Hakdama 14

The Rambam is giving us a derech halimud in understanding aggadata focusing on the meimar Chazal of

אין לו לקדוש ברוך הוא בעולמו חוץ מארבע אמות של הלכה בלבד.

So at the beginning a few lines after the Rambam quotes that meimar, he says

דע כי הקדמונים חקרו חקירה נפלאה כפי החכמה שהיתה להם וטוב השכל והסכימה אצלם שכל נמצא לא יתכן מבלעדי שיש לו תכלית שלמעט עשותו היה יוצא מציאותו כי אין שום דבר שהוא מצוי לריק.

Everything exists for a purpose and Hakadosh Baruch Hu didn't create things randomly, nonsensically. Everything exists for a purpose. So it's clear that the Rambam thinks and it's intuitive that that's something which is just compelling mitzad hasvara. It's interesting. You have albeit that they say it in a much more narrow context, but you find it in Chazal also here in the Gemara Berachos lamed aleph

וחנה היא מדברת על לבה אמר רב אלעזר משום רב יוסי בן זימרא על עסקי לבה.

amra lefanav, right when the pasuk describes Chana when she's still an akara davening for children, so the pasuk says וחנה היא מדברת על לבה so

אמר רב אלעזר משום רב יוסי בן זימרא על עסקי לבה אמרה לפניו ריבונו של עולם כל מה שבראת באשה לא בראת דבר אחד לבטלה.

Again, so here it's sort of the microcosm of the person, but but it's the same yesod, right?

כל מה שבראת באשה לא בראת דבר אחד לבטלה עיניים לראות ואוזניים לשמוע חוטם להריח פה לדבר ידיים לעשות בהם מלאכה ורגליים להלוך בהם דדים להניק בהם דדים הללו שנתת על לבי למה לא להניק בהם לא להניק בהם תן לי בן ואניק בהם.

So it's the same yesod, right? כל דבר שבראת לא בראת דבר אחד לבטלה. skipping a few lines from there the Rambam continues he says what what people produce so it's very easy to figure out what the goal what the purpose is you look at tools it's it's easy to figure out what the tool was designed for what kind of work the tool was designed for אבל מה שהמציאהו המלאכה האלוקית והכוח הטבעי but in terms of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's beriah so there it's it's it's much more challenging to be able to identify the goal the purpose for which things were created כגון מיני הפירות ומיני העשבים ומיני המחצבים minerals

ומיני האבנים ומיני בעלי החיים יש מהם שתכליתם מושגת בחקירה מעטה

some of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's beriah with just a little bit of thought a person can understand what the what the purpose is ויש מהם שתכליתם נעלמת ומושגת בחקירה מרובה and that requires much more much deeper and and thought and analysis ויש מהם שתכליתם דקה ונעלמת שאינה נודעת כלל but some is so subtle that it can only be known

אלא אם כן נודע בנבואה או ביודעי נסתרות אבל בחקירה שכלית אין זה אפשרי

there's some things that that that the human intellect cannot cannot fathom cannot unravel what Hakadosh Baruch Hu's purpose was

כי אין ביכולת האדם לחקור ולדעת למה המציא הטבע הנמלים מהם בכנפיים ומהם בלי כנפיים

some bugs have wings and they and they fly and others don't ולמה גם המציא גם כן תולעת מרובת רגליים why do you have centipedes

ואחרת בפחות רגליים ומה היא תכלית התולעת הזאת והנמלה הזאת

etc I think the Saadia Gaon in Emunot VeDeot presents a similar yesod that there's a there's a boundary to to how much we a person can understand besechel sechel enoshi and maybe he gives this example I'm not sure you can't figure out al pi sechel why do we have five fingers why isn't the norm to have I don't know you can do so much with five fingers imagine what we could do if we had seven fingers right if that was the norm but but there's a certain obviously there's a certain intuitive boundary to what we can understand and there's certain things that we just accept as givens and the Rambam this is a similar yesod here אבל בחקירה שכלית אין זה אפשרי then the Rambam goes on to say that Shlomo Hamelech when Hakadosh Baruch Hu grants Shlomo Hamelech chochmah that that this is a a major part of of what Shlomo Hamelech understood about the beriah is he surpassed everyone in his understanding of what the tachlit of the various individual parts are in terms of the overall beriah the Rambam continues and he says that again sub-lunar under the moon as we reviewed the Rambam's cosmogony his cosmology rather last time so Adam is the tachlit of the beriah what's the tachlit of Adam so

שתכליתו היא פועל אחד בלבד ושאר פעולותיו אינן אלא להתמדת קיומו כדי שתשלם בו אותה הפעולה האחת

there's one single tachlit there's one single endeavor activity that a person engages in which is the ultimate tachlit והיא השכלת המושכלות וידיעת האמיתות כמה שהן is knowledge which as the Rambam says ultimately means השגת אחדות השם יתעלה ויתרומם Knowledge of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So I think what we already discussed earlier, I forget in which context we jumped ahead to this. So initially the Rambam says that the tachlis is just seemingly purely intellectual, right? Hassagas maskalos and what which ultimately means hachashuv shebamuskalos השגת אחדות השם יתעלה ויתרומם. But then the Rambam turns around and when he sort of recapitulates what he's explained to us, he says

הרי נתבאר מן ההקדמות הללו שהתכלית של עולמנו וכל אשר בו אינו אלא איש חכם וטוב.

Right? So the Rambam then adds that the tachlis is not just an ish chacham but a person who is an ish chacham vetov. So how did that enter into the picture? If the ultimate goal is yedias hashem, hassagas hamuskalos, that means ish chacham. How did the tov attach itself to that definition? So we saw because the Rambam a few lines earlier said that עם השגת המושכלות יתחייב לעזוב את הלהיטות לתענוגים הגשמיים. When a person understands, when a person acquires knowledge, so that is mechayev the person to live a physically and materially moderate existence. And to reject all excess and all disproportionate focus on inyanim gashmiyim. We spoke about this line last week ki bemuskal rishon it's intuitive, right? Muskal rishon when you first think about it, it's intuitive, ki bemuskal rishon שחורבן הנפש בתיקון הגוף ותיקון הנפש בחורבן הגוף. When a person is looking not just to maintain good health, but a person is looking to prioritize the body, to sculpt the body the way the Greeks were obsessed with, so that creates a churban hanefesh. The Rambam continues that עניין זה לא נודע מאת הנביאים בלבד. And this isn't just sort of gezeiras hakasuv which is revealed to us in the nevi'im,

אלא חכמי האומות הקדמונים ומאלה שלא ראו את הנביאים ולא שמעו דברי חכמתם כבר ידעו זאת גם כן.

This is something which chochma enoshis also is capable of understanding שאמר שאין האדם אדם שלם. Excuse me. A person is only shalem, is only complete, אלא אם נכללו בו החכמה והמעשה. There has to be this combination of chochma, what a person knows, but ma'aseh, the way the person behaves. הרי לך דברי הבולט שבפילוסופים, here are the words of the most prominent of the philosophers and in the notes it identifies Aristotle: המטרה הרצויה של השם בנו שנהיה נבונים וטובים. Right? Nevonim, understanding, discerning, that that we should acquire chochma, but tovim. Vehayinu, and here's the crucial, crucial line שאם היה האדם חכם נבון, on the one hand he's seemingly very, very smart and very, very wise and erudite, but he's mevakesh taivos, but that's the focus of his life, one of the foci of his life is that he mevakesh taivos, eino chacham be'emes. He may know a lot but he's not a chacham.

כי ראשית חכמה שלא יטה מן התענוגים הגשמיים אלא כל שיש בו קיום הגוף.

The foundation, the starting point of all chochma is that a person again is only involved with taanugim gashmiyim to the extent that it's needed, that it's healthy. So what emerges here again is so fundamental that the definition of chochma for the Rambam can't be couched in purely intellectual terms. The difference between just having lots of yedios and being a chacham and and a chacham is whether or not the chochmah merges with a person. True chochmah which which makes a person a chacham means that the chochmah is is as it were is nivla'as bidamo that that the chochmah merges with a person such that it translates on the level of ma'aseh as well, which is why you can have a person maybe he knows a lot but if you don't see it in his behavior so then he's not he's not truly a chacham. Chochmah is is something is a state of being, it's not just something intellectual. It's an existential quality, it's it's something again that becomes part of and defines and molds who the person is, which is why yes the goal of everything is yedi'as Hashem but the goal of everything is not only chochmah but is also ma'aseh, is also that the person should be chacham but also tov because if he genuinely has chochmah then it has to be reflected, it has to translate. You find echoes of many echoes of this elsewhere in the Rambam. So I think I think some of them we've mentioned already but but maybe some of them not yet. So first of all at the end of perek hey of Yesodei HaTorah, the third of the yesterday we mentioned the second of the three categories of chillul Hashem. So the third of the three categories of chillul Hashem, the Rambam says is

ויש דברים אחרים שהן בכלל חילול השם והוא שיעשה אדם גדול בתורה ומפורסם בחסידות דברים שהבריות מרננים אחריו בשבילם.

He he he sets tongues wagging but through his behavior. He he on the one hand is גדול בתורה ומפורסם בחסידות and yet he acts in a way that that causes people to talk, that causes people to to gossip.

באף על פי שאינן עבירות הרי זה מחלל את השם.

The Rambam gives many examples of this. Let's say for instance

אין דיבורו בנחת עם הבריות אינו מקבלן בסבר פנים יפות

et cetera. Then the Rambam continues again for each of the types of chillul Hashem, so the converse, the inverse is is a kiddush Hashem. So

וכן אם דקדק החכם על עצמו והיה דיבורו בנחת עם הבריות ודעתו מעורבת עמהם ומקבלן בסבר פנים יפות ונעלב מהן ואינו עולבן הרי זה

skipping a few lines קידש את השם. So when the Rambam describes the individual who Rachmana litzlan is guilty of chillul Hashem he describes him as גדול בתורה ומפורסם בחסידות. When he describes the inverse, the individual who who's mekadesh shem shamayim he describes him as a chacham. So that's a much more economical phrase no? So instead of saying גדול בתורה ומפורסם בחסידות in the reisha he should have said

ויש דברים אחרים שהן בכלל חילול השם והוא שיעשה אדם חכם דברים שהבריות מרננים אחריו בשבילם.

The answer's no, the person who's doing who's engaging this type of behavior is not a chacham because that's exactly the yesod over here in in the hakdama l'Peirush HaMishnayos that the l'shonos in the Rambam are meduyakim l'hafli. In Hilchos Issurei Biah in perek yud daled where the Rambam has the dinim of geirus... וכשם שמודיעין אותו when you have the prospective ger when Beis Din is is פרק יד הלכה ג when Beis Din's talking to the prospective ger

וכשם שמודיעין אותו עונשן של מצות כך מודיעין אותו שכרן של מצות.

We're not trying to drive him away, we're not giving him a distorted view, we want to give him an accurate view, we want him to know that that the achrayus he's assuming if he becomes a ger but we also want him to know that the bracha that that can ensue if he becomes a ger, it has to be balanced.

כשם שמודיעים אותו עונשן של מצות כך מודיעים אותו שכרן של מצות ומודיעים אותו שבעשיית מצות אלו יזכה לחיי העולם הבא ושאין שם צדיק גמור אלא בעל חכמה שעושה מצות אלו ויודען.

So again it's עושה מצות אלו ויודען. Earlier in in perek tet of Hilchos Teshuva,

הקדוש ברוך הוא נתן לנו תורה זו עץ חיים וכל העושה כל הכתוב בה ויודעו דעה גמורה נכונה זוכה בה לחיי העולם הבא.

Asiya and yediyah and again ולפי גודל מעשיו וגודל חכמתו הוא זוכה. Again the maiseh and chochmah because there isn't authentic chochmah if it's not reflected in and it doesn't translate into maiseh. That's the yesod which emerges here as well. Let's continue from here a little bit. Again after he quoted the Divrei Habolet Shebefilosofim

ובפירושנו למסכת אבות נשלים הענין הזה ונבארהו כראוי וכנדרש וכך מצאנו את הנביא שהוכיח את מי שטען שהוא חכם והיה עובר על מצות התורה ומבקש תאות נפשו הוא אמר איכה תאמרו חכמים אנחנו ותורת השם אתנו וכמו כן אם היה אדם עובד השם ופרוש ומרחיק התענוגים זולת מה שיש בו קיום הגוף הולך בהנהגות הטבעיות כולן בדרך הממוצעת וכבר רכש את כל המדות הטובות אלא שאין בו חכמה הרי זה גם כן חסר השלימות אלא שהוא שלם יותר מן הראשון.

Let's say a person has the midos and acts in a balanced way. He doesn't have the, he doesn't have the hasagos hamoskalos so he's also chaser but he's much better, he's far superior to the person who knows a lot but it doesn't translate into action because if a person knows but it doesn't translate it's nothing. If a person knows but it's not reflected in his behavior so then the Rambam is saying it's nothing. Mashekein a person's behavior is impeccable so ein hachi nami he's chaser if he doesn't have the chochmah but he's far superior to the first one.

ועל כן תמצא הציווי בכל מקום ולמדתם ואחר כך לעשותם הלימוד קודם למעשה שבלימוד יגיע אל המעשה והמעשה אינו מביא ללימוד וזהו אמרם עליהם השלום שהתלמוד מביא לידי מעשה.

So here there's the Rambam has a new pshat here in that famous Gemara in Kiddushin of גדול תלמוד המביא לידי מעשה. So I think we generally understand גדול תלמוד המביא לידי מעשה that what it means is that if a person, if a person doesn't learn, if a person learns hilchos tefillin so then he knows where to position the tefillin and therefore he knows how to be mkayem the mitzvah so גדול תלמוד המביא לידי מעשה. On the other hand what a person does doesn't impart knowledge but what a person learns facilitates maiseh and גדול תלמוד המביא לידי מעשה a person studies hilchos. Inevitably that Rachamana litzlan is going to be nichshal if he doesn't know Hilchos Shabbos. That's how we understand גדול תלמוד המביא לידי מעשה. I don't know that the Rambam would disagree with that, but it's clear that the Rambam says that גדול תלמוד המביא לידי מעשה means much more as well. The Rambam is saying גדול תלמוד המביא לידי מעשה, it's this yesod that when chochma, again, genuine chochma, when the person sort of absorbs the chochma, that there's this identification between the person and the chochma. It's not just a sterile yediyah that he has, but it's something that there's an achdus between himself and the sechel, so then the chochma translates. Chochma is meivi, גדול תלמוד המביא לידי מעשה in the sense that the Talmud uplifts and transforms the person such that it's meivi l'yedei ma'aseh. It's not just in a pragmatic sense. I think we generally understand the ma'amar Chazal of גדול תלמוד המביא לידי מעשה purely in pragmatic terms. That's obviously true, but the Rambam is saying it means much more than that as well. It's not only pragmatic that גדול תלמוד המביא לידי מעשה, it's something which is in an existential sense. It's גדול תלמוד המביא לידי מעשה. In terms of what the Rambam was saying about the middos, a person who has middos and chochma, does that fit with what he says in Hilchos De'os that a person who has deos mekubanos is nikra chacham? So the answer is that the Rambam has this elsewhere as well, that you can find deos nechonos in a person in either of two ways. Let's say a person can, let's say you see a well-mannered child. The child is seven years old and everything with a please and a thank you and may I help you, beautifully, very well-mannered child, clearly beautifully and very well raised. So the middos that the child has is not from his own chochma. It's not like Avraham Avinu, you know he discovered Hakadosh Baruch Hu and understood that the derech Hashem is the derech habeinonis, no, his parents taught him. He's not holding by that. So until the person's holding by that, so a person can, so the same way that exists in a seven-year-old, so in a seven-year-old you can't expect more than that, but it can exist in a seventy-year-old as well, that that's the basis for the deos. Or the deos can stem, be rooted in chochma. So that's the answer to your question. And I think what the Rambam perhaps would tell us is that in the loshon Chazal of תלמוד מביא לידי מעשה, so the way we generally understand this in purely pragmatic terms, so it's not so much that Talmud is meivi l'yedei ma'aseh, it's that Talmud is indispensable. Again, if we don't study Hilchos Tfillin, so we don't know where to position the tfillin shel yad, we don't know where to position the tfillin shel rosh. It's not necessarily that having learned that halacha, that that necessarily inspires us or impels us or influences us to be mekayem. So if it really just meant, if it was really accentuating again the pragmatic relationship, so it would be that Talmud is meivi, it's nuchotz l'ma'aseh. It's needed, it's indispensable for ma'aseh. And yet what Chazal are saying, and that's the omek that the Rambam is telling us, the loshon Chazal is not... is not simply shehatalmud nachutz l'maise that that it's needed just pragmatically for maise, no, it's meivile yeidei maise. And that's why the Rambam says, no, Chazal are not talking again, the Rambam obviously agrees with that pragmatic, you know, sequence as well. But but what Chazal are really saying here is that again that the Talmud if if the person really again absorbs the chochmah the way the way it's it's supposed to be which which genuinely makes him a chacham so then that taki is meivi l'yidei maise. That then that does uplift him and and impel him to maise. Let's let's perhaps backtrack a few lines here of the Rambam. If you see what what the Rambam said that

הרי נתבאר מן ההקדמות הללו שהתכלית של עולמנו וכל אשר בו אינו אלא איש חכם וטוב.

So the tachlis of of the briah again at least the part of the briah that we inhabit is this ish chacham v'tov. That that's agav. I don't think the Rambam I don't remember whether he he spoon-feeds this but but it's clear that that's what the Rambam is saying

אין להקדוש ברוך הוא בעולמו אלא ארבע אמות של הלכה בלבד

is that halacha represents the maise which which results from chochmah. And and that's what Chazal mean when

אין להקדוש ברוך הוא בעולמו אלא ארבע אמות של הלכה בלבד.

They're not talking about sort of a halacha halacha on the lower level of where we're trained but halacha sort of on the higher level of where the kiyum hahalacha expresses the the chochmah that that the person has has attained. That's that's how the Rambam is learning pshat in in the maimar. Okay but back to here.

הרי נתבאר מן ההקדמות הללו שהתכלית של עולמנו וכל אשר בו אינו אלא איש חכם וטוב וכאשר השיג אחד שהוא מן המין האנושי את החכמה והמעשה.

Again that you have to have that that combination.

וכונתי בחכמה השגת האמיתות כמו שהן והשגת כל מה שאפשר שישיגהו האדם.

V'hamaise hamitzua, the balance,

בעניינים הטבעיים ומיעוט הדאגה להם ולא יסתפק מהם אלא כל שיש בו קיום הגוף ותיקון המידות כולן הנה אדם שבעניין זה הרי הוא המטרה הרצויה.

So the the goal of the briah is that such an adam mushlam should should emerge. You know there's there's a vort that they say from Rav Yisroel Salanter that that they once asked Rav Yisroel Salanter and told him you know if if you wouldn't divert so much of your talmidim's energy, maybe they were referring specifically to Rav Itzele, you know they could achieve such madreigos in gadlus but you you have them spending so much time on mussar that that you're stunting their growth. So Rav Yisroel Salanter answered, so there's a din in Hilchos Berachos Hanehenin as follows. Let's say you have in front of you, you're making Hamotzi, you have in front of you a small challah and you have in front of you three quarters of a wedding challah. So so one is gadol and the other is shaleim. So in dinei kadimah in Berachos Hanehenin you're supposed to make the beracha on the shaleim. So Rav Yisroel Salanter said, so you see that shleimus is more important than gadlus. That that was his answer. So that's what Rav Amstein Amstein built the Adam Hashalem. So the Adam Hashalem again, he he has the knowledge ultimately of Hakadosh Baruch Hu and to the extent that we're capable. And maiseh means hamitzua beinyanim hativiyim, the balance, umiut hadaaga lahem, and not being disproportionately concerned with or focused upon physical matters. הנה אדם שהוא בעניין זה הרי הוא המטרה הרצויה. So now fast forward to the end of this section if you look where he quotes the Gemara again from Brochos, so it'll be the same in all the translations, of

אין לו להקדוש ברוך הוא בעולמו חוץ מארבע אמות של הלכה.

If you see where that is, just begin a few lines before that.

הרי נתבאר מכל מה שאמרנו שתכלית כל מה שיש בעולם ההויה וההפסד,

meaning our world where malachim are eternal, they don't they don't pass out of existence. You don't have the cycle that we have in this world of you know in the spring so the trees sprout leaves and then in the fall they fall off, there's havaya and there's hefsed, people are born, people die. So that's all in that's in down here in this world. So the Rambam says

כל מה שיש בעולם ההויה וההפסד הוא איש שלם שכלולים בו החכמה והמעשה כמו שפירשנו. ומאחר שלמדנו מדברי המלאים השלם את שני העניינים הללו כלומר החכמה והמעשה,

again that combination,

ממה שביארו וממה שרמזו אמת מה שאמרו אין לו להקדוש ברוך הוא בעולמו חוץ מארבע אמות של הלכה.

So here rabosai there's something very very yesodistik between the lines that the Rambam is implying. Right, on the one hand the Rambam is saying that the Adam Hashalem is what we just read before:

כונתו בחכמה השגת האמיתות כמו שהן והמעשה המצוע בעניינים הטבעיים ומיעוט הדאגה להם.

So when the Rambam says that the maiseh, that the genuine chacham, the way he behaves is basically he says that he's mikayem v'halachta bidrachav in terms of the derech habeinonus. But then he says based on that, that says pshat in the meimar Chazal that

אין לו להקדוש ברוך הוא בעולמו אלא ארבע אמות של הלכה בלבד.

So what's implied there rabosai? You hear the question? Too early in the morning? It wasn't time for the morning coffee. Next time we have 9:30 shiur there should be coffee I've realized. Right, what's implicit here rabosai, right, the Rambam is saying, the Rambam says he has this whole arichus where he builds, he argues, he's machriach until we recognize that the tachlis of the bria is the Adam hachacham v'hatov. And then he says that tov means in maiseh, in behavior, in conduct, in action. And what that means specifically is hamitzua, the balance, דרך הבינונות בעניינים הטבעיים, and then he says, oh, and now you understand pshat, now we appreciate what Chazal said that

אין לו להקדוש ברוך הוא בעולמו אלא ארבע אמות של הלכה בלבד.

So what's implicit in that rabosai? That the ikkar of all of halacha is the derech habeinonus. Right, because otherwise if derech habeinonus is one of taryag mitzvos, so how does this how does all this tally in terms of the Rambam having given us pshat in the meimar Chazal? But ella mai, if you look in Shmona Perakim. So the Rambam here in Perek Dalet of Shemoneh Perakim is critiquing people who are ascetics who fast, who don't wear proper clothing, they'll they'll they won't get married, they'll they'll go live in a in a cave. So the Rambam says maybe they'll defend themselves as follows: ואשוב אל כוונתי שיאמרו אלו המדמים באומות מאנשי תורתנו those, those Jews who are imitating the the goyishe practices שאיני מדבר כי אם בהם and you know these are the people who I'm critiquing, the Jews who are who are imitating the goyishe practices, maybe they'll say

שהם אינם עושים מה שעושים אותו מהטריחות גופותם ופיסוק הנאותיהם

no, their asceticism is only

אלא על דרך הלימוד לכוחות הנפש כדי שיהיו נוטים אל הצד האחד מעט.

No, the extreme to which we're going is it's similar to what you yourself the Rambam described as the derech of the chasidim in the Mitzvat Vehalachta Bidrachav. So the Rambam says that שזהו טעות מהם כאשר אבאר. No, the degree to which they do it is is clearly a ta'us. Vezehu and here's the yesod:

שהתורה לא אסרה מה שאסרה ולא ציוותה מה שציוותה אלא מפני זאת הסיבה.

The overwhelming majority of mitzvos are all designed to steer us to the derech habeinonus. שאיסור המאכלות האסורות כולם. Why why is it that when you walk in you can't walk into any restaurant, you can't you can't go into a supermarket and and pull any food off the shelf?

שאיסור המאכלות האסורות כולם ואיסור הביאות האסורות והאזהרה על הקדשה ומה שהוצרך בכתובת אשה וקידושיה ועם כל זה אינה מותרת תמיד אבל תאסר בעת הנידות והלידה ועם כל זה גזרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה למעט המשגל ומנעו ביום זה כולם אמנם ציוונו השם יתברך להתרחק מקצה רוב התאווה. וכן כל מה שבתורה בנתינת המעשרות ולקט ושכחה ופאה ופרט ועוללות

all of matnos aniyim ודיני שמיטה ויובל והצדקה כדי מחסורו it's all again to uproot the middah of of stinginess, to implant with us the middah of of generosity. Ubezos habechinah bachon listen to this line rabosai,

ובזאת הבחינה בחון רוב המצוות תמצאם כולם שהם מלמדות ומרגילות כוחות הנפש.

That plus for the Rambam that so many mitzvos are to wean us away from avodah zarah, so so that's what he's saying over here that

אין לו להקדוש ברוך הוא בעולמו אלא ארבע אמות של הלכה בלבד

is the equivalent of saying that the world was created for the adam hashalem who has the chochmah and who has ma'aseh and ma'aseh basically just means again the balance, but the Torah keeps reinforcing the Torah... The Torah guides us. It's too easy for us to become stingy, though so many, so many Mitzvos. It's too easy. The Rambam amazing, the Rambam says that on one level, I think later he says that on one level, yeah, Kibud Av V'eim and Kevod HaChochom, what's it about? It's that we should always be deferring. It's to push back against Gaiva. I don't know that the Rambam intends to preclude other Taamei Hamitzvos for those Mitzvos, but it's an amazing perspective, right? The fact that no matter who a person is, no matter what he achieves, he has to Machniah himself to his parents and take care and take care of his parents. A person has to be Mehader Pnei Zaken no matter who he is, no matter what he is. All that is something which instills a midda, Middas Ha'adom, that a person has to be Machniah himself to others. So Kahana V'khahana, the Rambam says, again, all the Mitzvos, again, they're either molding character, that it should be B'derech Ha'memutzas, or they're guiding us to the correct belief in terms of keeping us away from Avodah Zarah. And that's what he says, that's the Pshat, the

אין לו להקדוש ברוך הוא בעולמו אלא ארבע אמות של הלכה בלבד.

Okay, maybe we'll stop here. Im Yirtzeh Hashem.