Shem “Yisroel”

I think last time we got up to the Yud Gimmel Ikkarim which we learned in bits, so maybe we'll pick up with the paragraphs after the Yud Gimmel Ikkarim here. A couple of paragraphs right after the Yud Gimmel Ikkarim.

וכאשר יהיו ביד האדם כל אלה היסודות ואמונתו נכונה בהם הרי הוא נכנס בכלל ישראל וחייב לאהבו ולחוס עליו וכל מה שצונו השם על האהבה והאחוה זה עם זה ואפילו עשה כל מה שהוא יכול מן העבירות מחמת התאוה והתגברות הטבע הגרוע הרי הוא נענש כפי גודל חטאו ויש לו חלק והוא מפושעי ישראל ובאם נתרופף לאדם יסוד מאלה היסודות הרי יצא מן הכלל וכפר בעיקר ונקרא מין ואפיקורוס וקוצץ בנטיעות וחייב לשנאו ולאבדו ועליו נאמר הלא משנאיך השם אשנא.

I don't remember if we discussed this yet, but the Rambam says here that on one level the shem Yisrael depends upon the person being a ma'amin.

וכאשר יהיו ביד האדם כל אלה היסודות ואמונתו נכונה בהם הרי הוא נכנס בכלל ישראל.

And the mitzvot bein adam lachaveiro relate to him as well. So first off, how does the Rambam know that? And more the better question is why is it relevant in this context? It's not so surprising and the first question is not so troubling. It's not so surprising. But why is it relevant over here? It's not הלכות בין אדם לחברו here that what it seems to be germane to the sugya the Rambam is presenting to us. So I think it's clear. I think the Tiferes Yisrael points this out already. The mishna on which the Rambam is commenting, the wording of the mishna is very strange. The mishna says כל ישראל יש להם חלק לעולם הבא. And then tokh kedei dibbur ואלו שאין להם חלק לעולם הבא. Almost as if the mishna is sort of retracting, you know since תוך כדי דיבור כדיבור דמי so he's still allowed to retract. So the mishna is retracting. Well, it's not exactly כל ישראל יש להם חלק לעולם הבא. So it's clear that the Rambam learned pshat that what the mishna means is that those who are then the apikoros, the kofer bitkhiyat hameitim, the kofer baTorah, they're not Yisrael. And that's where the Rambam got it from. It's in the mishna. It's not sort of some yediyah from elsewhere that the Rambam is juxtaposing. No, but that's guf in the mishna. That's what it means

כל ישראל יש להם חלק לעולם הבא. ואלו שאין להם חלק לעולם הבא

is not modifying, is not adding a caveat to that. No, but it's teaching that again on one level they're not Yisrael. But then the question still remains, the question still remains so why did the mishna tell us that din in this context? The Mishna tells us the dinim of—so it's it's just sort of derech agav? It's it's but ein hachi nami, we understand where the Rambam gets it from that the Mishna is phrased in such a way that the the Mishna is is indicating that. But then the question gufeh becomes on the Mishna since the Mishna what's the significance of the fact that the Mishna in the context of telling us

יש להם חלק לעולם הבא ואין להם חלק לעולם הבא

says it in a way that will indicate this din of the מצוות בין אדם לחברו. You hear the question rabbosai? Let me see if I can say it a little bit more clearly. One second. Let's try it this way. I think when when you learn these few lines here in the Rambam, so we're a little bit surprised. Surprised that we weren't anticipating a discussion of the mitzvah of ve'ahavta l'rei'acha kamocha. And when the mitzvah of ve'ahavta l'rei'acha kamocha is is me'akeiv. Even the hagdarah? So the answer is we see where the Rambam got it from, right? Because the the Mishna, the way the Mishna expresses those שאין להם חלק לעולם הבא is by saying that as a result of of their heretical beliefs eino miYisrael. Eino miYisrael. But but let's understand the significance of the fact that the Mishna said it that way. So it's like this: the Rambam here in I don't know another 10 lines or so when he comments on Mishna Beis says that the Mishna mentions that Bilam is

אין לו חלק לעולם הבא והזכיר את בלעם אף על פי שאינו מישראל כי חסידי אומות העולם יש להם חלק לעולם הבא.

And therefore it's a chiddush that Bilam didn't qualify. לפיכך הודיענו שבלעם מרשעי אומות העולם. The Rambam has this in he has it in the Yad as well, both in Hilchos Teshuva as well as in Hilchos Melachim. It's more ba'arichus in Hilchos Melachim. The end of Perek Ches.

כל המקבל שבע מצוות ונזהר לעשותן הרי זה מחסידי אומות העולם ויש לו חלק לעולם הבא.

Again,

כל המקבל שבע מצוות ונזהר לעשותן הרי זה מחסידי אומות העולם ויש לו חלק לעולם הבא.

But there's a difference between the track of umos ha'olam to Chayei Olam Haba and the track of Yisrael. By the umos ha'olam. So the Rambam says on the one hand they only have Sheva Mitzvos, but on the other hand they have to be Nizhar in all seven חלק לעולם הבא. Let's say you imagine you had a someone from Umos Ha'olam who was a mumar l'teiavon ich veis for eiver min hachai. And he earns his living as a ganov, as a gazlan, but otherwise he's six out of the seven he's on board for. So it seems pretty clear,

אין לו חלק לעולם הבא. אין לו חלק לעולם הבא,

right? כל המקבל שבע מצוות ונזהר לעשותן is

הרי זה מחסידי אומות העולם יש לו חלק לעולם הבא.

By contrast, a Yisrael who's that's what we just that's what the Rambam just told us, who's let's say he's a mumar l'teiavon on eiver min hachai, he's a mumar l'teiavon on I don't know, he earns his living as a ganov or a gazlan. It's not a good idea and הוא נענש כפי גודל חטאו, but

יש לו חלק לעולם הבא. יש לו חלק לעולם הבא.

It's a different track. It's a different track, right? It's a different track, it's a different standard. And the pshat is that's what the mishna means. When the mishna says כל ישראל יש להם חלק לעולם הבא, what the mishna means is that bi-Toras Yisrael that a person that כל אחד ואחד מישראל bi-Toras Yisrael again, as long as he doesn't mess things up, rachmana litzlan, is יש לו חלק לעולם הבא. Means as a Yisrael he has that. That's also why Chazal used a different term when they talk about Umos Ha'olam. So why don't they say tzaddikei umos ha'olam, why the term chasidai umos ha'olam? Because the term tzaddik is used for is used let's say the Rambam says at the beginning of Perek Hey of Hilchos Teshuva, for a person is rubo zechuyos and mi'ut aveiros so he's a tzaddik. The different term of chasidai umos ha'olam reflects that it's a different standard. It's a different track, it's a different standard. That's the answer to the stira which is asked on the Rambam, that the Rambam in Hilchos Melachim and in Hilchos Teshuva says that chasidai umos ha'olam is יש להם חלק לעולם הבא. And the Rambam in Hilchos Issurei Biah when he talks about how Beis Din speaks to the prospective ger, so

פרק יד הלכה ד: ואומרים לו הוי יודע שהעולם הבא אינו צפון אלא לצדיקים והם ישראל.

Again,

ואומרים לו הוי יודע שהעולם הבא אינו צפון אלא לצדיקים והם ישראל.

So how do you reconcile that with what the Rambam says, that chasidai umos ha'olam is יש להם חלק לעולם הבא? So the answer is that the track, again, that it's a different track for Olam Haba for Yisrael than it is for Umos Ha'olam. And halacha l'ma'aseh it's expressed in that by the Umos Ha'olam, again, there's only sheva mitzvos, but they have to be nizhar in all seven. They have to be nizhar in all seven, and absent that, so they don't qualify as chasidai umos ha'olam. And that's what the Rambam, what they're telling the ger is that, again, a tzaddik as distinct from a chasid, that track is only tzafun l'Yisrael. So the answer to our question as to initially it was a question on the Rambam, but then we traced it back to the mishna. Why is the mishna sort of digressing to tell us about once... It's betoras Yisrael, it's not just as a yachid, it's betoras Yisrael that that that the person is primed and positioned for Olam Ha-Ba. That that's על זה גופא אנו דנים. Now the question how to integrate this, or how to read this Rambam and integrate it into the following. There is... if you take the Rambam Hilchos De'os for a moment. The Rambam has in

פרק ו הלכה ג מצוה על כל אדם לאהוב כל אחד ואחד מישראל כגופו שנאמר ואהבת לרעך כמוך. לפיכך צריך לספר בשבחו ולחוס על ממונו כמו שהוא חס על ממון עצמו ורוצה בכבוד עצמו והמתכבד בקלון חברו אין לו חלק לעולם הבא.

So, parenthetically, we spoke I think when we were looking at the leshonos of bushah and klimah and we saw how the Rambam will sometimes say that that one can understand the chomer of a particular mitzvah or a particular issur by looking at one end of the spectrum. So for instance we saw that the Rambam says in light of the fact that המלבין פני חברו ברבים אין לו חלק לעולם הבא, lefichach tzarich l'hizaher even on bushah. Right? Even though bushah is something which is... bushah is embarrassment, klimah is humiliation. But since it's on the same spectrum, if at the end of the spectrum it's so chomer that אין לו חלק לעולם הבא, so it tells you that anywhere on the spectrum is very chomer also. So this Rambam is the exact same type of logic, right? The Rambam's talking about the mitzvah of ahavas Yisrael and in that context he says that המתכבד בקלון חברו אין לו חלק לעולם הבא. It's the same point, the same type of logic, right? If you want to understand just how chomer this mitzvah is and how zahid we should be in being mekayem the mitzvas asei of ahavas Yisrael, so look at the extreme, at the end of the spectrum. It's the same type of logic. But that was parenthetical. So what does the Rambam say here? There's a mitzvah of ahavas Yisrael. And then the Rambam translates the mitzvah of ahavas Yisrael, gives us two applications: lesaper b'shivcho and lachus al mamono. Because you're supposed to be חס על ממון ישראל and kvod Yisrael the same way a person's חס על ממון עצמו ורוצה בכבוד עצמו. So the Rambam has two applications. Where do they get davka these two applications from? So the Kesef Mishneh says the two mishnayos in Avos of יהי ממון חברך חביב עליך כשלך and יהי כבוד חברך חביב עליך כשלך. That's where the Rambam got these two examples. But those are the only two applications that the Rambam gives.

מצוה על כל אדם לאהוב כל אחד מישראל כגופו שנאמר ואהבת לרעך כמוך לפיכך צריך לספר בשבחו ולחוס על ממונו.

But then when... So here the Rambam has a whole list of what's included in Ahavas Yisrael.

מצות עשה של דבריהם לבקר חולים ולנחם אבלים ולהוציא המת ולהכניס הכלה וללוות האורחים ולעסוק בכל צרכי הקבורה לשאת על הכתף ולילך לפניו ולספוד ולחפור ולקבור וכן לשמח החתן והכלה ולסעדם בכל צרכיהם ואלו הן גמילות חסדים שבגופו שאין להם שיעור אף על פי שכל מצות אלו מדבריהם הרי הן בכלל ואהבת לרעך כמוך כל הדברים שאתה רוצה שיעשו אותם לך אחרים עשה אותם אתה לאחיך בתורה ובמצות.

So the question, which is just such a glaring question, is why is there no allusion to any of these forms of chessed in Hilchos Deios? Right, when the Rambam presents Ahavas Yisrael in Hilchos Deios, he says lachus al mamono and lachus al kevodo. But all these, the levaker cholim, lenachem aveilim, lehotzi hamess, hachnosas kallah, the whole long list of שמחת חתן וכלה, there's no remez to it here in Hilchos Deios. So the pshat is as follows, the pshat is like this. There's another difference between the two Rambams. In Hilchos Deios, the Rambam says

מצוה על כל אדם לאהוב כל אחד ואחד מישראל. כל אחד ואחד מישראל,

that's the lashon in Hilchos Deios. The lashon in Hilchos Aveil is עשה אותם אתה לאחיך בתורה ובמצות. So the Rambam is telling us that there are two levels to the mitzvah of Ahavas Yisrael. There's one level of the mitzvah of Ahavas Yisrael which applies to כל אחד ואחד מישראל. But that is more limited. That's יהי ממון חברך חביב עליך כשלך and יהי כבוד חברך חביב עליך כשלך. Then there's another level of Ahavas Yisrael which includes לבקר חולים לנחם אבלים וכולי, but that's bedafka for אחיך בתורה ובמצות. Where did the Rambam get it from? So the l'choira is as follows. The Gemara in Sanhedrin has it in a couple of places, when the Gemara is trying to figure out what the Torah means by the various misos beis din, the Gemara says does it mean this or does it mean this? So the Gemara says but we should opt for the less gruesome form of death because ואהבת לרעך כמוך ברור לו מיתה יפה. So if the pasuk could mean this or the pasuk could mean this, so take what's less gruesome because ואהבת לרעך כמוך ברור לו מיתה יפה. Misos beis din are not exactly dealing with one of the lamed vav nikim. The guy is חייב מיתה בית דין ואף על פי כן, the Gemara's mefurash that there's a mitzvah of V'ahavta l'reiacha kamocha. Me'idach, the Torah Temimah has this on V'ahavta l'reiacha kamocha. If you take a look in Avos d'Rabbi Noson, the Avos d'Rabbi Noson says הלא הוא אומר ואהבת לרעך כמוך אני השם. Okay, it could be there's a little bit of... one second, let me just see if this is really a rayah. One second. Yeah, I think it is. You'll take a look, I think it's correct.

הלא הוא אומר ואהבת לרעך כמוך אני השם מה הטעם כי אני אני בראתיו.

Ani b'rasiv lichvodei

ואם עושה מעשה עמך אתה אוהב ואם לאו אי אתה אוהב.

So davka ba'oseh maaseh amcha. I don't know, tzarich maybe a tzad someone שחייב מיתת בית דין wouldn't have ahavas yisrael? So maybe this is where the Rambam gets it, aval kol panim, that's klar. The Rambam has two levels in the mitzvah. Ah, but it goes deeper than that. The pshat is that, whenever you have a bein adam l'chaveiro situation, there's two potential m'chaivim. One m'chaiv is Reuven's interacting with Shimon. So sort of what is Shimon what is he m'chaiv on the part of Reuven in terms of how Reuven should relate to him, how Reuven should treat him. But another m'chaiv is nothing to do with Shimon. Just Reuven's own middos is also a m'chaiv. Nothing to do with what Shimon is deserving of, the honor he's deserving of being accorded, the dignity that should be upheld. No, in addition to Shimon as a m'chaiv, Reuven's own middos are a m'chaiv. Ah. So the vort's like this. So the Rambam holds these two different levels of ve'ahavta l'reiacha kamocha there's two different m'chaivim. The m'chaiv of כל אחד ואחד מישראל regardless even if he's not achicha b'Torah u'mitzvos, the m'chaiv isn't Shimon, the m'chaiv is a Reuven's middos. Oh, that belongs in Hilchos De'os. But the whole range of activities, oh that goes way beyond just treating people in a mentchlich fashion. That goes way beyond, that's where Shimon is the m'chaiv. That's when davka achicha b'Torah u'mitzvos, so that's not that doesn't belong in Hilchos De'os. So where did the Rambam put it? He put it in Hilchos Aveil apropos of hotza'as hameis and kvura, which is one of the examples of that level of ve'ahavta l'reiacha kamocha. Ve'lichora it's klar that that's the pshat in the Yad. Ve'lichora it's klar that that's the pshat in the Yad. The question is how we read these lines here though? How do you integrate these lines here? Again, so let's read again here. וכשהיו ביד האדם כל אלה היסודות ואמונתו נכונה בהם, nechona means is established, right? Nachon kiseiacha Hashem, right? Nachon doesn't mean that your throne is right, it means your throne is established. What's correct is is rooted and established.

וכשהיו ביד האדם כל אלה היסודות ואמונתו נכונה בהם הרי הוא נכנס בכלל ישראל וחייבים לאהבו ולחוס עליו וכל מה שציוונו ה׳ על אחוה ואהבה זה עם זה. וכל מה שציוונו

seems to be talking about more than mamon chaveircha and kvod chaveircha, right?

וכל מה שציוונו ה׳ על אחוה ואהבה זה עם זה.

The Rambam continues:

ואפילו עשה כל מה שיכול מן העבירות מחמת התאוה והתגברות הטבע הגרוע הרי הוא נענש כפי גודל חטאו ויש לו חלק.

But then the Rambam goes on and he's talking about someone who lichora is not achicha b'Torah u'mitzvos. Right, the Rambam says in theory you can have someone who's so lazy he hardly ever davens, he hardly ever puts on tefillin, doesn't bother getting rid of his chametz before pesach, you get the picture. And the Rambam says that as long as that's just l'te'avon, it's laziness or whatever, it's not l'hachis, so הרי הוא נענש כפי גודל חטאו, he's not in an enviable position, הרי הוא נענש כפי גודל חטאו but nevertheless ויש לו חלק לעולם הבא, but you certainly wouldn't describe that person as achicha b'Torah u'mitzvos. So how does how does the Rambam shtein? How does this blend with what we saw in the Yad? You hear the question rabosei? But it's klar that the pshat we said in the Yad is correct, it's not the so when you have a question sometimes you don't know which direction to go in the answer. Here it's clear the answer is to figure out what the Peirush Hamishnayos means because it's just too compelling that that's what it means in the Yad. So kemiduma that the answer is basically a question of- Not literally punctuating but understanding the punctuation. Let's re-read.

וכאשר יהיו ביד האדם כל אלה היסודות ואמונתו נכונה בהם הרי הוא נכנס בכלל ישראל וחייבים לאהבו ולחוס עליו וכל מה שצונו השם על האהבה ועל האחווה זה עם זה.

So here the Rambam is talking about someone he's an ehrlich Yid. Then the Rambam says he's avaday he has a chelek l'olam haba. He has a chelek l'olam haba and he's also going to be on the receiving end of all the Ahavas Yisrael of all the מצווה בין אדם לחברו. Then the Rambam says v'afilu. The v'afilu is only in terms of the יש לו חלק לעולם הבא. The vov hachibur you see it rabosai. The v'afilu is on the יש לו חלק לעולם הבא. Afilu, until now I wasn't describing this person. Until now the stam person who believes in the yud gimmel ikkarim is also a person who's a shomer Torah u'mitzvos. Now v'afilu and even if

עשה כל מה שיכול מן העבירות מחמת התאווה והתגברות הטבע הגרוע

so the Rambam says well אף על פי כן it's still yesh lo chelek. But the v'afilu was not saying that he's still bichlal that

חייבים לאהבו ולחוס עליו וכל מה שצונו השם על האהבה והאחווה זה עם זה

and that's what the Rambam goes on to say. u'miposhei Yisrael. He's not achicha b'Torah u'mitzvos. So he'll qualify for Perek Vov of Hilchos Deios. He'll qualify though the one who's doing כל מה שיכול מחמת התאווה והתגברות הטבע הגרוע so he'll qualify for what it says in Perek Vov of Hilchos Deios. Now l'chora it's just how to read here.

וכבר הארכתי בדברים מאד ויצאתי מעניין חיבורי אבל עשיתי זאת כיוון שראיתי בו תועלת באמונה לפי שאספתי לך דברים רבים מועילים המפוזרים בחיבורים חשובים.

So l'chora with the Rambam's this so this retrospective l'chora is not only in the yud gimmel ikkarim. It's probably on the whole hakdama that we have here. When the Rambam says that וכבר הארכתי בדברים מאד ויצאתי מעניין חיבורי doesn't mean just in listing the yud gimmel ikkarim. No, he means the entire everything that we've learned until this point about olam haba about what it means to be oved m'ahava etc.

לפי שאספתי לך דברים רבים מועילים המפוזרים בחיבורים חשובים. הצלח בהם וחזור דברי אלה פעמים רבות והתבונן בהם התבוננות טובה ואם הטעה אותך חריצותך שהבנת את עניינם מפעם אחת או מעשר הרי יודע השם שהטעה אותך לשווא.

So the Rambam addresses us each one of us individually and says if you think that from learning this one or even ten times you understood everything. No? Right, you think you're such a baal gaiva that you can you can grasp everything. No, the Rambam attributes it to charitzus. What what do the other translations have for the same word? Im hitsu oscha? What what is it that's misleading you? Umasi'ach lipcha. Lipcha. Oh, lipcha. That's like a different mashmaos. Anyone else? Any other? Umasi'ach lipcha she-hevanta, something to that extent? What comes after the umasi'ach lipcha? Ki hisagta. Okay, ki hisagta. Okay, so lipcha doesn't really... so okay, so you don't have that mashmaos there. That's, that's rather neutral in terms of what the source of the error is. But charitzus is I think we usually translate as diligence, no? Charitzus means, means diligence. So the Rambam seems to be saying, I mean you learned this and you want to go viter, and he says no, there's a time for that but but here maybe go back and go over it another I don't know how many times, but more than once. That in this translation that that's the mashmaos, right? The Rambam's saying you know maybe it's you know maybe it's what ordinarily is a yetzer hatov which is telling you okay you learned it, now's time to go viter, you know there's more to learn, there's... no, so even if it's even if it's coming from from a place of charitzus from from a place of of diligence, a person should resist it in this context.

ולכן אל תמהר בו כי אני לא חברתי כפי המזדמן.

Kefi hamizdanen? I didn't I didn't do this casually by happenstance,

אלא אחרי התבוננות וישוב והשקפה בדעות נכונות ושאינן נכונות ותמצית מה שצריך להאמין מהם והסתייעות בטענות וראיות לכל עניין ועניין מהשם אשאל להדריכני בדרך הישרה ואחזור לעניין הפרק.

Let me stop here.