Rambam's Letters | Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz | December 23rd 2025

Kanuka it says that the spiritual powers that Hashem puts into the world are so great that what the greatest sadikim accomplished on Rashan Kipper even the simplest Jew uh can accomplish on the last day of Kaneka. I'm sorry I'm giving you this message late. I should have mentioned it last week but something to remember for uh for next year. And again um the message of Kaneka is an eternal message as I talked about uh the world is full of full of darkness and sometimes we give up hope and Kaneka reminds us that eventually the light will triumph over the darkness and this is something that we know in Israel very very much and we should be z to see the or after experiencing the great great kosh uh today's shir uh is dedicated anonymously for the LMA of Evelina Batcalina. May she have a refle uh so uh we've been looking at the letters uh that the Rambam wrote to his beloved Talmud Yoseph Ben Yehuda and this I think will be the last session devoted to that series of letters. Again you see the extraordinary affection that the Rambam has uh for this uh individual. Number one, the Rambam dedicates the whole Morin of uh to Yosephuda. Uh and in fact, the original genesis of the Morinim were a series of very very long letters that the Rambam wrote to his Talmud to explain various biblical passages and eventually they were put uh they were big enough to be a book or be a scroll and the Rambam indeed the look at the Marin today. Look at any you will see the introductory dedication to Yosephuda. Uh the Rambam consistently refers to him as my son. And when he criticizes Yose Penuda for being overly protective of the Rambam in defending him against various attacks, the Rambam says, "I know that a son cannot bear to see his father degraded, but don't don't worry about it. I'm okay. I'm big enough that I can take all of this different types of of criticism. Um, as is often the case in the Rambam's letters, there is really a mix between very personal aspects of the Rambam which are very uh very special in a way because in the Rambam's books, you don't always get that personal note and at the same time the Rambam addresses the ideas that he talks about in his swarim that were very very important to him. So in the YF ben Yehuda letters we do have a mixture of both very personal uh things and the general theological questions that both Yasjuda was interested in as a student of philosophy and that the Rambam uh was interested in. Uh so first let me just mention there are two other a few other personal things I want to mention in the letters then we'll get to some of the more general theological issues that the Rambam raises. First the Rambam has a curious reference that historians are a little uncertain. The Rambam writes to his beloved Talmed. He says perhaps you may have heard of the death of the daughter. And he says uh she was a wonderful person. But the Rambam then goes on a little bit of an essay that one should not overly mourn the dead because the essence of a person is not their body. The essence of the person is the nishama. The body by definition is going to disintegrate. Remember just to remind you even by the Rambam's whole view of resurrection is that it's a temporary phenomenon. So the Rambam says, "Listen, in the long run, we're all going to die." Kind of more of a stoic or fatalist position. In the long run, what do they say? Nobody gets out of here alive. Uh that's the nature of the world. And therefore, there is no point in in torturing yourself over that which is inevitable. uh you live the best life that you can and then you believe in the mercy of Hashem and the kindness of Hashem that those who live good lives are going to get a reward an eternal reward in all of Haba and again it's a it's a sober what you might call mature reflection on the idea of death uh but the the the historical question is did the Rambam have a daughter uh that that died? So most historians conclude that this is not the Rambam's daughter. This is the Rambam's niece. Remember the Rambam had a brother David who was a merchant a jewel merchant and David actually supported in fact in the Rambam's early years early married years essentially he had a family co-ell so to speak meaning his brother supported him uh and then the brother tragically died uh in a shipwreck in the Indian Ocean and the Ramba makes the point that he lost his closest friend and he also lost his economic support uh and the Rambam indeed took in the daughter. Apparently the wife apparently died as well. So the Rambam took in the daughter and raised the daughter. He and his wife raised the daughter. So many say that the reference to the daughter dying is that somehow this girl also died obviously at a relatively young young age. So that's one reference daughter that historians debate. Another very very beautiful thing is that the Rambam writes about the pride that he has in his son. And the Ram did have one surviving child that we know of and this is the great rabbi Rabbi Abraham Benharam and Raam was himself a very very great kaham who wrote in fact he succeeded to the Rambam's position as the nagid nagid was the Jewish the leader of the Jewish community uh in Mitraim it was both a political office and a rabbitical office at the same time because the nagid was in charge of negotiating with the califf and the like and uh the Rambam had that position and his son succeeded and uh in a way ramb I'm not going to call it the misfortune but sometimes you have very very great people who just happened to be overshadowed uh by their father Raam was a very very great person but as I said we tend to know him as son of Rambam the Vil Nagon's uh children had I'm not going to call it a problem but they had the same type of issues. They were great but they were overshadowed by their father. And in truth a lot of Ra's career was devoted to defending his father. Meaning even after his father died, if people attacked the Rambam either the positions of the Mishna Torah or the philosophical positions of the Morbim, Rab Ram Rambam saw as one of his great missions to defend and validate uh his father's thought. So in a sense uh he kind of almost subordinated some of his own ideas to be able to defend the Rambam. Although he did write a very very uh great uh book of we would call it muser moral developments uh character it's called hamaspik leov de hashem that means the book that is sufficient to serve god properly and it's really a manual of tikun of perfecting one's personality uh it is a very stoic in tone of accepting the difficulties of life without complaining etc. And this book is has a very very excellent uh English translation annotated. Uh it's called Hamaspic. I don't know what what it goes under in the English, but u I think it's published by Felheim. Uh so you know you can actually see that book and even get it in translation. But in his letter to Yoseph Pñauda and of course the Rambam loved Yosephuda and the Rambam praises Yoseph. The Rambam says at one point that even if I only had you as my only student, that would be worth it because you are so precious to me. But then the Rambam talks about the special feeling he has for his son. He says, "I've lost a lot in my life and I've suffered a lot in my life and I'm often attacked by different people, often unjustly, but my greatest comfort is the son that God has given me." And he talks about Abraham as having a brilliant mind. But at the same time he is humble. He is modest. He is compassionate. He is caring and he thanks Hashem for giving him the gift of such a son. Again very very touching. Now you know it's interesting. Did the Rambam to tell his son those things? Yeah. Again, I'm just I'm just guessing know based on certain stories in the brisker now salv that you know you always demand more and more of your children. You never tell them how good they are. So was unrelentingly tough on the briskerv the velving and yet to everybody else in the world was always saying what a remarkable son he has. He never said a single compliment. uh to to the brisker of again I I personally do not approve of that parent parenting style but you know who am I to the judge of and I have no idea if that's how the you know again I I'm just the fact that the Rambam is so ausive in this letter to Yoshi Binuda just makes me think did he communicate that to Avam or not I have no idea I really don't know uh but still the Rambam was very very proud of uh the son that he who was the only ch. As I say, the Rambam probably had no other children. This literally was the only child that the Rambam had. The reference to the bot is probably his niece, not not his not his uh daughter. Now again in uh going back to some other issues uh remember that Yoseph Pyhuda uh was very protective of the Rambam and the Rambam's nemesis seems to emanate from Baghdad where there was a very very big yeshiva and the Roshiva of the Baghdad yeshiva was regarded as one of the Gdoleador Rebi Benelli and he had a confederate or he had an assistant who was called Rabbi Zakaria and Ravmo Benelli and Rabbi Zakaria uh were very critical of the Rambam both in terms of positions and in terms of philosophical positions and in particular the Rambam's view of resurrection of the dead in which the Rambam was accused of denying physical resurrection and remember that's why the Rambam wrote that big letter in response to Raful Benelli and Yosephuda who is more learned than Yoseph Jabar Yose Jabbar was the unlearned defended of defender of the Rambam in Baghdad and the Rambam kind of just told him you know kind of just stay out of it. uh Yose Penuda was much more learned and he was more actively involved and the Rambam basically tells him again he says don't make Maklo you're not doing me any favors stay out of it and Yosephuda even wanted to move to Baghdad where he was not living and establish a yeshiva devoted to teaching the Rambams hala and philosophy which would have been in direct competition to the big yeshiva in Baghdad. And the Rambam said, "Well, you're free to move and if you want to teach Torah, you know, gate, go ahead and do it. But I'm not sure if that's a great uh idea." Uh he says, "They're kind of going to destroy you there." And the Rambam even says, "Listen, you're going to start a yeshiva. How are you going to make a living? How are you going to make a living teaching Torah?" The Rambam says, you know, you are a doctor. You've been trained to be a physician. He says, much better to be a tailor, to be a carpenter. To be a doctor. In those days, doctors didn't have the mystique that it has today. You know, there's tailor, carpenter, doctor. It was just a another it was just another job, uh, so to speak. He says, "And you earn your money from your pasa, and then you're able to teach Torah without financial pressures." because he said what's going to happen is if you don't have an independent source of parnasa you're going to have to be paid by the main yeshiva and by the rabbis and then they're going to control you and then they're going to muzzle you and then they're going to censor you. So the whole purpose of why you want to establish your yeshiva is going to be destroyed because you will no longer be an independent voice. So he said if you are going to move to Baghdad number one I'm telling you do not get into fights and number two be sure you are independently supported and you are not going to be dependent on a kilah that may not allow you to say the things that you need to say. Very very important to be independent. Now we know that the Rambam was against people getting paid for the teaching of Torah. Uh, and part of that was you shouldn't use the Torah as a cardum, as a shovel lao. That's a lion. But here we see a different idea that the Rambam says. The Rambam says it's good to have a separate source of parasa because that gives you the independence and the freedom to be able to articulate. In fact, this is often I mean I mean this is a bit of practical advice that shabanim are often given. Um it's often said it depends on the sh obviously that the rabbi bash should have another source of income other than the sh uh simply because this way the rabbi has more independence and the rabbi is not beholden. Again obviously it depends on the demands of the shaw etc. Uh but this idea goes goes all the way back and the Ram articulated the idea that you know the old joke about the golden rule. The golden rule he who has the gold rules and this is an issue that we face in Erit Israel. I mean again it's it's a big issue. Uh yeshivos get a lot of money from the government. The state of Israel is a major you know bashem it's a major major supporter of yeshivos. But you know uh if they give so much money they have the right to make certain demands and certain expectations and the yeshivos cannot always have it both ways. They take the money and don't meet the demands and expectations. So in a sense although I don't agree with them philosophically uh you have to respect uh institutions like the brisker institutions which do not take any money from the government. They say we don't want to be beholden. Uh and this is a problem in the United States as well. Uh there are YU because YU is in such a precarious financial condition takes whatever it can from the government simply because otherwise they would go bankrupt. But uh the the uh wealthier Christian schools Notre Dame and the like they do have a policy of not taking money from the federal government precisely because they don't want to be controlled uh gay rights or whatever it will be. And part of why you part of why YU is facing uh so many issues with gay and lesbian uh matters is simply because they are beholden to governmental regulations because they are getting governmental funding. Notre Dame has a big enough endowment. I'm not blaming why because does not have any money. I mean that's a well-known problem. So I'm not blaming them for it, but they are in a predicament because they're dependent on the government. Uh Notre Dame is not. And therefore Notre Dame as a Christian university is able to take moral positions that unfortunately a university is not always able to take. So this is what goes back. So this is the point the Rabam is making. The Ram is telling Yosuda have a separate source of income. Do not depend on the Jewish community and the Jewish infrastructure in Baghdad to support you because then you will be muzzled and then you will not be able to teach uh what you are uh supposed to be teaching. Now there's a whole reference to other things there that are kind of shrouded in mystery. Uh there was a position remember in Bavl Baghdad is at Bavl Iraq called the R scalusa. Now this is already in Tmudic times and even before Talmudic times. R scaloosa literally means Aramaic the head of the exile. This was a political office so to speak in which a lay person laafka a rabbi sometimes a rabbi sometimes not was the designated head of the Jewish community and had standing in organizing communal affairs internally and in being the representative to the government. This is called the ra galousa. Often times they tried to get a rag galusa that was uh from Malus Pavit. It was actually a descendant of the Davidic wine. They saw it on some abstract level as a continuation of the Davidic monarchy. Already in tomudic times, if not before, there were often many many conflicts between the R galousa and your rabbis, the Amorim of Babel because the R galoosa wanted to do certain things uh which were not necessarily according to Haka and the Rabanim were often in opposition, right? So, so the garumar constantly the garumar has many many many different stories about re galoosas abusing their powers uh and the like and like any political office there were good R scaloosis and there were bad rak scalus it was a political office although the appointment was generally for life it it was not a it was not a it was not a termlimited position so apparently and again we're not given the details because the Rambam is enigmatic uh but he's just alluding to Apparently the Rambam endorsed a certain candidate to become R galousa that that the Russia Shiva and his confederate Rab Zakari were very much against and the Rambam endorsed this person because the Rambam felt he was the best person. They were infuriated because they saw this as an unwarranted intervention which kind kind of it sounds like it is in a way but an unwarranted intervention in their local affairs and it was a great disrespect to them as the religious leaders who should have had a veto power on the appointment of the R galousa uh and as and yepuda as well uh kind of stepped in and defended this Resala as the best possible person uh and and the like and they responded Rab Zakaria and Benelli responded to Yep and Yehuda with a lot of invective and they wrote to the Rambam although very politely that you have this fire brand student who goes around insulting everybody maybe you ought to rein him in. So the Rambam gives Yosephud a little bit of Muser and he says, "Listen, I wrote back to them that whatever they think you said, you probably didn't say because I know you're such a refined person, but I suspect you might have I suspect you might have said it. I'm trying to cover you. I'm trying to have your back. I'm trying to make things good with them, but I'm just telling you, no, tone it down uh a little bit." And he even says, "What do you expect? You attack people who are much older than you and they're hurt and they say harsh words back to you and then you get hurt." He says, "What do you expect?" And the rabb writes, "These were people who were raised from the time they were young to regard themselves as leaders as great." And the Rambam writes, it's kind of very interesting. He says you know okay so they got used to the modality of unconditional cover. He says it's not good to be habituated to unconditional cover but once you get habituated it does become addictive. So you can't be angry at people who get offended when you are poga in their covet because that's the way they were raised. their whole life people told them you're a genius, you're brilliant. Okay, now you're coming along and saying you're not so great. He says, "How do you expect people to respond?" This is a a bit of a remarkable bit of psychology. It's kind of judging people where they are. You know, they're in a certain place. They have a certain mindset. They have certain life experiences. Maybe they're wrong. 100% they're wrong. But you know you got to look at them based on the limitations of everything that they experienced in their life. And therefore he gives musher to his he says I don't blame them for attacking you. You denigrated their honor. And these are people of in fact he even quotes a statement in the garra a little backhand. The garra says in a certain context about an older person who wanted to be heard. So he said Vikna maybe there's no wisdom but at least there's old age and that counts for something. So the Rambam says to his younger Talman about Rab Zakary and and the Rosha he says okay if they're notim that's also a little bit of a biting they're older than you respect your elders. So again, it's a very interesting story because it's going back and forth and the details are very very obscure. The details are very obscure exactly what was going on. Uh but apparently uh the Rambam got involved in the appointment of Ar Galooa. Uh the Roshi Yeshiva and his assistant were very very upset. Uh and Yosi Yehjuda stepped in and they got angry at him and they wrote a letter to the Rambam and the Rambam defended him. But then the Rama had to tell his falman, you did say what they say you said and you need to rein it in and uh not get so angry for my coven. Again, it'd be fascinating to know more more of the details of of what's going on. Uh but you see that um these interpersonal dynamics played a uh a major a major role. Uh and here too the Rambam says that even though these rabbis know a lot of Talmud that is not the same as wisdom. Again, the Rambam once again has a bit of his anti-almudic dietry. But by anti-mudic, I mean to say that the Rambam did not regard and again I keep on going back to this because it is so astounding to me and it is so against the message of the yeshiva world. You know, I it's very staggering almost. The Rambam did not regard intricate analysis of the give and take of the Talmud as intrinsically important. He regarded it as important only as a means of understanding the once you have the you don't need to go back and go through all of the questions and the answers. And he says, "Unfortunately, Talmudic study has degenerated not as an attempt to find tala, but as an attempt to perfect your talent as a debater and he says that is not a significant talent, that is a theatrical talent." And uh now as I said I want to point out that the Rambab's view is 100% not the view of the yeshiva world and in particular I don't I I don't I don't mean the world but as particular as articulated by the vil nagon great disciple of raim of wrote uh a book called shim which is the very very interesting because it it is largely a cababalistic book although it's a relatively basic cababalistic book uh and there are a number of themes in the book uh part of it is a pmic against which was emerging as you know the vagon was very tough against the uh beginningic movement he put it in Rafimner personalitywise was very very different he was very gental very welcoming very open he is not condemnatory but in his own gentle way uh nephe is a pmic against the kidic movement in particular here is the problem he saw inus the early years ofus a dangerous I'm going to use a high fallutin word antinomian tendency antinomian simply means uh against formal laws meaning there were Many not the Rebies but the followers who took the position that the most important thing in serving God is your heart, your emotions, your love, your fear. That's important. God doesn't want superficial mitzvot. God doesn't want commandments without feeling and without passion. Therefore, they concluded, I mean, so far so good. No, nobody would argue with that. But therefore they concluded if you're not going to do a mitzvah with passion don't do it at all. It's worthless. If you're not going to study Torah Shayimma don't do it at all. Saw that as a very very dangerous destructive aspect of of some aspects of early. It contradicts number one the Gomorrah statement that a person should learn Torah and mitzvah even not for the sake of heaven because they will eventually bring him to the right place. So wrote in this is not the main thing I'm bringing in but I'll come to the main thing in a second that one has to understand that although God of course wants love and [snorts] reverence and passion and intentionality and that is very very important but the deed is more important than everything else and therefore Or if you had to make a choice between passion without deed or deed without passion, you got to go with the deed. You can't look at subjective religious experience as the end all. Now what's fascinating is that you see if you look in Tanya which is a kidic work this is exactly the point of the alterbi meaning the alterbi both and the alterbi saw a certain danger in early and that is the elevation of religious subjectivity over halic fidelity addressed it from the Misnagate perspective and the alterbi addressed it as a kidic rebi and that is why one has to know that the Tanya was a controversial work not only outside of the kidic world it was controversial within itself because the alterbi kind of restored to its rightful place in a hashem there really was this potential danger of certain aspects of degenerating into religious subjectivity and I'll give you a concrete example some of which even exist even today we have keshma right keshma has a zaman keshma so let's I'm going to make up a number I don't I happen I mean I dab earlier so I don't even know the exact zan kesheshma now I'm ashamed to say but let's say zaman keshishma is around 8:15 so let's imagine that you were up very late last night and 8:15 you can get up and say schma but it's going to be superficial it'll be without kavana but if you sleep until 10:30 your schma is going to be so gishmak you're going to rip the heavens with your kabana so you might say well what does prefer does prefer a superficial mumbling of the words of Schma before 8:15 or does he watch my passion And my commitment early says sleep until 10:30. Again, I I I this is a caricature a little bit. So there may be listening. Uh whatever. I apologize. I'm I'm just using this for illustrative purposes. I don't mean to uh impugn any group. But what does Hashem prefer? 10:30 with passion or 8:15 mumbling? leer says well obviously God would prefer 8:15 with passion but if the choice is 8:15 mumbling or 10:30 with passion you got to do the mice right so that's a main theme of nephim and I want to point out it's a main theme of the as well now the other thing that the neim talks about is he talks about the idea of learning Torah and this is the part of the nephim that literally can be called the mission statement of the Lithuanian yeshiva world and all the yeshivas today are mainly from the Lithuanian yeshivas at least most of them uh and that is the notion that learning Torah is the highest most important thing you can do even if your kavana is not totally lishma it is infinitely good it brings blessing to the world it brings holiness to the world it elevates you and even if it's the most theoretical ical discussion that is not relevant to anything practical. You are connecting yourself to God's essence and the questions and the answers and the pill are all part of how you connect to God in the most powerful way. And this is the mission statement. This is the common idea of Torah learning that we communicate. And again, it it constantly surprises me. I forgive me for repeating it all time [clears throat] that the Rambam didn't seem to look at it that way. The Rambam said, "Hey, of course the Rambam considered learning Torah to be the greatest mitzvah." The Rambam says so in Hilo Torah, but the Rambam saw the purpose of learning Torah is to get the knowledge to be able to serve Hashem in doing the mitzvot properly and also absorbing the philosophical ideas that are necessary for a true connection with God. The the Rambam did not see the questions, answers, and debates as having an intrinsic importance other than they enabled you to reach a certain conclusion. But the conclusion is more important than the process. Now, to me, this is absolutely surprising. This is the rabbis and and we've already we've already encountered him saying this several times and in a sense he uses this as a disparagement of Rab Zakaria. He says Rabb Zakaria fashions himself to be a great man because he is conversant with all of the Talmudic discussions. The Rambam writes very frankly, I don't consider that making a person great. He says uh he doesn't necessarily know the final and he doesn't necessarily have a philosophical grounding in true ideas. So he masters a certain process. The Rambam quotes the Gmorrah that says remember Zakai knew everything. It says he knew dorado the great things. He knew the dra katan the small things. Warren Suka says this drag godau is ma sea voracious the aspects of creation which the Rambam defines as science and ma the divine chariot which the Rambam defines as metaphysics that's the big things of life katan the small things the gammor itself saysay verba the debates of abaya called dra kata So the Rambam says how can a person consider himself a great if all he knows is what the Talmud itself calls a diver katan. Now now again as I indicated last week and then that the rivid zoomed zoomed in on this. The ribbed says that the Rambam was delegitimating the importance of Gomorrah learning and he accused the Rambam of of having that in mind. The Rambam wrote in another letter that he denied that accusation but laniest I think the rivet is 100% correct in his assessment. Now again I I I also have to emphasize that since this is a class on the Rambam I'm giving you the Rambam's view that doesn't mean that's my view. Okay, I'm I'm closer not not that my view makes a difference but I'm closer to um the position and in fact so is Alan Dersuitz. I mean if you remember uh you know Alan Dersuit made this point that the Rambon was trying to close debates and it's not right to close debate. Debate has to be open and people attacked Dersuit for being disrespectful. Now, yeah, he his tone was disrespectful, but somebody asked me to denounce Joshua's statement. I said, I agree with it. Uh why would I denounce it? Um the Rambam wanted to get this discussion out of the way, give us bottom lines and then we can spend our life devoted to philosophy. I mean, that that that really was the Rambam's ultimate agenda. And he uses this as his criticism of Rabbi Zakaria and Rashmo Benelli. And he even comments Rashma Benelli wrote a big treatise on uh in which he critiques the Rambam and talks about physical resurrection and the Rambam's letter of Egaritasm was a response to the book of Shuel Ben Elli and the Rambam says the following. Listen, I don't mind if he brings proofs from the Talmud. Okay, that's his thing. But once he starts talking about philosophy, he's out of his league because also brought in some philosophical arguments that the Rambam considered to be, he doesn't really say what they are, but he says he considers them to be unsophisticated and superficial. So he says, let him stick to what he knows and we can debate those proofs. He doesn't have to get into things that are beyond his area of expertise. Did you want to say in the back? Yes. >> What you said about old age, it isn't just old experience. >> Yes. Yes. >> Yeah. I'll repeat. Yeah. very slow. There weren't many changes to the way the world went. We're living now in an age of 10 by going back to the arguments in the in order to deal with the movements how they deal with we go back to the arguments that we do today that are changing so rapidly where the around them practically in this. >> Yeah. Yeah. So these are uh two very good points and the first point I don't know if it came up today but I think it came up last week is uh that the Rambam does refer to the idea of old age bringing experience uh where the Rambam actually tells those who've been you're young and you get excited you get angry but I have learned the notion of patience and forbearance in old age. And then he does he did bring this up today. He says in defense of the rashi yeshiva in Baghdad that they are old and they also uh have acquired a certain amount of experience. Indeed the garra itself says this. The garra says zen. So it means in front of an older person you stand up and you shall give honor to a zen. So there are two words that are used for old. One is Sava and one is Zaken. And the Gmorrah explains Sava is someone that is you know physically old. And Zen is even a young person who has acquired Zakma. And the garra mentions that one must show honor and respect even to an ignorant an unlearned older person because they have gone through many experiences in their life and they have learned from their life experience. There are many many teachers that we have in life. Obviously Torah is our teacher but life is also our teacher and a person has gone through marriage parenting struggles successes failures hopefully they learn something from their lives right um George Bernard Shaw remarked it's really a pity that a youth is wasted on the young they don't know how to use it if a person you know has gone through all of the experiences of an older person and then is given the energy and the vigor. That's a wonderful combination. Unfortunately, you know, by the time we get all our experiences, our energy is a little low at that at that particular point. Now, the second point is also a very interesting point. Uh the argument was made the following. The Rambam is dismissing tomudic discussions as unnecessary because as long as you have a bottom line uh just proceed from there, why do you have to revisit all sorts of debates and discussions? Uh but here's the argument. Uh that may be a compelling point when you're dealing with um a society that does not have rapid changes and does not produce new questions. So you're simply dealing with the old ruling. So once we have the bottom line, I don't have to reopen the Pandora's box and look at the arguments. But when you have a society in which there are new questions coming all the time because of technology and the like. So looking at the old rulings, I don't necessarily get an answer about electricity, about cloning, about surrogate motherhood, about AI. So I need to go back to the sources to analyze the basic arguments. Uh so that that's a very good point. Meaning the Ramba might be a little too harsh in dismissing tomudic debate as simply skill in debating points. The truth of the matter is it actually might be very very necessary in hik practical hakic adjudication because without a clear identification of the principles involved we will not be able to extrapolate from the older rulings to the newer rulings. So that would be true. Now again that that was not defense per se but that that would that could be another defense of of why we still need tomudic discussion. Yeah. >> Yeah. Um I understand that the briskers are very much into Rambam. How do they [laughter] >> Well, as I say uh this is what they say is is Hashem's revenge against the Rambam. Uh the Rambam has been appropriated by all sorts of schools of thought that the Rambam would actually totally disagree with. Uh the Rambam wrote his book to give you bottom line and foreclose debates and discussions. Instead, the Rambam's work has been the greatest source of debate and discussion uh in the yeshiva world. Brisk uses the Rambam infinitely to create theoretical distinctions, theoretical discussions. Uh, was this what the Rambam would have wanted from his work? Probably not. Uh, so >> what does that mean? >> Huh? >> What did that mean? That was what he wanted. >> Well, it wasn't his intention. He he wrote the book with a certain intention. Keshbu decreed in various ways that his book would become extremely important, extremely valuable but not in the specific way he intended as the as the uh line goes you know and meaning uh a person has a certain plan and God has another plan. So again I want to emphasize the Rambam's books are enormously important enormously important but not in the particular way that he intended them he did it for this reason and Akadesh Baraku caused it to be used for a different reason. [clears throat] So it's still used right every single yeshiva in the world I I don't know if every some shs don't have swaren but virtually every schul in the world will have the raam right we learn the ram over and over and over and over again but not in the specific way that he intended so as as irres disrespectful as it might be uh in terms of the Rambam stated objectives the Mishna Torah was a failure in terms of people learning it it's an absolute Absolutely magnificent success. Yeah. >> I've heard it said that there are certain people who study ramb [laughter] um well well the these these are in the letters. These are not in the Mishna Torah itself. Uh well I'm not aware of people who rip out the pages today but there might be so. The pages that would be ripped out if somebody were to rip them out are the first four chapters of Hiluski atra where the Rambam describes an arisatilian conception of the structure of the universe and those first four chapters have no tomudic sources whatsoever. They are entirely based on Aristotle but the Rambam considered it important enough to put it in his book uh as it were. Uh so maybe there are some zealot I mean I have never heard of anyone today but there may be some zealous people who might uh might rip that uh rip that out. Uh yeah >> you talked about PSA. Yeah. >> The difference between Ron and what we do today. >> Yes. >> And do what we think I need with Ron. uh how uh we come back if there's a physical side physical fiscal week and then eventually sh how do they get where their sources come from where does Ramb get this idea where does Ramb get that idea they just where they >> well the problem is listen obviously the Gmorra has many many references both to Olam Habah >> and to Samson And the sources move in different directions. The Olmab sources say there is no g, there is no body, there is no eating, there is no sleeping. Sadikim sit with crowns of glory on their heads and they get the pleasure of the radiance of the shina. That's kind of the hab narrative. Then we have the narratives that talk about uh you arise in your clothing etc. uh and there's no sickness but it's a very physical description. So the question essentially becomes how do you reconcile the non-physical description of olhaba with the physical description of resurrection of the dead. So essentially the maklo ram and raman and others is focusing on the reconciliation of those inconsistent descriptions of the hereafter. So according to Ramban physical resurrection is the endgame is the transitional state. According to the Rambam is exactly the opposite. Now uh is temporary. Olaba is the permanent state. Now why the Rambam viewed it that way I think is very much connected to the Rambam's view of the body. Although the Rambam was of course a doctor and the Rambam was very very conversant with the operation of the human body. But the Rambam could not possibly conceive of an eternity which glorified the physical part of the human body. He did not see that as significant enough that that would be the eternity of reward and therefore he posited that is a particular event that will occur but it does not have any any permanence. So it's connected to the rabb's view of the body which ultimately is kind of connected to Aristotle who considered touch to be the most inferior of the human senses because it required physical person to thing or personto person contact and it goes back to a whole whole bunch of things how the Rambam viewed uh marital intimacy as opposed to the Ramban there's a whole conjuries of different types of uh positions in which the Ramban uh did not regard the goof. The Rambam regarded the goof as a hindrance so to speak that you got to deal with. Now now at the same time let me emphasize that the Rambam as a doctor very very much advocates health and exercise and diet and indeed he incorporates his medical advice in the Mishna Torah itself. Uh so the Rambam was not irresponsible in that way. He was highly highly conscientious of the vital importance of protecting the body. But he saw the body as just a means towards being able to do mitzvot. He did not see the body as having any role in eternity in ol inhabations. >> Yeah. >> I didn't hear >> their side. >> Yeah. Nose. [laughter] >> You know. Yeah. Listen. What can I tell you? Um Yeah. Our hope our hope would be we would find you know that we'll find out in a good way. >> Can't say he knows she knows. >> Yeah. >> No, that that's that's very that that Yeah. >> No, that's very true. So So what do you do? So So the best you can do is you look at uh you look at the source material and you try to formulate a hypothesis. >> Yeah. [clears throat] >> Yes. Yes. Yes. Uh so again, as far as we're concerned, you know, we believe that Hashem has a reward for those who live good lives and you know, we're not sure exactly about the specific details of that reward that that could be as good as we can practically practically do. Um okay. Um now we're almost finished. Uh so I'll just start. Um so this this is kind of the the personal aspect of the letters that the Ram addresses. He then has again this is really a series of letters. This is not a single letter. He then has uh a discussion of a topic that the Rambam was very very fond of and that he revisits quite quite often and that is the notion of free will uh versus determinism. Uh and let me point out that one of the reasons why the Rambam is so preoccupied with this theme is because this was a very very live issue in the Islamic philosophy of the time in which there were great Islamic philosophers who took a very deterministic view of the universe and this this manifest itself in a number of ways. uh first uh they made the argument that if God is omnipotent that means God is all powerful nothing can be done in the universe against the will of God because God is omnipotent then how could a human being have the ability to do evil God if God doesn't want you to do evil then how could you do evil That would be a contradiction to divine omnipotence. So as a result, it must be that everything you do is decreed by God. If I do good, it's because God made me do good. If I do evil, God made me do evil. Predetermination, predestination. Uh people do not choose to be righteous or evil. Uh they are programmed like machines. And even if they even if in their brains there is a thought I am going to do good that's just part of God's own programming. God put the thought in your head or God put the thought in your mind the other way. And therefore they denied many Islamic philosophers somewhat similar hundreds of years later to the Calvinists John Calvin that there is no notion of free will because God must control the shots and the Rambam thought very much and and many Jews were influenced by this kind of thought that I am what I am. I am what I am you know I can't I can't change it. I have no control. If I do good, it's only because I'm programmed to do good. If I do bad, I'm programmed to do bad. So, the Rambam uh waged an unrelenting a fight against this idea by enshrining the notion of free will called as a cornerstone of Judaism. Although it's interesting, I I'll leave this as a question to ponder. The Rambam does not list this in the 13 principles of faith. In other words, if I were to ask you uh where in the 13 principles of faith uh does the Rambam enumerate the idea that every human being has free will? It actually is not there. But one could argue it is implicit in one of the because one of the is that God will give reward to those who do good in in some ultimate sense and God will give punishment to those who do evil. Now the Rambam writes in the Mishna Torah that the concept of reward and punishment and again we're not dealing about this world next world that's a separate issue of suffering of the righteous okay that's not the issue now but ultimately there's a reward and a punishment system so the Rambam argues a reward and a punishment system is morally justifiable only in a world of free will and responsibility because if I do good because I'm programmed to do good, then why do I deserve a reward for that? I'm no more virtuous than a computer. And if I do evil, because I'm programmed to do evil, why am I deserving of punishment? It would be literally unjust of the God of justice to reward people for the good which was not a product of their choice, and to punish people for evil, which was not a product of their choice. So one might argue I I would make this argument that even though the Rambam does not enumerate free will explicitly as one of the 13 principles of faith since he does enumerate reward and punishment as one of the 13 principles of faith. It is implicit in the reward and punishment that there's free will which is a connection the Ramba makes in the Mishna Torah itself. Now the question though is philosophically well what about the argument that how can I choose to go against the will of God? Isn't that isn't that a contradiction to divine omnipotence? So the Rambam's answer to that is it all depends on how you define the will of God. Now if if for example somebody kills somebody, somebody desecrates Chabas, well did God want me to kill somebody? Did God want me to desecrate Chabas? No, he didn't want me to do do that. But he wanted me to have the ability to do that. Meaning to say at a higher level of extra abstraction the exercise of free will is the will of God even though definitionally the particular outcome might not be the will of God but that's the cat that God is letting out of the bag. Meaning God's will is we have free will. So my having free will is not a contradiction to God's will. That is God's will. Now God could have changed that equation as he did with Pyro and we'll talk about that. Now if it's God's will that I have free will, then it's God's will that I be able to do things that are against the will of God. That's a little bit of the paradox. God wills that I be able to violate his will. So that's not a contradiction. Now you'll then ask me the question which the Ramai does not address. Why does God want me to have that free will? And the short answer that's normally given is because if you talk about optimalization of virtue or maximization of virtue, if virtue is truly virtuous only when it's chosen, then God had to build free will into the framework of the universe because otherwise virtuous action would become impossible. Meaning it is the capacity to choose evil that enables the accomplishment of good because a good that is not chosen is not a virtuous choice. So it's complicated but in many many ways evil is a necessary evil. Evil is necessary for there to be good. So this is free will. Now there are many many complications. I I'll talk about it a little bit next week. I guess I'm going to hold this over for one more week. Uh the free but the free will, the truth is it's kind of a digression, but it's a very important digression because in the letters of Yose bin Yehuda, it's like a tiny paragraph. But once we hit that paragraph, I think I ought to bring in the Mishna Torah and the morim. Uh because it is such an important central thought idea in the Rambam's thoughts that that I'm going to take the liberty of going beyond the letters to kind of elaborate on a little bit. So next week, God willing, we'll talk a little bit more about uh free will. Have a good good week. Good chips.