from various perspectives and the perspective perspective we looked at last week was the problem of trying to calculate the messianic date because some people argued based on their calculations that uh this is the right time and the Rambam goes through the whole idea that this is called a dvar sassum. This is something that is mysterious and many people are going to make mistakes. And the discouraged the calculation of the cats based on various verses and there was even a kind of very very strong expression literally means they should explode meaning their soul should leave their body. Those are mashets because again the Rambam says number one it's not knowable and number two you raise people's hopes and when those things don't happen uh they get totally demoralized and therefore it's better to basically say we of course believe there will be a gula 100% uh we believe that but we don't know when and we're not supposed to give specific dates uh for it. Then you'll remember just to remind you a little bit that after the Rambam said that he then proceeded to give a tradition in his family not for the coming of Mashiach per se but for the restoration of Nvoua in Kali Israel which at some point is going to be a precursor to Mashiach. So I don't want to review the whole thing but let me just mention it quickly because it actually is in this week's para and that is from the prophecies of bum when bum declared coet and the way the Rambam's tradition was when a time has elapsed from now equal to the time that has elapsed up to this point. merely Yakov. It shall be declared to Yakov through prophecy the Jewish people ma po al kale this is the famous phrase what hath god wrought Samuel Morris uh when he invented the telegram telegraph now here is the interpretation meaning bum is actually saying prophecy shall return to the Jewish people when the number of years that elapse from this event will be equal to the number of years that elapsed up to this event. When a man like this time has passed and the Ramba makes a we can figure out what year of Briata Olam was Bum's prophecies simply because we have the famous date of Aramavina was born in 1948 and uh when Yitz was born when uh 100 when Aram was 100 so Yitzk was born in 2048. And we know was 400 years from birth. So that gets you 2,448. Bam was the 40th year in the desert. So that's 2,488. [Music] Okay. So 2488 is the year of Bum's prophecy. 2,488 years have elapsed from the creation of the world. Bum is declaring when another 2,488 years elapses, prophecy shall be restored to the Jewish people. So you simply add 2488 with 2488 and you get whatever you get the 4,900 something. I don't have the number in front of me. Uh suffice it to say that date has long passed but the Rambam's interpretation was not his interpretation but the misora that he had from his family is that that date would be it's around the 1200s uh somewhere in the late 1200s would be the restoration of of prophecy. Uh so as I indicated the anomaly of right after the Rambam tells us we shouldn't be doing these calculations he does it I I I think you see what a strong Yateserhur there is that when you want to give comfort to people you want to give them hope even though you really know that maybe you're giving them a false hope and you shouldn't and you shouldn't do it. Okay. But after the Rambam gives this REM, he then proceeds to another argument that the Messianic followers were making. Meaning their first argument was calculation and there the Rambam addressed it with the problems of Hakets. The second issue was astrology that people looked at the kavim and they saw the various planetary positions and based on the kma that was known as astrology they came to a certain conclusion. So here here uh this is not as cut and dry as you might assume. The Rambam's position is fairly clear. The Rambam's position, but that's not the UN. That's not everybody's position is astrology is a bunch of hokum. It's a bunch of junk. Astrology has no validity whatsoever. One should not look at the kohavim for anything. It is as most modern scientists would say, it is a pseudocience. And obviously one has to understand astronomy and astrology are of course two very very different fields. Astronomy is the scientific study of planetary motions, rotation of of the earth uh etc. And obviously astronomy is not only a valid science but astronomy is a necessary science for Jewish people because the whole calculation of roesh and the calendar is based on astronomy. And the Rambam himself as part of the Mishna Torah has a section called the laws of sanctifying the new moon. And the first half of it are the of witnesses and the like. But the second half which a lot of people skip is full of mathematical calculations which underly the calendar. Uh if you want to feel bad uh this is a part of the Rambam that's very difficult unless you have a good mathematical background which I I don't myself. Uh so for a mathematician it's not a big deal but for most people uh it's very very daunting. Uh but when the Rambam introduces it he says I'm going to be very simple. I will give you calculations that every eight-year-old is capable. Right? So, I think there was a TV show or something. Are you as smart as your 8-year-old or something like that? Uh well, uh apparently, uh most of us are not as smart as the 8-year-old uh in the time of the Rambam. But, you know, that's even true in secular education. If you actually look, I remember seeing readers for public schools in the 19th century, you know, readers like second grade readers, whatever, really kind of much higher. In other words, like the second, of course, a lot of people didn't go to school. That that's the thing. But those who went to school actually had a a a higher standard of education. Uh the second grade reader would be equivalent today to a fourth or fifth grade reader. So, miscat No, the generations going down is not only true in Torah in many many ways, although we're more advanced in a lot of ways, but that's because of the famous mushel that we are midgets on the shoulders of giants. Yeah, it's true that technologically we can do all sorts of things but it's building on foundations of those earlier generations. Yeah. prediction we know that every month has a mazle and on the other hand yeah so I'm going to talk about this um so the Rambam basically takes the position that although astronomy is certainly a valid science but astrology in which you use the positioning of the stars and the planets to predict future events or even to describe personality types the Rambam says is simply fake. Uh it was an aspect of idolatry. It was idolatrous culture. But it's important to note that the Rambam doesn't simply say it's user to do. The Rambam says it's worthless to do. That's a separate position. Now the truth of the matter is I do want to point out that uh even among the rishonim at the time of the Rambam there were many many many rishonim in common with most thinkers of the middle ages who saw in astr in astrology a very very valid kakma one outstanding example is the ebenezra uh the ebanzra was a little earlier than the raam the ra ibzra uh as you know is was well known as a commentator although he's very uh brief on the Kish and on many books of Nak he was also uh one of the greatest grimarans bal dictuk and in fact in his commentary on a lot of them are dict uh comments and the like uh and the Rambam I don't know if the Rambam met the I have to look at the dates but the Rambam refers to the Ebenez one of the very few rabbis that the Rambam mentions by name and usually in a fairly non-critical way. Meaning I wouldn't call him a fan of the Ebenezar. doesn't like say oh the you know uh somehow said something therefore it's conclusive but he referred to him in a you know civil civil way so to speak but you know in addition to the Ebenezar's biblical commentators commentaries and in addition to his books on dict he wrote separate besides the commentaries he wrote several books of dictra wrote maybe 10 works on astrology and uh it's the ebanzra was absolutely convinced that astrology was a valid kma and it can be used uh for the future predictions uh at least in a general way and he understands the Torah's prohibition regarding very specific predictions but in terms of general tendencies he considered it to be valid as well as personality now now keep in mind that even if you assume astrology is valid you then have to ask yourself well which astrology meaning that doesn't mean the modern Horoscopes mean anything. Meaning that's another issue. Meaning imalar astrology has validity. You then have to go through the very difficult process. What is valid astrology and what is quati? Uh let me just say that the ebenezra's astrological systems are not necessarily the same as Jean Dixon. I don't know if she's still around. Probably not. I mean I remember her when I was a kid her when I was a kid. So I'm sure she's around. whoever whoever took her place uh in the in the horoscope columns. But the Ebenezra has 10 10 works on astrology and you can actually go to a website like hebrewbooks.org which has all these free free swarm and you could you could you could actually find them. So the Rambam in a sense is being a little independent here. Meaning although the Rambam is stating what most of us would regard as a common position that astrology is is uh you know worthless. Uh the Rambam was bucking a trend. Uh both uh non-Jewish philosophers and many Jewish philosophers considered to astrology to be very valid valid. Now if we go back further though and we ask ourselves well let's go back to our sources. Let's go back to Kazal. Let's go back to what the Gomorrah says. Well, it's very very hard to deny that the Talmud has many many references to astrological phenomena. Uh the Gmoran Mess Shabas says that the personality of a child may well be dictated based on the planet under which they were born. meaning when a certain planet was dominant, which is a whatever that means exactly, but that's a very common astrological idea that certain planets control certain times. So, I'm sure you've heard the well-known Gmorrah that says he who is born under Maadim, Maadim is the red planet, the red planet is of course Mars, will have a nature to be cha dam to be a bloodshed. can't change that. That's going to be his nature. He will have blood lust. That's unchangeable. But what is changeable is how he chooses to direct his blood lust. He can become a murderer or a or a moel. Though I have to admit, I'm not sure if I like the idea of a moell who has blood lust. I wouldn't necessarily consider that to be the ideal characteristic. But in that way he could get his blood lust out by that which means the atmmet seems to indicate that astrology is a reality but you have the ability to channel or sublimate or the like. Now uh if you remember with Aramavinu too the Gabbor portrays Arainu as an astrologer and Aramavinu looked at the kohavim and he said based on the kavim which influenced the the things that happen on on earth. I will not have a child. I cannot have a child. And when it says Hashem lifted him above the stars said to him do not look at the kavim your destiny is above the kavim. Now again that's saying two things. On one hand it is saying that Jewish destiny or at least Ara's destiny is not governed by the stars and that's the meaning of a mazi is the Jewish people are not governed by mazal. But on the other hand that is implicitly recognizing there is such a thing as mazal. In fact, even the greeting, somebody said that, you know, he was at a kasna, he was enjoying the smorggasport and uh a relative of the of the went by. So the person said mazub so he said I don't appreciate using idolatry, you know, at a at a even mazub um if you would have said mazub to the ram, right? You were at the right a rambom's breast, right? And you were Zoka to be at the Rambam's only son's breast. Okay. You give the Rambam a maz. He might he might kick you out of the out of the house. You're an idoltor. Mazal astrology. Maz may things be under a good constellation. Right? So it's very difficult to say that Khazal didn't consider astrology to be valid. And once we come to Cabala the zor astrology is used all the time every month has a particular constellation that influences the spirituality of the month and not only that kazal teach every hour we we don't even know astronomically what this corresponds to but astrologically every hour of the day is governed by a planet or a ka or a kav and it you know goes over and over. It's a repetitive cycle. Uh so the Rambam would simply not follow any of this. Uh that's one of the reasons we call the Rambam the rationalist par excalance. But I remember for example that um the sixth hour of the day on Araf Shabas on Friday meaning between actually mean the seventh is the seventh hour of the day between 6:00 p.m. and 7 p.m. If you calculate the planets, the stars and the hours. So between 6:00 and 7 Friday uh evening is governed by the planet Madim, the red planet and that's considered to be a bad sign. It's the planet of blood. So many many based on cabala have a mess. They will not make kdish between the hours of 6 and 7 p.m. even on an early shabas because that hour based on the calculations of the planets and stars is mazim. Um I know the firsthand uh when I was a a law students in Boston. So I I was to spend many many Shabbazos uh with the a wonderful wonderful truly a wonderful person. Uh just as a little aside you know if you were on a phone conversation with him uh he was never the first one to hang up meaning even if the conversation seemed to be finished he would just wait and wait and wait and wait till you said you had nothing more to say. I mean that was kind of the person he was. So um Boston of course has many college students, many graduate students, very large student population. So he would often have at his chabas table you know 100 students that was routine and the like but the thing was he would never make kiddos between six and seven. So I remember if Davening was over a quarter to six there was a mad mad rush. we we're going to run because if if you know if Kdesh is not made by six, we're going to have to wait till 7. And to get a 100 people ready for Kdesh when there's only 15 minutes left is not such an easy thing. The Rebi himself wasn't rushing. He didn't mind waiting an hour, but we we were rushing. We wanted to get to the table. And yeah, I remember sometimes we made it, sometimes we didn't. Uh there were times where indeed it's 6:00 p.m. got to wait no kiddish till till 7 p.m. The point I'm making is that there's a whole aspect of Judaism that looks at mazot uh that looks at planets that considers them. Now, now again a maz is still valid in the sense that through prayer and mytoim we can always escape the influence of mazel but mazel is at least a default setting as opposed to the Rambam who says it's non-existent. So many people point out that although most of us do not learn cabala but all of us live Jewish lives that are based on cabala meaning it's not necessarily the Judaism of the Rambam. The Rambam would give no significance to hours of the day being governed by different mazalots. As I say, the Rambam wouldn't even allow the the the statement mazalto, which is a statement that is based on constellations and and planets. So if this entered Judaism, so to speak, it entered it via Cabala throughus primarily, meaning Cabala influenced is based on Cabala andus in a sense kind of permeated even non nonasidum. Yeah. What would be the alternative to saying? Yeah. Yeah. The question was if you don't if you don't consider maz to be a permissible what would be the alternative to maz you could say to you you know different things may you be blessed you know whatever uh we're used to maz you know what what do maz what do say I don't remember uh do they say maz what they say okay right because maz Maz essentially is an Ashkanazi thing. I think okay just contract same things like that. Yeah. That masel is I I I I I'm not sure. I mean I I will say that Rashi quotes in a few places an earlier uh person Rab Shabai Donelloo who was an astrologer uh and and Rashi quotes astrological ideas from Shabsai Donalo from Italy. So it's important to know that although we might look at the Rambam as mainstream here, the Rambam was actually not mainstream at the time and uh he was very independent in this and as I say mainstream Jewish culture is actually it's it's as know in our mind we say astrology is nothing and yet in our rituals and in our language we actually utilize astrological concepts. Now I just want to point out that the Rambam does does talk about the fact that Kazal refer to Kavim but the Rambam says as he says in a number of other places that kazal are using the vocabulary of common superstitions to communicate deeper spiritual truths which means according to the Rambam Kazal themselves didn't didn't believe this stuff but in order to communicate and I'll give you an example in a moment. In order to communicate spiritual teachings, they employed the types of superstitions that were commonly accepted. So an example would be this. Let's take the garra I just mentioned. He who is born under the planet of Mars will have a bloodlust personality. Now the Rambam would say in a literal way that's an incorrect statement because it really makes no difference under what planet you're born. Nevertheless, this passage of the Talmud actually has a very profound meaning and it's a meaning that's relevant even today. The Talmud is dealing with the problem of how do you reconcile that within the human personality that is unchangeable and hardwired versus the capacity of choice. Now in the olden days they believe the part of you that was hardwired was based on astrology. Today we don't believe that. But we have another name for it. Call it DNA. DNA. you're born a certain way. So the fact that they use the vocabulary of astrology of kohim and we might use the category of DNA, it raises the same dilemma. How can a person have free will if they're born with certain tendencies? It's almost not important if those tendencies come from astrological influences or those tendencies come from biochemical parts of the body. The problem is you're born a certain way. And this is a real challenge. As we've mapped in recent years, it's already been more than 20 years. As we've mapped and sequenced the human genome, more and more we see how many aspects of even our personality. Of course, every mother always knew this, but now we have the scientific basis. How much of things are we born with? Right? You could be born with the uh the anger gene or whatever it will be. And philosophically, this raises challenges to the paradigm of free will. If I'm born with the anger gene, I'm born with the axe murderer gene, whatever it is, how can I be accountable? Remember the Rambam says over and over again that free will is the necessary predicate for accountability. If we did not have free will, we could not be held accountable for our deeds and we could not be rewarded for our virtues. And the Gammorian Shabas is giving you the answer to this. Yes, there is a certain aspect of biological determinism that exists in the world. deal with our lives. Yeah. But but the point is that this is a little different because uh it's not like there's an equal contest between two forces. I mean you're born with these biological uh you know problems. So what does the Gar say? You can sublimate, you can channel, you can direct. So you see what's going on here. Yes, Kazal employed the vocabulary of Mazel, but this vocabulary was employed to make a larger point that ultimately does not turn on whether you believe in astrology or not. I could say, okay, whenever you see the word astrology, just read it as DNA and you'll get you'll get the same same analysis. And that's what the Rambam the Rambam doesn't quite say what I said. He doesn't mention DNA but but the Ram's point is that the were willing to utilize um metaphoric you know superstitions of people even if they weren't true if they were vehicles to communicate a higher a higher point and therefore you always have to look at what the higher point is. Uh but in terms of bottom line in terms of the messianic issue, the Rambam is saying if you're looking at astrology to predict Mashiach, that's garbage because astrology is garbage as a whole. Now let me indicate an interesting thing. I got a just this week I got an email from a guy who had been had learned to and he was a you know I don't know if he's a tool of mine. I don't remember exactly but he's a you know a bentora from person and um he opened uh he's a therapist or something I think he's a he's a life coach he's not a therapist he's a life coach who tries to build people up and he was telling me that he's so excited because he developed an exciting new way to help people in which he combines AI artificial intelligence with astrology and he can create all sorts of maps about how a person needs to respond Uh he was very enthusiastic about it. He of course wants to have a meeting to discuss it. Um I still don't know exactly what to do about that because there are two separate questions here. Uh question one is are you hically allowed to utilize astrology uh even if it's valid. Uh and here we get into a very interesting issue. Uh many postkim say you're not allowed to use astrology at all. It's forbidden. It's considered to be an aspect of idolatry. But other postkim are mahalik. They make an interesting shock. They make a distinction between using astrology to predict the future which is considered idolatry and using astrology to analyze personality. So if I use astrology to say you know you're going to lose your job tomorrow that would be forbidden prediction that would be magic that would be necromancy but if on the other hand uh I say astrology indicates that your nature is such and such and such so that's legitimate just as kazal talked about born under the mazal madam so as a result even though the ram seems to consider both to be garbage or worthless. But in there may be a basis to use astrology to augment personality construction as long as it's not and and then suggestions kind of a therapist augmentation as opposed to prediction of the future. But the second question is what astrology are you using? I mean I you know even if astrology would be permissible and even valid for certain aspects but that doesn't mean you know modern astrology or whatever it is uh would be valid that's a separate issue about the empirical value meaning it might be quackery if it's not done according to the guidelines of kazal or kabala or or whatever whatever it is but certainly according to the rambom all of this is going to be forbidden and worthless so I don't know I he didn't quite ask me for a huskama. Uh and I'm not going to bring it up unless he does and then I'll have to confront uh he didn't ask me for you know people like to get letters from rabbis saying it's kosher and uh I I don't want to write such a letter. Uh but he didn't directly ask me although I'm pretty sure that's coming down the pike. Uh but right now I'm just uh holding my breath and hoping hoping for the best. Um but he's very excited about it and you know who knows and in fact uh there are actually books out there uh in Amazon called kosher astronomy based on cabala saf and the like all of which the ram would be would consider to be heresy and the like. Now the next okay but but in terms of tman the ram is pretty simple and straightforward. This is worthless. This is junk and uh it should not be relied upon at all. Now what's interesting is though it is very fascinating that after the Rambam debunks astrology he then demonstrates how thoroughly he knew it. It's very interesting. Uh the Rambam knew the wisdom or the pseudo wisdom of astrology. At the same time he disparages it. And he then goes on and he illustrates uh with various astrological phenomena why they were not accurate, why they did not work. But he clearly understood those phenomena. It's actually very similar to the Rambam's approach. Huh. Right. Right. That's a good point. Uh the Rambam makes the same point about idolatry. A vodora. The Rambam writes in the guide to the perplexed and maybe with some hyperbole that he had read every single book ever written about idolatry and paganism and that is why he's in a position to refute or to demonstrate why it is incorrect. Uh so the same thing here the Rambam was very familiar with astrology and here he brings up a very very interesting idea. He's really addressing the argument of the supporters of the false mashiach. He talks about and even in modern astrology this is very powerful. He talks about the conjunction of the planets Shabsai and Sedc. Now these are the names gave to planets. Shabso is Saturn and Sedc is Jupiter. And obviously they have different orbits, right? They have different orbits at different speeds, but conjunction is the point at which they over time they pass each other. They're the closest to each other. And now that now that that alone is an astronomical fact conjunction is the mitus of planets with differential orbits going past each other at various times. But astrology gives a special significance and this is true even today. If you look this up, astrology gives a very special significance to the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter that somehow that conjunction brings certain spiritual forces down into the world. Again, I have no idea why Bafka, those two planets, but those are the two planets that create this type of force. Now the nature of the spiritual force they bring down depends in what zodiac sign the conjunction occurred. Right? We have 12 so-called signs of the zodiac. And once again that simply represents positioning of stars, groups of stars. And because there are 12 signs of the zodiac, again I'm giving you some astrology from the Rambam. And the Rambam doesn't believe any of this but the Rambam still analyzes it to refute the point. Uh the 12 signs of the zodiac are divided into four groups of three. Meaning let's say whatever the signs are no groups of stars. There's 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12. And each of them, each of those four groups are connected to one of the four elements of water, fire, dirt, and wind. Again, I don't have the exact table which is which, but here is the astrological concept, not the astronomical concept. It depends where the conjunction takes place. If the conjunction takes place within the three constellations that represent dirt, there will be a time of poverty and suffering in the world. If it takes place in the conjunction of water, there may be floods, fire may either be destructive or maybe passion. In other words, the point basically is the conjunctions occur in within various constellations because the planets move. So at different points they may be in this set of constellations or that set of constellations. Uh so the person who's making the argument that since Mashiach is described as fire etc. So therefore uh the conjunctions are occurring in the zodiac signs that are connected fire and this is a good time. So the Rambam knows all this right? The Rambam said, "Yeah, this is what you're telling. You're making this argument and this argument and this argument." And the Rambam basically went back and he calculated that uh in the time of Yakov and the time of Mosher Rabenu uh the conjunctions were in the constellation of dirt and that should have been the lowest point for the Jewish people and yet these were times of redemption. And see he actually went back and did the calculations and he showed. Now, interestingly enough, you can learn this two ways. This may not necessarily refute astrology. It may be an illustration of a mazo is in other words, whenever you see that the Jewish people are not affected by kavim. There are two different ways you can interpret that. You can interpret that to mean astrology is junk or you can interpret it to mean astrology is valid. But just like Abraham, Hashem lifts us above the stars. Those are those are two very very different approaches. One is conceding the validity of astrology but saying that God can transcend it. The other is saying there's no validity to it in the first place. The Rambam uses it for the latter interpretation. So I thought it was fascinating. uh it's actually a little hard to follow in the germon that the Rambam actually devotes several pages to describing the conjunction of the planets and depending in which series of zodiac signs they appear and the belief that this influences uh the future and interestingly enough uh this is still this is still in modern astrology. you can actually read just look up Wikipedia or whatever and you can actually uh see uh this discussion about planetary uh conjunctions and and and the like. Okay, but again in terms of egaritan the answer is fairly simple. Don't look at astrology to predict the coming of Msiach. It is not a science. It does not give you valid information. Now after doing that he then addresses another issue and that is what are the qualities of a true mashiach because he's simply addressing the idea that uh the person who is being held up as Mashiach simply does not meet the qualities. And he even gives a little muser to the rabbi because the rabbi who who sent him all of these questions said, "Well, this man is a religious man. He keeps mitzvos. He has shayim." So the Rambam says, and that's enough to be Mashiach. You think he's from he keeps shabas. Well, that makes him better than Shabsite. That's true. But but still he says it is hardly a qualification. Well, let's put it this way. necessary but not sufficient. Yeah, it may be a necessary qual. By the way, it's interesting. You know, there were Jews, if I can give you something much later, who actually thought from Jews who actually thought that Theodore Herzel might be Mashiach. They were so enamored with the idea that he was going to create a mechanism to bring the Jews back to Israel. Now many many Jews in the of Russia or Poland you know didn't know anything about the Herzel other than he was the guy that was talking about bringing the Jews back to Israel. So uh there was a belief among some people I wouldn't say it's tremendously widespread that Herzel was mashiach. So uh a rabbi so when Herzel was in Vienna Herzel was from Vienna but when he was went back to Vienna uh he was eating in a non-coosher restaurant and a certain rabbi called over one of his gullible balabatim and said okay you believe Herzel is Mashiach says yeah I do I do he says do you think Mashiach would eat at a non-coosher restaurant he said of course not so he took him to the restaurant he pointed well Herzel is eating in a non-culture restaurant. Do you understand that you're wrong? He said, "Yeah, I am wrong. I guess Mashiach can eat in a non-coosher restaurant." Again, by the way, I I I did not tell you this story to knock the Herzel. Again, the Herzel uh in many many ways did a lot of good for the Jewish people. I'm not here to bed insult uh but just to indicate that it's it's fairly clear in our tradition that at a minimum a Msiah has to be observant. But the Rambam says, "Hey man, that's not enough. Just because you're from that doesn't qualify you to be Mashiach." And he talks about the Mashiach has to be a Na'vi that is almost almost as great as Mosher Rabenu. Meaning the Ram didn't want to go to the direction there can be a greater Nvi. Remember one of the Rambam's 13 principles of faith is there will never be a greater prophet than Moshe. But he says Moshiach is a close second. And he indicates, now this is very interesting. He indicates that Mashiach will do great great miracles and the nations of the earth will acknowledge him as Mashiach etc. Uh and he says he will do miracles similar to Mitzim. Now I I I think we may have to uh we have to stop but let me just throw out a question you can coitate over the next week. That is in hilosim in chapter 11 and 12 of where the Rambam describes the messianic age. The Rambam goes out of his way to say that although that's wonderful there'll be a mikdash there'll be kibolio there'll be peace in the world but the Ramba makes the point it will not be a supernatural miraculous existence. No egg. You're going to still have to get a job. You're going to have to wait for the buses. And when the light rail in my neighborhood is down for 14 weeks, you know, that's still still going to happen. Uh the Rambam says that all of the that the the wolf will lie down with the lamb are metaphors. It does not mean that wolves are not going to prey on lambs. So the Rambam specifically says Yimote Mashiach is not a time of miracles. So the question I I want to leave you with and we'll talk about it is well is this a contradiction specifically says that one of the characteristics of Msiach are the great miracles that he will perform similar to Moshe Rabenu when we left Mitam when in the Mishna Torah there actually is no mention of miracles and not only that but the Rambam specifically states no and one should not assume there will be miracles. I mean world peace is a miracle. I mean those miracles we have but there won't be supernatural miracles. Now one possibility of course is that Tman was written before the Mishna Torah. Did the Rambam change his mind? Well it wasn't that many years different. We're not written shortly before the Mishna Torah. But that's one thing we'll talk about next week. uh whether Yamot Mashiach is connected to miracles or whether it's olam kago no egg and how do you address the um the contradiction between tman and and that by the way one final thing I'll tell you about he mentions as a as an aside and this is fascinating he says contrary to what people believe the so-called wars of go and mog are not pre- messianic wars they are post messianic wars. That's a big kesh. And that means even after Msiah comes, there are going to be certain cataclysmic battles until Mashiach is accepted. But we we'll talk about that next week. Have a good good week everybody and take care.