Rambam’s Letters (Pt II) | Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz

negative uh taking the negative first. Raosha Feinstein used to be very very sad when the month of Eeyore began because sayalu we were redeemed in Nissan and the future redemption will be in the month of Nissan. Although Mashiach could come any time of the year but Nissan is the highest probability. So Mosha said if a whole Nissan passed and the gula didn't come that's something sad because this was the optimal time for gula. Now that wasn't a problem yesterday because when you have two days of ro kodesh I hope you know that the first day of ro kesh is technically the 30th day of Nissan. So Monday Mashiach is we are still we're in this of Nissan but today it's foren today we're no longer in Nissan although we do have the general amuna that mashia can come any time uh the other aspect to remember about is that inas it is brought down that is a schula it's a braha of health because alfy ani the alf is ani the yudy is hashem roa I am the God who gives you rafua and therefore it is said that the month of Nissan there is a special school for the rifua of amma is bzashem that should take place and of course everyone as everyone knows uh tonight um is going tonight and tomorrow going to be yon and although it's a little early we're not yet in yiki karon but the truth is I would also like to dedicate this year uh to be a sus and healing Sh for all of those who did give their lives and continue to risk their lives uh for Ami Israel for Israel to think about the to think about the to think about the people who have already made the ultimate sacrifice. Uh there is a famous story with Alman Orbach. Uh, oh, okay. Thank you. where um he once met a Talmud and the Talmud was going to Tvat to Davin by the kadikim the Arizal reverse of Kairo you know invat great great great great sadikim and said to him why do you have to all the way to because again yeshiva ktora was byan which is adjacent to harzel the military cemetery he says when I feel the desire to davin at the grave of Sadikim. I go to Mount Herzel. I go to the Karam of Kolim who gave their lives for Ami Israel. And he said rest assured that that's Davening by the Kev of Now there are two versions of the story. So I have to be honest. Some say that he said it even if the person was not a shmer mitzvot and some say if he was a shmer mitzvot I'm not going to take direct sides on which version of the story is accurate. Uh but he did say that those who give their lives for Ami Israel and for Eric Israel have a great great that if you like to go to the graves of Sadikim, you can go to the military cemetery and that would also be great. So, and for all of those who are still in danger, mayor bring a Yeshua Kova and reunite all of the Katuim uh with their families in good good mental health and good physical health. Um, I do have a note. I just got this note uh that the share today is also sponsored anonymously for the Rafu Schma of Axana Bat Bluma and Eveina Batgalina. And uh this is actually going to be a weekly sponsorship. So we're very very grateful. Uh and may indeed it bring a lema to the Israel. Uh we are looking at the Garrett uh Garrett Hashmad. Remember my Mercashem there are two names. [Music] There are uh two names uh neither of which were given by the Rambam. The Rambam did not title his letter, but the letter became known after it was translated into Hebrew as either Eigger Hashmad, a letter concerning forced conversion, that's what Schmad means, or Mamares Hashem, an essay on the imperative to sanctify Hashem's name. Those are interchangeable. And again I I'll just repeat do not confuse this with Earit Tan which is also concerned about a false about a forced conversion but that deals with a different aspect that'll be the next letter we will look at that was written a little bit later. Uh you will remember that the Rambam at the time was only 27 years old. He was living with his family with his uh father. I really don't know about whe if the mother was alive then, but he was living with his father in Fez, Morocco. And uh amazingly enough, the Rambam was apparently well known enough that he could already write such public letters even though his famous works were not there yet. The Rambam essentially became well known when he moved to Mitra, but apparently even in Morocco, he already had a a shame. And you'll recall that uh the uh background of this is the Almoad persecutions uh in which Jews were stopped at the street randomly uh with a bunch of young policemen so to speak who would hold knives or swords to the person's neck and say affirm that Muhammad is the true prophet of God of Allah or we will kill you at the spot and me and many Jews made the affirmation just to get get home, right? They went to the shook to buy groceries and all of a sudden this guy stops them. They say, "Yeah, yeah, yeah." And then they go home and a rabbi who was not even living in the area was consulted and he had puscans that these Jews have the status of idolattors. They are rishim. They are evil people. They are puliatus. They are not kosher to be Jewish witnesses because they are rishim. And not only that, not only are they Rashim, but indeed any mitzvos that they do are totally invalid and actually hated by God. God doesn't want your dabing. God doesn't want your shabas. God doesn't want your kash. And that as the Rambam himself says was the straw that truly broke the camel's back or broke his back because he said all right the the guy is simply a name caller that's one thing but when he's actually telling Jews to stop doing mitzvot because the mitzvot are worthless the ramp says he has to step in he cannot do that and uh and again as I pointed out uh rabbi saliv professor rabbi doctor all the titles uh made the point that although we're going to see some of the conclusions here might be a little questionable but psychologically this was a very very necessary letter because so many Jews were brokenhearted they basically thought their lives were over uh the basic attitude that's being conveyed here is you made a mistake because of fear for your life, the rest of your life is worthless in the eyes of God. And this had such a devastating impact on presumably thousands of people that the Rambam felt it was a matter of spiritual piku nephesh to try to build up. So his thesis Dr. Salvatri's thesis is he calls hashesm he calls it an exercise in rhetoric rather than now rhetoric today is usually a negative term but the truth of the matter is rhetoric is a term that comes from arisatilian philosophy and rhetoric was considered to be a very very important skill and that's the skill of persuading people to reach a certain conclusion Rhetoric was not a negative term in the ancient world, whatever the Greek term or Latin term was for it. And he says that the Rambam essentially is engaging in rhetoric to be mazek a brokenhearted community. And uh if not every conclusion is going to be accurate. I I'll point out when we we haven't yet gotten to the actual portion. Maybe we'll get to it today. Uh but he points out that even if the are not 100% accurate, this could very well be an example where the end may justify uh the means because you're simply dealing with giving people who have been totally totally demoralized by what this rabbi said. Uh I'm sorry. Yeah. [Applause] Well, yeah, that's an interesting point. Uh, presumably, uh, this rabbi would have acknowledged that there's such a thing as choua. But the question becomes, what would he have said? If you would have asked him, what would he have said that chuba would be? I believe he actually would have taken the position that you have to march up to that policeman and say, "I totally regret what I said. I repudiate any affirmation of Islam and then and then they would die and then yeah, they would go to." So I believe that the extreme position of this rabbi is yeah you can do chuva but the chuva basically is renouncing what you had said. [Applause] unless it's a person. Well, yeah. Yeah. Well, well, well, you know, first of first of all, I I I don't think I don't think we have any particular interest in defending this rabbi. I mean, the holy gar the holy gar hashmad is an attack on what the rabbi said. Uh I'm saying but to ask Yeah. But but the point the point basically is that there is another idea in choua that when you desecrate God's name, you have to take some action to undo the desecration of God's name. And this rabbi took the position which the Rambam actually will partially acknowledge that affirming your belief in Islam is aem and therefore the choua would require some type of undoing of thee. So is a little different than a private sin that a person commits. Now if you remember the last part that we looked at was that the Rambam engaged in kind of a little bit of a a list of the fact that the role of a leader and this itself is inre extremely important totally apart from the historical issue here that is a managed Israel is not allowed to cast dispersions on other Jews. A manic Israel, a leader of Jews has to build them up, give them encouragement and when they talk to God at least, they should always express the idea of the goodness. And the Rambam pointed out that Mosher Rabenu was punished when he spoke negatively about the Jewish people even though they were idol worshippers in Egypt. Elio Hanavi essentially lost his job because he said they have an old your covenant even though it was true. Even though it was true who declined the initially because he said I am dwelling amongst a nation that is impure and a hot coal was put to his lips to burn away his sin. And indeed we are told that is actually killed. He was killed by his own grandson Manasha when a tree or at least by soldiers of Manasha when a tree is turned himself into a tree and the sword was able to cut where his lips were because he was nanash. And then the Rambam gives a final example of Hashem even rebuking the angels in heaven when they say negative things. And this goes back, this is actually in the book of Zakaria. Uh, and this is the ha for Shabas Khan. If you remember, uh, the first kohhen at the beginning of the second temple period were theim at the beginning of the bay. So the first coang was Yahushua Benotak, not to be confused with Yoshua Ben. This is Yeshua botak was the first kohhan gdado of the bay cheni and zakaria had a vision in which yahosua ben yhotak was wearing filthy garments garments encrusted with and hashem called out remove your filthy garments and wear glorious garments and hashem saidar hashem this is in zakary pericimo hashem hashem rebukes you satan satan here uh which is the satan but it's the accuser has satan is actually a job description uh satan is not a proper noun it is not a name satan the accuser so the story again there's a little backstory that's a little obscure But the basic problem was that at the very beginning of the bayeni or or towards the end of the 70 years of the galut there was an intermarriage problem in clo Israel. Jews had intermarried and uh in the book of Ezra and the book of it records the fact that there were convocations where people had to expel their wives etc. And some of the intermarages were in what you might call the most prestigious of families, families, God forbid. And among them were the children of Yahosua Benad who had married Nashimot. And those are the begadim. Those are the filthy garments that he's wearing. And the Satan in Shamayim who's always the accuser says this man does not deserve to be Coen God. What type of Coen God is it? His kids marry And when Hashem, this is Zakaria's prophetic vision. Hashem tells Yeshua Ben Sadat, "Take off your filthy garments. Put on these pure garments." And Hashem speaks to the Sultan and he says, I rebuke you Satan. I rebuke you. I who have chosen to rest my inimak is like poker, like something in a fire that has been rescued from the fire. And mutes. Now you can already see a little bit of Dr. Professor Salivatri's point that there's a little bit of rhetoric here. What is the Rambam trying to prove with this little thing? He's saying you see that even when there's evil, you know, it's wrong to rebuke. But of course, that's not any type of proof here because Yeshua bin Sak himself didn't do anything wrong. I I mean this is not this is actually not proving whatever point the rabb wants to prove with it is not really emerging. Bishma the other case is Moshe Elahu. So yeah there the Nvi is being criticized by Hashem for speaking disparagingly even among the sinners of Israel. Here the Satan is being accused of disparaging a person who's blameless. So in truth this wouldn't be so much of a proof. But the Rambam concludes the following. I want to read you some some of the actual well the translation. It's not the Rambam's actual words but this is the translation of the Rambam's Arabic words. And he says the following. Alam if the pillars of the world get punished Moshe Eliuahu and even Malashare by you see by the way the Satan is considered to be Malashar unlike the Christian mythology that talks about the Satan as a rebellious angel who got kicked out of heaven right the Satan is a fallen angel According to us, the satan has a job. He's a very respectable job actually. Uh the satan's job is the district attorney. The satan's job is a prosecutor. However, we understand it. I'm not saying we can fully understand this, but very very clearly the judgment of God in Shmayam is described as a court. I understand that obviously this is not literal. It's a court. Hashem sits. There's no jury. It's not a jury trial, but Hashem sits in judgment and there are defense attorneys and there are prosecuting attorneys. And the Satan is chief prosecutor. So his job is to bring up just like remember the book of EV. The book of EV actually describes Hashem is talking about how great Eve is. And the Sultan says, "Well, you know, he's never been tested. Maybe if you test him, we'll see, you know, how righteous he is and the like." So the Sultan is not a fallen angel. all of a sudden has a job, right? Somebody has to somebody has to do it. So if and that's why he's called. So if and when these great great people have even mild criticism of Israel and look at Hashem punishing them call. Wow, tough language. An insignificant nothing in the world. This is how the Rambam is referring to the rabbi who gave the calm. He releases his tongue on communities of Jews, some of whom are wise and their students and he calls them potim sinners evildoers because of us people who are people who deny God. This is what he calls them and he dares to write this down in his own handwriting. I mean you could I think you could you could feel the Rambam's anger coming through these words. What will be his punishment? And then he says they did not rebel against God because they were looking for an easy life, get a better job and the other way. And they didn't leave the religion at all. As soon as they had the opportunity in the privacy of their home to do mitzvot, they did it. And they caused the that they acted out of fear of death. Doesn't he realize that people who did not sin willingly? Hashem will never forsake them. He will not abandon them. Again, he's paraphrasing to him, he will not despise or reject the cry of the impoverished spirits. And he finally quotes in this part of the section uh again a very very beautiful needs to be understood that when Yakov impersonated Asaf and Yakov wore the goat skin so that Yitzk would think this is Asov's hairy arms. So was a little confused without going into a whole explanation of that. Right? The voice is Jacob's voice. The hands are Asaf's hands. But it says smelled the aroma or the fragrance from the garments. again thinking it was A7 he said this is from the field that God blessed. So Khazal say the following interesting drussia. This is one of the alticaries. You can read without you can read a word in different ways that the the letters bigav could be read bog those who rebel those who are treacherous. That Jacob had a premonition that I'm sorry not Jacob Yitzkar. Yitzk had a premonition that from the man standing before him. There will be in the future rishim, evildoers, treacherous ones. But he smelt that even within them there is holiness and goodness of that even the rish and again we have from benish a statement that poe Israel even the sinners of Israel Malayan mitzvot karimon are as filled filled with mitzvot as a pomegranate is filled with seeds. Now, there's a tradition, I'm sure your your kids or grandkids try to count it, that there are 613 seeds in a remone. I would say probably not most of the time, but whatever. But, but a remone a remone, sorry to disappoint, but a Ramon has many many seats. And it says even the sinners of Israel have goodness in them. By the way, I I think it's a reasonable speculation that R Lkesh is speaking a little bit autobiographically here because if you remember, Rash is Rabbi Shiman. Rabbi Shiman Lesh started off life in a very different way. He was a bandit, highway robber. For sure he stole, perhaps he even killed, but we're not entirely clear. And he had attacked Revyan. And Rabioan convinced him to dedicate his life to Torah and mitzvos. And he said, "I promise you you can make a apparently was a very beautiful person." And Rishlash remarked on it in a denigrating way as if to say male prostitution. Hey, you'd be a good and told him that my sister is even prettier than I am. And if you dedicate your life to Torah, you will get to marry my sister. It's always a question sister had not been consulted on this. Okay. I I don't have I don't have a full answer but as as you know Rakkesh did change and he became one of the greatest disciples of Raban and not only that but he's what's called a Talmid meaning he's not just a disciple he's kind of like a colleague and throughout Shas throughout the Babylonian Talmet and the Jerusalem Talmet because they were inherit Israel uh is a very very common common makus. So when Rishlakish says even the Russia of AmIrael is filled with hidden goodness I can't help but think that he's saying you know you never give up never give up on somebody whatever whatever you know you never know what a person will become by the way the Gar gives a bit of a tragic story here that um it says that whenever Rabanan would say anything anyh would ask him 24 questions 24 reputations that Ravhan had to address. Rash Lakkesh died before Ravokan and Ravokan was heartbroken. Uh and they replaced Rish Lakkesh with another disciple and every time Ravan said something this disciple brought 24 proofs that Ravian was right. So Ravokan started sobbing. He said where is Rakkesh? Where is Rakkesh? So someone said to him, "Well, Rebby, what's going on? Rishlak was giving you trouble all the time." Okay, now you have a person. Everything you say, 24 proofs you're right. Isn't that wonderful? Yan said, "I don't need someone to tell me I'm right. If I didn't think I was right, I wouldn't say it." But when Rakkesh would question me. So either I had to refine my analysis or maybe I would admit I was in error. I needed someone to question me. This is what the say about as says about marriage. Azerdo, right? So the Azer a helpmate to be opposite him. So the garra itself asked the question, well which is it? Is your spouse supposed to be your helpmate or is your spouse supposed to be your opposition? So the garra itself gives a very pragmatic answer. He says well yes if you're lucky if you're blessed you'll have helpmate if not you'll have opposition one way or the other but says no this is the board the idea here is the helpmate is the fact that another perspective is brought to the table meaning of course all of us would love to have our spouse agree with us 100% of the time that would be wonderful But if that's going to be the case, then how will you ever grow? How will you ever advance to another level? If everything is just going to be a confirmation of wherever you are at this given moment. So as a result, there needs to be a concept that in pol in the British political system used to be known as loyal opposition. In in modern politics, there is no such thing as loyal opposition anymore because each each side is there to destroy the other side. In the United States, that's true. And in Israel by and large by and large is true as well. But uh in in England for many many years there was this concept that even if you're a different party you're fundamentally there to make things work and make things good called loyal opposition. So of course uh a marriage in which uh one spouse is always denigrating or insulting the other is very very bad. You have to have support. You have to care about each other. They have to build each other up. But within the framework of building people up, there has to be the willingness to be open to hear a different mahalik, a different perspective. That is what is called the aerdo. And that's true in marriage. the azer in the conde was my condeal say you learn a teacher can learn more from students because students are asking questions yeah that's right that's right okay uh so be it as it may but by the way here too I want to point out that You know the Rambam is a very very I mean not not that I he needs me to say it but he's a very good writer but as good as good writers go uh there's a little ambiguity sometimes he's moving from point to point because there are lines in which he's making the point they are not Rashim because they acted out of fear of death and then he makes another point even Rashim are worthy in the eyes of God. So, so it's a little hard to pin down here. Is he saying they're not or are they saying even if they are you don't disparage them because and by the way on this the Gar gives an actual story thear gives a few stories on this that even the rebellious ones of Israel have a hidden righteousness a pint as the you know referred to it later and the gar gives the story of a man yf masha And Masha was a collaborator with the Romans when the Basa Mikdash was destroyed. And he was so helpful that they told him, "Hey, as the temple is burning, go into the building, take whatever you want and it's yours. There's gold and silver, all sorts of stuff. Take a trophy." So he goes in, the Gumar says, and he pulls out the Manura. How he pulled out the Manura by himself, I don't know. Manura was very, very heavy. He pulls out the manora, the one that's on the arch of Titus. So the Romans said, "We didn't mean that one. That's that's too much. Go back in and take something else. Take a cup or what? Take a bowl, whatever it is." So he refused. He said, "I have violated I have desecrated Hashem's temple once. I will not do it again." And at that point they thought he was repudiating them and they said you go into that basikdash or we will torture and kill you. And he says I will be tortured and killed before I enter the basikdash a second time. And tortured killed said he goes to haba. Of course the punovich asks the interesting question. And he says well he went in the first time. So what happened? I mean he became like a bala that that that second. And the pipet says you see that when you enter the bas mikdash transformations happened. After entering the basa mikdash he became he became uh transformed. Um and they tell similar stories in the holocaust itself. In the holocaust itself uh that tell the story uh again there are many many stories. I mean this is not unique necessarily but it's a it's um kind of a typical story of a man that uh was a mal shabas for hessia he was a barber uh he would keep his barber shop open on shabas for goyam etc in aetle that was more or less 100% shmer shabas other than him he would mock yen that were from uh he collaborated a little bit with the nazis and when the nazis burnt the shaw and they took about the safer Torah. Uh they told the man to stomp on the Torah and uh he said no. He said he would not and he was shot also. He died. He said he was not. He said at that moment it came out uh again just a not directly connected but you know during uh World War II when Ravan Cutler was already in the United States. So he spends mo mo most of his time in the first years during the war years trying to get people out of Europe, get students, yeshiva students out of Europe etc. and he worked very much with a very extraordinary American lay person Irving Bunham some of you might have heard of kind of a legendary person who was Ravarin's confidant and he also wrote an excellent book on Perkyavos ethics from from Sinai and uh Ravarin and Bunham would sometimes go to Washington on chabas they would take a train on chabas because held it was it was piku ne and in one of their journeys they never got to meet Roosevelt That's whatever that's a whole story about that. Uh but the secretary of the treasury because once again these you know there were certain Nazis who were making deals for money and if money could be released etc uh etc. So they met with Henry Morgan who was the secretary of the treasury and Morgan was from an old assimilated German family the German Jews who were not even reformed. there, you know, half of them were converted to Christianity and Morgan himself had married a non-Jewish woman and Raarin is speaking in Yiddish and Irving Bunham is translating in English and at some point Ravarin was very fiery and passionate in everything and certainly when it came to saving lives said when Morgan kept on saying we can't release money because that would be giving aid to the enemy in time of war and it's against US law to give any type of money uh to an enemy etc. Uh we can't give permission for it. So Ravarin said I think you're so concerned about keeping your job that you don't care if Jews die. So Buddham didn't want to translate it didn't didn't want to say it to Morgan because he thought that would be too antagonistic. So Buddham said something like you see the rabbi is very upset. You can see that he's very upset. So Raarin somehow even though Ravaran didn't know English really but Raarin intuited that Buddham did not say what he had said. So he pulls his coat and says say exactly what I said. Say it. So Buddham says well the rabbi feels that you care much more about your job than whether Jewish people die in Europe. And he asked me to say that to you. So it's recorded. So Buunam records uh in his um biography, autobiography. What was his response? He says that Morgan thou took off his glasses and he put his head in his hands and he said, "Tell the rabbi that if I could save Jewish lives, not only would I give up my job, I would give up my life. I would give up my life." And what happened was as a result of that conversation, I mean it's very this was very late in the war. This was in 1944, but a war refugee board was created and a few a few thousand Jews were in fact saved as a result of the efforts. I mean, it could have been earlier. It's but it wasn't. But nevertheless, Morgan thou did carry through as a result of that conversation. And once again, it goes back to the pint that even a Jew who may reject a lot of Yiddish kites in the inner recesses of his being. Think of Daniel Pearl. If you remember, Daniel Pearl was the uh reporter for the Wall Street Journal. And again, I think he had intermarried. He was certainly not not observant of mitzvos or that Jewishly aware. Uh but this was on on YouTube, made a video of it. Uh they hold a knife or a sword or whatever they hold to his throat and they ask him to renounce actually kamat the same situation as he as he g. He he said his last words in this world were I am a Jew. That's it. Talk about uh a person gets his in one one one second. But in this case the Rambam is really addressing the opposite side of it. The people who did affirm but the Rambam is saying you still cannot look at them as uh as Rish. Now the Rambam then proceeds to give two stories again and the more closely you read um the more you see there's the Rambam is stretching things here the Rambam is really trying to squeeze out every idea of that he could give even though sometimes from a strictly logical standpoint things are not totally consistent. He brings story number one with Rebi Mayor and story number two with Rebi Eleazar. And just in terms of the history, let me just remind you Rabbi Eleazar Ben Horines was the Rebi of Rabi Akiva. So this is pre- Rabbi Aaka. Rabbi Mayor is a disciple of Rabi Akiva. So they're within a half century of each other. Uh but one is before Rabi Akiva, one is after Rabbi Aaka. Uh the story of Rabbi Mayor is the following. Again this was a this is after the ba mikt after the basikt uh and uh there was a schmad in which many Israel were being killed and there was a uh death sentence on Rabbi Mayor. There was a death sentence on Rabbi Mayor. Mayor was a great rabbi. They they were going to kill him uh because uh he was teaching Torah. And when Rabbi Mayor was recognized and he was seized and he was arrested, Rabbi Mayor basically claimed, "I'm not mayor. I'm a goy." Rabbi Mayor said he was a And they did a litmus test. They brought non-coosher food to him and they said, "Eat this because if you eat this, that can show you're a guy. If not, not." And what Rabbi Mayor did was he stuck one finger into the tra soup and then he licked the other finger meaning he tricked them. In other words, go and he got away with it. Uh so Rabbi Mayor impersonated being a which meant essentially impersonation of an idoltor because being a meant you're no see again you have to understand the subtlety here the impersonation of eating trafe that itself would not have been s I mean let's imagine they would have known her mayor as a Jew and they would have told him eat traf or we'll kill you well the truth of the matter is you're allowed to eat tra that's nephesh See you understand the salty the Rambam is not proving anything from the fact that he impersonated eating D because the truth of the matter is he could have eaten tra itself if that would have been necessary but the problem is he's using this to represent himself as a non-Jew and a non-Jew in Roman times meant you were an oate a voter. So what is Rabbi Mayor doing? Rabbi Mayor is representing himself or misrepresenting himself as an oade aodara in order to save a life. Now we do know we do know that for aodora you have to give up your life. But the Rambam is trying to say again this is getting a little ahead of the discussion that there's a difference between doing a bodhisara like bowing down to an idol and misrepresenting your belief system. You see the analogy because in the case of Islam they were not doing acts of worship. They just had to make an affirmation. Well, Rabbi Mayor made such an affirmation. And then the Rambam adds in his sarcastic way here. He says that apparently according to this great modest learned rabbi who knows the truth of the Torah, Rebi Mayor is a Because after all, the rabbi writes that anyone who represents himself as a openly and keeps the Torah privately is a You see? So, so the Rambam is proving from Rabbi Mayor that this type of misrepresentation of a belief system is not prohibited, at least if you're doing it to save your life. Now, he then brings another story of Rabbi Lezar and this apparently is this is a strange phrase. Rabelzar nitfas nitfas means he was ceased. He was arrested. lemos uh by the heretics or because of heresy. Now there's a whole mahlo exactly how to learn this story. This is a story in the garra but the ram understands here that minos refers to Christianity which had was becoming a dominant religion in Rome and the Christians so to speak had seized rabbelzar. Remember the Christians initially had been the persecuted and then they became the persecutors and they said to Rabbi Eleazar how can you believe in all of your Yiddish kite etc. Uh it's such foolishness and the like and he was threatened and his answer was what the judge is telling me I accept as true and the judge released him. So here is how the Rambam understands the story. It's a very enigmatic story. But the Ram understands the story that Rabzar is standing before a Christian judge who is going to kill him because of his not accepting Yashka in whatever capacity he is to be accepted. And Rabzar says I firmly affirm what the judge is saying. So, who's the judge? The judge thinks he's the judge. In other words, Rabbi Alzar is saying, "You're right. Whatever you say, I accept." But in Rabbi Alzar's mind, the judge is the ultimate judge. Now, it's clear that if Rabbi Alzar would have said what he actually was thinking, he would have been killed. So he says something that misrepresents his belief system as it is understood by the human judge and as a result he goes free. So the Rambam uses both the story of Rabbi Mayor and the story of Rabbi Alzar to demonstrate that essentially misrepresenting your belief system in order to save your life. Now this is very very subtle because on one hand and again the Rambam is getting a little ahead of himself here. We do know a Jew must give his life before he engages in a bodhis that we know. But theish the direction that the Rambam is groping towards is misrepresenting your belief system is not the same as doing of meaning there's a difference between saying I am a Christian and taking mass in a church. I am a Christian is not an act of worship. You're not bowing down. You're not praying. You are simply saying what you believe, but you have not yet acted on what you have believed. And the Rambam is showing from both Rebi Mayor and from Rebezzar that representing or misrepresenting your belief system. Now assume we're assuming here that it's mudra is is at least considered permissible and that's not again we'll develop this further. the Rambam will develop this further in the case of a voter and I want to point out on this point on this point it's very very clear it's very very very clear that the Ashkanazic shittita throughout the crusades did not accept this view whatsoever uh as we know in the crusades where many many kahot gave their lives alashm Essentially, it was kind of the same thing. Affirm, you know, accept Yashka or we'll kill you. Now, I do want to say one thing there. There is a certain idea here that may come to the forefront which interestingly enough the Rambam does not utilize and that is it's a well-known idea that there's a difference between Islam and Christianity. in terms of whether it is a vodar. And in fact, the Rambam himself makes this point not not here but in the Mishna Torah where the Rambam says that Islam is a monotheistic religion and because it is monotheistic even though a Jew cannot be a Muslim because that's a rejection of Torah, right? So a Jew cannot be a Muslim. But because it is not idolatry, it is not a violation of the seven commandments of Noah. Remember even non-Jews are not allowed to engage in a vodor. And according to the Rambam, a Muslim is not an idoltor. A Muslim is a practitioner of monotheism. Their Noah problem is the murder problem. Uh that's that's their their issue. But on the Aodora problem, they're okay. uh Masha Kane a Christian. Now in the Rambam's time, the Rambam's time was pre-reformation. Uh this is before Protestant denominations. So there was Catholicism, there was uh some of the Eastern churches, there was Coptic in Egypt. Uh the Coptic uh and the Rambam considered all of those forms of Christianity to be idolatry. Uh both for two reasons actually. both because of the trinity idea that God has three aspects to him and because of the physicality idea that again how you understand that that God somehow got incarnated in a in a body. So the Rambam does take the position interestingly enough that a noite a righteous gentile can be a Muslim but a righteous gentile could not be a Christian at least a trinitarian Christian. There are Protestant unarian and there are Protestant dominant nomination that might not be the problem. Now without getting into the whole suga, let me point out that Rabenu Tam who lived in France, Rabenuam was Rashi's grandson actually takes the position that even Christianity which meant in France Roman Catholicism that was it was notically idolatry for Noahites because they did recognize the supremacy of God. There's the trinity father, son, holy ghost etc. Maybe since uh they're electing a new pope, I guess this comes up somehow in the conversation. Jerusalem. Yeah. Think so. I'd say what? The pope came from Jerusalem. Which one? Oh, did they elect a new pope already? No, they were chosen. Oh, okay. Okay. But be it as it may, that's a big mlo. Now, this has repercussions by the way because there is a which we don't enforce. We can't enforce it. that although a non-Jew is permitted to live in Erit Israel but the non-Jew must accept the seven noite laws now that would mean that a Muslim at least if they renounce violence would be permitted to live in Erat Israel a Christian tech like the Rambam would not be like Rabeno Tom could be now the point I want to make is this creates a whole new avenue of analysis that the Rambam is not exploring in the in the Garrett and that is maybe it's true you have to give up your life before you do a vodor but this is not Christianity this is Islam Islam is not a vodora so no problem now I want to emphasize this is specifically the road not taken There is not not a single line in Tash that talks about the nonidolatrous nature of Islam. Even though the Rambam himself elsewhere openly acknowledges that instead the Rambam is creating a much more radical idea which would equally apply to Christianity and that is saying what you believe is not acting on what you believe and therefore it does not fall within the realm of idolatry. And this is what he's proving from the rabbi mayor and rebel point. Now if you go with that analysis which again salv suggests might not be true but okay we'll get to that then even if you had to say you were a Christian it would be allowed as long as you're not doing an act of Christian worship. Okay, big big big big hiddish. And I want to point out it is very very clear that the Ashkanazic practice of the Kahilotes uh in in France and in Germany during the Crusades did not accept this leniency and they considered this to be a vodor and in fact this probably was the assumption all of you had until we discussed this and you have to give up your life. But the Rambam is giving you a remarkable I mean it's interesting he could have gone an easier way. He could have just said oh Islam you know not a vote of he I want to make it clear he does not go with that mahalik he goes with the idea that profession of faith is not acting on it and therefore it is not. Yeah. What if you commit an act that inadvertently might do that for example story bell down to Hmon and he was wearing whatever he was wearing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So uh that's going to be a bit a bit more uh subtle and that kind of depends on what your intention is at the time. But we we'll like during during let's say the um 1929 stock market when you wanted to have a job and you would come in to interview with a cross because you wanted the job. Yes. So you're wearing it for other purposes. You're not wearing it to be an idol worshipper. You're wearing it so that you can Yeah. So I I I believe I believe we'll have to talk about it more but I I believe that according to the Ram well okay let me put it according to the Rambam it would not be a vodor but nevertheless unless your life is in again you have to look at both the what you're doing and and the reason for it remember the Rambam is giving leniencies if you're talking about anything short of pikuish the bar is going to be much much higher so you have to look at both things Meaning profession is not the same as action but that's only going to be a justification therefore to save your life which we normally would not allow. Yeah. Yeah. We we we'll talk about that again. And the rabb will address and all the other things. And again, he's really getting a little ahead of himself because we're going to address the full discussion of martyrdom and a zor in the next class. That's the next part of the letter. But I just want to uh but he does introduce us to these two stories that are very pivotal. The story of Rabbi Mayor and the story of Rabbi Elazzar. Okay. So uh you should have a good to a good week and good as well.