Rambam's Letters | Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz | November 18th 2025

And this particular share is dedicated anonymously for the refurish LMA of Avelina Batgalina. May she have a refu of Shah Israel. Again, I apologize for last week. I I I gave notice very very late. I was actually prepared to go in spite of a very bad cold. My wife forbade me to go. [laughter] Uh, and although I initially opposed her, uh, as I started to walk out of the apartment, I realized that, uh, her judgment was more correct, as is usually the case. So, I I apologize for people who, um, who were here. Um, I still, it's interesting as as I get older, I find that recovery time seems to be uh much longer. Everything is slower. Uh, but I should also have a a a refuge layer. Uh we were looking uh at the famous letter to Avaja the gear and I had mentioned there were three questions. Uh question number one was he was told that as a g he should not say eloenu that god is the god of our forefathers because ara were not his forefathers and the ram as we went through it at length takes the position that this is a matter of spiritual lineage. It is not a matter of biological descent and if one embraces the path of Abraham then one is a child of Abraham. Uh the third question was whether Islam is technically considered to be idolatry. Now this is a very very important question is even important today. Uh because obviously a Jew cannot be a Muslim. That's not that's not the question. The question is can a be a Muslim because under the seven commandments of Noah uh one of the prohibitions is the iser of idolatry. So as a result even if one is otherwise a righteous person uh if something is technically a zor it would be prohibited under the no law for even a non-Jew to practice it. And from the perspective of therefore uh although we don't follow this halak because we're not in charge uh an odisar one who practices idolatry is not allowed to have residence in the land of Israel meaning a non-Jew can live in Israel only if they renounce idolatry and they adopt monotheism. So that would be of course that would kind of lead us if you took the position that it was Abodisara this would lead us to kind of the Marahana solution uh to our problem and that is expulsion although for a different reason than he suggested. Uh now the Rambam however did come out you'll recall that uh Islam uh again he he had all sorts of problems with Islam. He considered Muhammad to be crazy and uh destructive and evil in many many ways. But he did say the one thing they have in their favor is it is a monotheistic religion. It is not as opposed to Christianity which the Rambam did believe was a pagan religion. I had mentioned last week I don't want to not two weeks ago rather that Rabenu Tom actually argues even with that Rabenu Tom who lived in Catholic France takes the position that even Christianity or Catholicism trinitarian Catholicism uh was ultimately a monotheistic religion. So that's a huge maklo that has repercussions even today. Now the second question the middle question which I didn't address and I'm actually not going to address now. I do want to devote maybe a much longer share on this but but I do want to get ahead to a different letter uh is the issue of of fatalism. Uh says he was taught by his rabbis and he never mentions who his rabbis are that everything since everything is determined by God. It kind of makes no difference what you do in life other than your decision to keep the commandments or not keep the commandments. This is the famous statement. Everything is in the hands of heaven except for your decision to serve God. So whether I do a mitzvah or do an aa that's up to me. But everything else, rich, poor, healthy, sick, uh who will you marry, uh this rabbi said everything is decided by God and your decisions have no impact on the outcome. Which means if you are supposed to die on a certain day in a certain time, you will die whether you're sitting at your dining room table or whether you cross against the light or whether you decide to take a pleasure trip to Gaza. Uh and this is what this is a very fatalistic approach in which other than mitzvot and aot where of course you have free will all outcomes are absolutely predetermined and human decisionm uh has no impact on whatever the result is going to be. As you might expect, the Rambam as a rationalist totally rejects that idea. And the Rambam makes the point that it is certainly the case that human decisions have consequences that would otherwise not take place uh had you not made certain decisions. So yes, God may decree in heaven who you're going to marry, but you can marry somebody else. uh a person puts himself in a dangerous situation, a person makes irresponsible decisions. The Rambam says the negative consequences that ensue are not foregone conclusions that would have happened anyway, they happen because you made certain decisions. So the Rambam essentially just as a matter of interpretation is explaining the phrase everything is in the hands of heaven except for the fear of God. Fear of God is lava but it means all decisions that human beings make in their lives will set off a series of consequences and those consequences might not have occurred had you not made certain decisions. So the Rambam is essentially advocating or articulating what we might call an ethic of responsibility uh as opposed to fatalism. and uh he's very critical of the rabbi for espousing fatalism and although he does not point it out in this letter but in reality this was a common thread in the Islamic philosophy of the time in which the notion was that your decisions affect nothing at all uh because everything will either happen or not happen in accordance with God's ultimate will uh and the Rambam rejects that kind of that concept of fatalism now that is a huge topic and it I do want spend a much more much more time on it but not today. I I will I will God willing we will come back and revisit it but I want to go on to a a next letter uh but uh at the end of the letter to Roaja Hager uh the Rambam has words which you might call of great tenderness uh because Oaja's final complaint was that when I ask my rabbi questions he calls me ignorant or even says ah you come from non-Jewish origin so you don't understand things and the rabbi does have a certain outrage for that uh that type of disparagement. And he talks about how beloved a person is who voluntarily embraces the yoke of the mitzvos and the desire to be part of the Jewish people who are so oppressed and so abused and yet out of your love of God and your love of amrael you have decided to connect. How dare uh a person disparage you where the Torah 30 more than 30 times warns us uh to be solicitous and respectful uh to uh to the gramm is a little sarcastic. He says instead of this rabbi wondering if Islam is a vodor, he ought to examine whether his behavior is idolatrous because it is going against the mitzvot of the Torah. So the next letter I want to read could almost be seen as a little bit of a complimentary type of letter to this [snorts] and this is a letter a personal letter that the Rambam wrote to a man in Baghdad. So from Cairo to Baghdad distance uh Yoseph Iben Jabar. Yoseph Iben Jabar. Yoseph Iban Jabar is otherwise unknown to history except for this single letter that the Rambam wrote and my guess is that when Yoseph Iban Jabbar got that letter it was the thrill of his life. I don't know if he even expected it. Yoseph Iban Jabbar was an unlearned Jew who did not even understand Lash and Hakodesesh. He could read Hebrew like heaven but he didn't understand the Hebrew language. But he had a very great love for the learning of Torah. And you know remember the Rambam's commentary to the Mishna was written in Arabic unlike the Mishna Torah which was written in Mishnayak Hebrew. So Yoseph Jabar spent all of his time studying the commentary of the Rambam on the Mishna in Arabic because he didn't understand Hebrew. But he wanted to learn Torah as much as he could. and he spent many many hours immersed in this. So he sent a letter to the Rama and al also Baghdad we know Baghdad had a very large yeshiva and the Roshiva of the Baghdad yeshiva. This is not a gaon anymore. This is after the period of the Gaonim. But this Roshiva had many many disagreements with the decisions of the Rambam and would often disparage the Rambam. And Yoseph Jabbar who learned so much from the Rambam at least secondhand was very indignant for the covet of the Rambam and he wanted to kind of answer all of the he was not a learned Jew but he wanted to answer all of these objections. So he asked the Rambam can you answer all of these questions that they're raising against you so I can stand up in your defense? you know, I [clears throat] I can't tell, but it reminds me [laughter] I have this memory as a child that when I was growing up uh in in Connecticut. So, we had a uh a very very learned rabbi for a short while. Very very learned. Big Tom had an enormous impact on me and many of the children. But some of the adults didn't like him because he maybe he was too from or too learned or too whatever it would be. So, they used to undermine him in various ways. So I remember a very very fine simple unlearned Jew, a big burly guy who was always, you know, if you said something, if somebody said something against the rabbi, like he would like punch the guy out. He was like a a defender. Uh so I remember I must have been maybe 11 years old. I was at Shalis, you know, Shabas afternoon and the rabbi's dra was going long. You know, he did not always pay attention to the clock. He was a very learned uh actually a very great person. Uh and uh finally you know one of these antagonistic balabatim bangs on the table and says enough already time for marov and the rabbi said I'm sorry that I'm committing the great a of being of desecrating okay that was when I was growing up those types of fights were unfortunately relatively common but then as we get up from my right after bor all of a sudden I hear this big guy, good-hearted Nishama that he has the other guy against the wall and he says, "You say another thing against our rabbi, I'm going to punch you punch you out." So the the good heart of the person who may not have the knowledge but wants to defend coven I get the impression although I have no idea that Yoseph Jabar had that same type of indignation. He says he's hearing the Rambam being insulted. He's going to stand up and do something about it. But he doesn't know what to say. So he says to the Rambam, "Hey, tell me the answers so I can stand up against this Baghdad Roshiva who himself was considered to be a godam." So the letter the letter to Yoseph Iban Jabar and again as I say people were surprised people in Baghdad were very surprised that the Rambam like wrote the Rambam already was for some as the greatest of the greatest that uh that the Rambam would write a letter to but the letter has three parts and all three parts are very very interesting. Uh the letter was in Arabic translated into Hebrew. uh later uh part one is the Rambam says and these are very beautiful words he says you call yourself an amorit you call yourself ignoramis he says you're not an amorit you are a lover of Torah and a person who tries to learn Torah even if it's one Mishna or one halak is not an ignorant man he is a person who is seeking a connection to God and he made the point and it makes no difference if it's in Hebrew or Aramaic or Arabic or any other language. He points out howly you can even say schma in other languages or shimona in other languages are learning. So today if you're learning a gamorra from art scroll that's okay right you're learning the Rambam says it's perfectly fine. Now, Rabf Iban Jabar asked the Rambam though, "Well, you know, I can't learn your Mishna Torah because I don't understand Hebrew. Could you get someone to do an Arabic translation of the Mishna Torah?" So, on this, the Rambam says, "I don't want to do that." He says, "First of all, even my Arabic works, I want them to be basically read in Hebrew eventually. So, I'm not going to translate the Mishna Torah into Arabic." But he tells Joseph Jabar, you know, the Hebrew is pretty easy and you can just get used to it after a while and once you know one book, you'll be able to read all the other books. It's all going to come. Don't give up. And then the Rambam reminds him of Rabi Akiba, the late starters, the people who didn't begin learning Torah until they were advanced age and they became very very great. He says, "Don't sell yourself short. Do not cheapen yourself. Do not denigrate yourself. You're not an >> You're a Torah. And the Rambam says, "I consider you my Talmet, my disciple. You are as close to me as any of my extend." >> So, as I say, these are very tender words. Now someone pointed out that if you go back to the Rambam's letter on resurrection uh the Rambam was very very very and we've encountered this before was very harsh against his critics. He called them ignorant and stupid and foolish. And here we kind of have a different aspect of it. But part of it is, you know, I mean the Rambam was very very great. But the Rambam was also a human being. And uh if somebody is calling you a heretic, an Apicorus, a danger to Kali Israel, understandably you get a little upset. So the Rambam had his moments of getting upset. I I I you know, I don't necessarily consider that to be a tremendous moral failure. But I think when we look at the letters of Oaja Hager and the letter to Yoseph Iban Jabar, I I think we see a different side, a certain tenderness, a certain compassion, a certain understanding uh that not everybody is necessarily going to be so learned or so knowledgeable, but if they're trying to serve God, they're worthy of encouragement and they're worthy of strength and they're worthy of building them up instead of tearing them down. In fact, it's interesting that you know um all of you know about the Cairo Geneza, the very very famous uh Genea in Cairo that's still being mined for its inexhaustible riches uh in which a thousand years of different documents uh were put there and manuscripts and letters. So in fact the Kairoganiza is actually the source of a number of the letters of the Rambam. number of these letters are actually from the Cairo, you know, they were retrieved from the Cairo Gene itself. So, uh I'm not sure why every single letter was put in Genea. I mean, not all the letters are holy. I mean, there's a lot of secular documents in the chairoganiza as well, business documents and the like. So, I'm not sure. Maybe because of Borak Hashem or something like that. But in the Chyro Gene, there's a letter that is not included as a Rambam letter. It's not a Rambam's letter, but it's a letter of a man describing his visit to the Rambam. He had traveled from another country to visit the Rambam. And he brought along his six-year-old son. And he wrote a letter to his family describing what it was like to visit the Rambam. So he says he comes to the Rambam on Shabas and the Rambam's only son Raavaram was helping his father and Raam whispered to the man you know my father loves when children call him Sabah. So ask your son to call him Sabah he'll really my father will really love that. And uh the man writes in his letter that my son called the Rambam Saba and the Rambam pinched his cheek, gave him a kiss and then uh went to another room to bring him some lemon candy uh and the like. So you know there was a different side. The Rambam was not just a computer. Uh we look at the Rambam sometimes just super rational, which of course he was. He he was rationalist in a way that we're not even used to today in a more in our more mystical society. Uh but within that rationalism was a great deal of care and compassion uh and and responsibility. So that comes across I think in the first part of the letter to Yoseph Iban Shabbar encouraging him in his learning. But you see how he's moving in two directions. On one hand he tells him oh makes no difference what language you learn Torah in. Any language is great. the main thing is to learn. But then he says, on the other hand, maybe you ought to try to learn Hebrew. [laughter] At the same time, he's pushing him to challenge himself a little bit. And he says, the Mishna Torah, the Hebrew is not so hard. Um, you know, you'll get used to it and after a while, you'll then be able to learn the Mishna Torah in the original. Now the second part of the letter which is the longest part of the letter I won't go into all the details are some specific rulings that the rabinet and the rashiva of Baghdad said were totally incorrect and uh rabb jabar enumerates some of these hotly debated questions and the Rambam gives uh some short answers. I'll just mention them relatively quickly because the the truth of the matter is the Rambam's letter also is relatively brief on the points because after all um Yseph Vivven wouldn't necessarily understand all of the detailed hik argumentation. So the Rambam kind of addresses it in bullet points as we would call it today. >> [clears throat] >> The first is the res resuscitation of the old canard that the Rambam did not believe in physical resurrection of the dead. That the Rambam believes that the only reward is the survival of the soul in Olabah. And uh the Roshiva of Baghdad said this is aisus, this is kafira, this is heresy because physical resurrection is a fundamental belief of the Torah. The Rambam simply says, "Don't worry about it. The people who claim I don't believe in physical resurrection are either intentionally distorting my position or they're just foolish and they don't understand." And the Rambam says, "I've already written a very long essay articulating my position." And that of course is the letter on resurrection that we looked at. Uh I'm not going to repeat or review all of that other than I will restate what I said and that is the Rambam does indeed give lip service to physical resurrection 100%. But he seems to relegate it into a relative status of insignificance. Uh meaning he's kind of stuck with it. So we cannot deny it and does not deny it but he does not see it as that important in the ultimate uh plan of where the only thing that is eternal is am is so that's point number one. Uh then point number two again these are bullet points is that the Rambam says in hilos in the Mishna Torah which has already been written right because a lot of these criticisms are on the Mishna Torah that the re now this is a bit of a subtle point and it's not so easy to even understand what's at stake here but the Ramba made the point that the reason the Jewish people do anything is only because of the mitzvos that Hashem gave Moshe Seni. So the example would be circumcision. There are at least two mitzvos that God gave to the Jewish people or the OOS at least before Matan Torah. Hashem gave Abraham the commandments of Brisma and with Yakov Au actually with Yakov it's a little ambiguous if you remember Jacob when he comes back after his years with Levan. So Yakov fights with the angel of Asov all night and towards the dawn the angel smites him on the thigh and Yakov is limping uh because the thigh got dislocated. So the Torah says logos to commemorate [clears throat] Yakov's encounter with the angel where the the thigh and the sciatic nerve got uh dislocated. We do not eat the sciatic nerve adomas to this very day. And basically that actually as a practical matter that actually means the sciatic nerve is a huge nerve with many many branches. And as a result to do nikor to remove all parts of the sciatic nerve is a very very difficult process. Because of this, the Ashkanazic custom for hundreds of years has been that we simply sell the headquarters of the animal which contains the seatic nerve to um to non-Jews because it would that's why sirine steak or various cuts ft minan even uh you normally cannot get it except uh by special order special order they can do it but norm commercially it's not feasible do practice what is called nikor aurayim. Nikorayim is removing the no from the back half of the animal. Now let me ask you this. We have these two commandments in Genesis. One is brisma given to Ara. One is ghanosha. But is actually a little ambiguous because the does not say that God commanded Yakov not to eat to get on. The phrase alain could have been a Mosaic addition that at the time of Matan Torah God said I am commanding you not to eat to get on a because of the story of Yakov. In other words, if we ask when did we get the commandment of ganashe, there actually is no that we got the mitzvah of ganashe from the time of rather at the time of matan tora hashem is telling b is because of that story thou shalt not eat. So the Ramb makes the point that Israel is not referring to a civil at the time of Yakov. It is simply a civil at the time of Matan Torah that was inserted in the story of Yakov to give us that explanation. Now textually that is actually a completely legitimate explanation. But the problem is the Rambam applies it even to circumcision. The Rambam says the reason we do brit is not because Aram did a brisma. We do brisah because Moshe Rabenu communicated to us alashm the story of Abraino and the brisma. But the makayv the obligation of doing all mitzvot stems from the siatic revelation and not from the historical events that occurred earlier. Now that I actually find to be a bit of a problem because I understand how that works with ganosha very very well because textually there wasn't even a commandment of giranos until si on the other hand britzah clearly was a commandment given to a and a's children. So it's difficult to understand what the rama means. Does the Rambam basically say that matan Torah superseded all earlier revelations and you get a reset button and all commandments are only based on the saniatic revelation. But this is the Rambam's idea that for some reason the Rambam considered this to be extremely important that all obligations of Jewish people are based on I don't mean Sinai but Dafka because there were mitzvot in the Torah given after Sinai but we mean all mitzvot are based on the mosaic revelation the revelation of God to Moshe whether at si or throughout the 40 years. Now presumably the reason why the Rambam felt so strongly about this is this was essentially his philosophical argument with Christianity and Islam because remember Christian both Christianity and Islam the so-called Abrahamic faiths they both acknowledge a revelation to Moshe. They they believe in the Sinai revelation, the ten commandments, everything else, but they believe it was superseded by a later revelation to either Jesus or Muhammad. And as you know, one of the Rambam's 13 fundamental principles is the immutability of the Torah. And that is connected to the supremacy of Mosher Raenu's nua. And as a result, the Rambam was extremely reluctant to allow any other halikic influence coming into Judaism other than the Mosaic revelation. So the same argument in which it cannot be superseded by later revelations also means that earlier revelations were indeed superseded. And if we do Britma, it is only because of matan Torah and not because of what Hashem said to Arab. Now again though historically Brit is still different than giranosha because Brit was practiced before Matan Torah by Arab's children. Girhanosha arguably was in fact not practiced. So it so it is different. In the case of Gidan is a much clearer easier example of the Rambam's point than Britz Mila itself. You see anybody it's real kick out of it as well. >> I'm sorry. Say again. Didn't hear you. >> It's a real kick out of it. [laughter] >> Okay. Yeah. Well, well, the gar says that the ganache is a piece of wood essentially. It has no taste whatsoever. And in fact, therefore, if you cooked meat with the gin, you'd have to discard the gin because it's strafe, but it wouldn't make your meat trafe because there's no there's no taste that is being absorbed uh in the in the g in the ganache. Uh yeah, >> so in the commanded again to give ma before the so I guess it was in disuse or dis >> Yeah. So, so that's not so uh Yeah. Oh, oh, so you're bringing a proof that they weren't well >> they weren't maybe they were commanded. >> Well, the the normal understanding is they were commanded but this is a special mitzvah of carbon pes uh because uh >> but if they had all done it they wouldn't have been commanded. >> No, I understand but remember most of the Jews were idol worshippers as well. So so uh that's called they were naked from the mitzvah. Yeah. >> Ah so this is interesting. So, so the Rambam writes, >> "Yeah, what about puervoo, the mitzvah of procreation?" So, the Rambam actually says the same thing. The reason we have a mitzvah of procreation is not because of what God said to Adam, >> but or Noah, but because of what God said to Moshe to write down what was said to Adam and Noah. In other words, it's only from the Torah that obligates us, not from the oral command. >> But but Hashem said, >> "No, no, Hashem did say it." But but that wouldn't bind us uh the dor had hashem not told Moshe, "Write this in the Torah." That's the rabbis point. Everything Everything is obligatory upon us only because Hashem said, "Write it in the Torah." So that was the second theological point. uh that the Ramba made. Um the third point is an interesting debate that's not so uh apparently some of these debates now you wonder why were people so excited over them but apparently they were because there are quite a few letters about this and that is uh being on a boat on Shabbat. Now uh this is actually very relevant. People go on C cruises sometimes, right? And even if it's a kosher cruise and the like. Uh but you know, you might wind up uh being on a boat on Shabas. Now, we're we are not talking about going on the boat on Shabas. We're talking about you're on the boat uh before Shabas. In fact, actually, that could be three days before Shabas. The Gomorrah the Gomorrah actually says you're not supposed to go on a boat uh three days before Shabas. means um say is it Thursday, Friday shabas, so you can only go Wednesday or you can only go Tuesday and part of that is in the olden days actually not so long ago uh seasickness was very very severe the boats were not as stabilized as today and as a result it would take uh 3 days till you got your sea legs and we didn't want you to get sick and nauseous over shabas so you have to go on the boat x number of days. Some say bisman that doesn't apply because the ships are much more stabilized the severe I mean some people do get severely sick but most people do not get as sick as they used to get. Uh some of your parents who may have come over to America by boats uh Holocaust or before World War II even uh they could vividly describe the seasickness of those of those times. That's why they would eat these saltine crackers. Apparently that helps for uh seasickness and and and the like. But assuming that you're on the boat, what's the problem of being on the boat on Shabbat? So here here's the problem. The problem is >> huh? >> Well, get offing it is a problem. But the problem is even if you're on the boat and you're not getting off the boat, the problem is to shabas. Uh the law of Shabas is a very strict law. Although in most urban conditions it's not a a major problem. You are not allowed to go on Shabas. You're not allowed to walk even without carrying. You're not allowed to walk more than 2,000 Amot which is approximately a kilometer from your designated place of residence. Now, if you're in the desert and all you have is your your hut, it's 2,000 Amos from your hut. If you're in a city with continuous houses, so your residence is defined as the city. So, how you measure it can be a little complicated, but in most urban areas, you know, you could certainly walk throughout Jerusalem. That that wouldn't be a problem. You could walk to Telstone. Uh there generally would not be a problem. But theoretically, there is an issue called Tum. Now the laws of are very very very severe in the following way. If you step out one inch beyond your you can't just go back and resume your you are limited to a radius of four amus. In other words for the rest of shabas you're limited to a small circle of four amus. Okay, the post can discuss what if you have to go to the bathroom. Okay, there may be emergency situations and the like, but it's a very very severe. And when you're out in the country, when you're in non-urban areas, you could very easily violate this because 2,000 Amas is not that much. A kilometer a person could take a walk and you violated the So, the problem is you're traveling on a boat. You began Shabbat at point A and in the course of Shabbat, the boat is moving. You're going beyond the 2,000 Amos from your starting point because residence is defined as beginning of Shabbat. So you're not allowed to do that because you're violating the laws of Shabbat. So the Rambam said this is not a problem. And the reason is because there is a cl in the Gmorrah that the laws of do not apply if you are more than 10 to above the ground. A tak is a fist around 3 or 4 in. So if you are simply traveling in the air or whatever it would be the laws of do not apply if you're more than 10 above the ground. But the Baghdad rabbinets considered the water to be the ground and therefore you're not 10 teas above the ground. You're on top of the water. The Rambam said if the river is deeper than 10, you can keep on traveling indefinitely because there is no Isra. Now again this is how we paskin and in a way this is an obvious but in the time of the Rambam traveling on boats on Shabbat was a major major major issue and the Rambam was attacked for his lenient position. Now, just as an aside, it's not our subject. Uh, you had mentioned getting off a boat, right? Let's imagine, right, you're on a you're on a tour, a kosher tour. And, um, by the way, there's all sorts of problem. I mean, okay, this is not a haka. I mean, uh, if if most of the passengers are Jewish, there's an enormous problem with with taking such a tour because essentially you're having non-Jews doing mala for you, chabas. So what you need to do to go on a kosher tour is you need to go on a kosher tour where most of the passengers are non-Jews. So you got to find a kosher tour where most of the passengers are non-Jews. And then the issue of Malika of Goya would not be a big issue because they're doing it for the majority. Okay. Be it as it may though, let's assume you're on a proper kosher tour. uh are you allowed to leave the boat on Shabas and can you then get back on the boat if you do leave the boat on Shabas? So uh there are a lot of questions here. Obviously uh if you're leaving the boat and there's no Av uh there are a lot of things you wouldn't be allowed to carry and that may include a passport and even the identification card to get back on the boat and you can't just wear it around your neck. So that's one set of issues. Um, but the issue of theoretically might be an issue because as soon as I get off the boat and I hit land, that becomes my residence and then the boat is going to travel 2,000 amos out. But again, that's not going to be a problem because even if you establish a landbased residence, but as long as the boat is submerged in water that is more than 10 deep, there's not going to be a problem of uh the only problem of tum might be if there's going to be a second landing. Meaning to say, if we stopped in island number one and I descended, so that became my residence. And then we travel more than 2,000 Amos and we stop at island number two. If island number two is more than 2,000 Amos from island number one, there would be an issum for me to get off. But as long as I stay on the boat, even if I was on the land and I returned to the boat, uh there would be no problem of as long as the water level is 10 bucks. Right? And again I don't want to get in too many details but as I say this was apparently a very very controversial issue because even though to Yoseph Iban Jabbar the Rambam is very maker but in other letters of the Rambam which that he wrote to the Russa in Baghdad there's a whole uh again a lot of argumentation. Yeah. nonjews on Jews that would also be the same on Jewish non-Jews. >> Uh yes it is. Yes it is. Um now again um if if the Rabanim are supervising the program they they will have to arrange things in a way that these hakas will be kept. Again there is a basic principle. Let let me emphasize this. The basic principle is that although non-Jews are not are not in themselves obligated to keep shabas, right? That's clear. A non-Jew can do whatever they want on Shabas and Yumptiff. In fact, they're not even supposed to keep all the laws of Shabas and Yumptiff. Uh you are not allowed, you as a Jew, two things. Not only are you not allowed to ask a guy to do work for you, but even if the guy does it on his own, but he's doing it for your benefit, for a Jew's benefit, you are not allowed to benefit from that that malika. So that creates an enormous uh complication uh in cases of uh PES programs ina really any hotel program over Shabas that creates problems with tours. Now the general rule is uh if mala is being done for a mixed population we follow the majority composition of it which means if the majority are non-Jews it's going to be okay but as you say that's not going to be the case in a pesak program where almost everybody is going to be Jewish presumably so they have to work it out. I mean again how they work it out uh is it could be complicated uh but they do have to do it in ways that do not violate this principle. Yeah. >> What about the boys in Israel in hotels? >> Huh? >> What about the boys are working in Israel? >> Um >> it has to be discussed. It has to be discussed. I mean uh it's not it's not just a simple thing. Uh it is very very very complicated. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. Yeah. I don't want to get into all of the issues. Let me just say the issue of letting yourself into your room by or into the building by an an electronic lock. Uh there too you have the problem of asking a guy. But but there the postkim do permit it because they argue that this is simply removal of an impediment that is not called getting benefit. Getting benefit is when they cook for you, they give you something. Here they're simply removing a negative. So again you understand that there are going to be subtleties uh in these types of types of things. Okay. Now the next thing is very very fascinating and that is the Rambam is accused. of Yoseph Jabbar says the Rambam is accused of being lenient in the laws of Nida. How could the Rambam be lenient in the laws of Nida? And here the Rambam says, I don't know what you are referring to, but he then suggests what you might be referring to. And this is very fascinating uh [cough and clears throat] because this is I had mentioned before that in the Rambam's time there was a huge kite population in Egypt. The Kites, the Kaiim were a movement that did not accept the legitimacy of the oral law and they developed their own practices based on a more literal reading of the Tanakh of the Kish. Now the Kim are not the same as theim. The Tukim were a movement of the second temple period and they became largely extinct. The Kraim are from the 8th or 9th century later. But philosophically, you could actually call Kyra Neo Sadducees. That would be a relatively accurate characterization. Kam are still around today. They have a synagogue and a chief rabbi, but they're a small movement. In the Rambam's time however particularly in Egypt there were tens of thousands of Kim and they posed a major major threat for hakic Judaism. Uh just as in different times reform movement at one point although not today posed a great great threat to uh orthodoxy in the United States. Kairoim were the reformers of the time although they were very from in their own way they were very from they were very very strict in their in their rituals. Now the kim said the following. The kim said when a woman is a nida she's not allowed to touch food. She's not allowed to sit down on a bench that the husband or or well obviously she can touch her own food but the nida cannot make food for her husband. If a nida sits on a bench, a chair, the husband cannot sit on the bench even when she gets up. [snorts] Now [clears throat] these were terrorite interpretations because the Torah does say any food that she touches becomes tame. Any bench, any chair on which she sits becomes tame. The Torah says that. So the Kerites interpreted that to mean verboten taboo. The Rambam says that is a fundamental misinterpretation of the concept of tuma and the kim are conflating and confusing is with tuma. By that I mean the following. The Torah does say when a woman is in a state of nida there are prohibitions, right? A husband and wife cannot have marital intercourse. They are even forbidden to affectionatally hug and kiss. These are prohibitions. These prohibitions do not go off [snorts] until the woman counts the requisite seven clean days and goes to the mikvah. Those are prohibitions. If you violate the laws of Nida, there's a of these are the laws of Nida. This is called the iser of Nida. Now in addition there's a whole other aspect of neida that's not about prohibition but it does create laws of purity and impurity. A neida touches food the food is tame. We'll come back in a moment. A nida sits on a chair. The chair is tame. But what does it mean to be tame? There's no aa to eat tame food. There's no alvea to sit on a t chair. It just means because it's tame, it cannot be brought into the ba mikdash until the chair goes to the mikvah. Uh it's not a joke that the chair is immersed. The chair is immersed in the mikvah. So today we don't pay attention to that. What the the Kuram are doing is they're taking the laws of Tuma which primarily pertain to going into the temple and they're creating it as a system of taboo and prohibition. And the Rambam says, "If that's what you mean, you're in big trouble because if you're telling me I'm lenient because I don't follow those particular taboss, those taboss are minos. Those taboos are heresy. Those taboos are keratitism. Those taboss are inconsistent with the toba and they confuse two different musim in the laws of nida. One is the law of prohibition and the other is the law of tuma. Now the law of tuma today is almost extinct. We don't practice it because all of us are already tame because we've been in a cemetery and we don't have the ashes of the paradum. So we're tame. So a nida is no different than a non- nida. We're tame. So those laws of tuma are virtually not practiced at all today. But the kayim were elevating it and they were assimilating it in the laws of in the laws of Iser and they are not Iser. They are just tuma and tuma is connected to the basikdash and the like. Okay, that's a very important point just to understand that it also means in the time of the basikdash the laws of need were much more complicated because there was a whole other extra dimension that you had to consider when you were going to the basikdash uh or a coain or or or the like. So that that's one thing that the Rambam said. Now then the Rambam says yeah second there are other aspects of karite practices that permeated rabbitic Judaism because the Rambam said listen if you foolishly kept these taboss although it may be heresy at least you know all you're doing is being machmir you're going beyond the that's not necessarily so destructive but there were other cararite practices that were actually absolutely against. And he mentioned the carite practice based on the verse inco that we say during quite a lot. will sprinkle you with purified water, holy water, pure water. So instead of going to mikvah, what these women who practice the kodite customs were was they would have another woman who was not a nida sprinkle them with water. And based on the verse that this is called waters of purification, they would permit a woman to be with her husband even without going to a mikvah. But based on the Rambam says shalom the woman is a nida until she goes to the mikvah. This is a prohibited practice. And indeed the Rambam says it is we have pro well the Rambam then speaks locally. We ina in Cairo, the local ravenets, the rabbitical council of Cairo, we prohibited this practice even if the woman then goes to the mikvah, lest she think that the sprinkling. Again, under Torah law, she could be sprinkled then go to the mikvah. The sprinkling is just useless. But the Rambam says the rabbis of Cairo uh of which he was the leader we prohibited this practice lest women will think that uh they sprinkling anything to do with it. Also he points out that the carites went to the mikvah bain hash twilight meaning they didn't wait until the stars come out. they they went to the mikvah sunset of the seventh day and that is forbidden because a woman cannot go to the mikvah until the emergence of the star. So he's making the point that any accusation that I am lenient in the laws of mikvah um is either because you have incorporate is the carite which make no sense and then he says okay I could tolerate that make no sense because at the end of the day they're just but on the other hand if by incorporating those you incorporate leniencies such as being sprinkled with water or to vila after that is absolutely user. And the Rambam even writes that once again the rabinet in Cairo made a takana that if a woman is widowed and she wants to collect her kuba, she cannot do so unless she takes an oath a shabua in the name of God that she did not engage in these caright practices. And if she engaged in these car practices, she would not be permitted to collect her. So she had to swear Hashem. Again, this is not a that's in that's in fact it's not even a Rambam. Such an oath is unknown per se, but the Rambam spearheaded it as part of his war against terrorites. In fact, one could write a whole article, Dr. Salv has written extensively about how much of the Mishna Torah is by implication the Rambam's hidden campaign against the carites. Uh he he has a whole essay. It's a very dense essay. He he focuses on Hilo Shabas the Rambam's organization of the laws of Shabas in the Mishna Torah. And he points out that it's a very peculiar order. The sequencing of topics in hilos shabas does not make a lot of sense. And we know that the ram of course was so expert in organizational sequencing. And he develops the idea which is a bit of a dense idea that the sequencing was designed to address caride heresies even though the Rambam didn't mention what those heresies were. So this is an example about these laws of need. Yeah. So why is it >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So this is very interesting. Uh the rivet Rabbit actually says exactly what you what you're saying. The rivet has a tremendous that a cohane bisman is allowed to go to a cemetery because he's already tame anyway. So once you're tame, you don't become more tame. So the rivet does allow it. However, however, I have to add right off the right away, the is not like the rivet and uh we do puskin that even if you're tame, you're not allowed to add an extra tuma a co a coen cannot add an extra tuma on top of tuma. Now again though, let me emphasize uh that the the prohibition of becoming a t is only on a co meaning all of us who are to cannot go into the basikdash. That's true. But there's no prohibition in our becoming becoming tame. Only a cohen is prohibited to become tame. And the only tuma is the tuma of a dead body. Meaning a coen can become tame through a dead animal or any other way. Although it'll still restrict him to go to the temple, but there's no a unless it is tome. Yeah. >> Yeah. So washing hands does yeah washing hands does nothing whatsoever for the laws of tuma. Uh if I am in the same if I'm in a cemetery if I'm under the roof of a with a corpse my whole body is tummy and the only way I can become from that tuma is the ashes of the paradum which we don't have and going to the mikvah full body washing hands does not in any way take off the laws of tumor. What it does is it takes off more of a cabalistic idea called ruak rah. There are like evil spirits cabalistically that attach themselves to you and they hang around your fingernails and as a result through the ritual of the ru is nale but that is a cabalistic notion in terms of so colloally we might say you're not tame but the truth is you are tame uh leg the laws of tuma as a construct uh washing ing hands does not do a thing. Uh and in fact even mikvah wouldn't do anything because of par aduma. See for tumas like nida you don't need paraduma. So that's why a need goes to the mikvah in the proper time is toor from the tuma of nida but she like all of us would still have the tuma of met any contact with a dead body that she might have had. Okay, there'll be more issues. Again, as I say, the Rambam is addressing them in bullet points, but I think the carite issue is an interesting one uh because it does indicate how pervasive some of the caride practices were even among what you might call observant Jews. Yeah, >> actually based on that last comment, were there historically would ever return to Judaism a process that Was that a conversion? >> In other words, would you convert to keratism? >> Somebody wanted to >> Okay. Yeah. Yes. >> So, so again think you know this is these are one of the things that changed with time but generally speaking the Rambam's own view and the Rambam was familiar with this community isly they were Jews. They were Jewish people. They did not need a conversion but technically they were heretics because they denied the oral law. But the Rambam then says that the the stigma of heresy only applies to the first generation that was familiar with rabbitic Judaism and rejected it. With respect to the later generations that grew up that way, they are like a tino shinishba. They're like a kidnapped baby. And although they have heretical beliefs, uh we should uh love them and we should try to draw them near to the Torah and mitzvah. By the way, that passage in the Rambam is very very relevant to how we deal with secular Jews today. That we consider them our brothers and sisters and we relate to them with love. But in terms of conversion, the Rambam consider them Jewish. Now you have to understand that you cannot take a uh 11th century ruling and apply it today. Now in the course of the centuries different things happen and different types of marriages are arranged. So as a result bisman unless a person can show a definite line of descent we probably would require a kahite to convert to hahikic Judaism. In other words these things change. You can't just pull out uh what the Rambam said, you know, in the in the 1000s. Um, okay. You be well. Have a good week.