13 Ikarim, Rambam P’ Cheilek: Yesod 7, 8

Coming back to the yesod hashishi, right at the beginning:

והיסוד השישי נבואת משה רבינו והוא שנאמין שהוא אביהן של כל הנביאים שקדמו לפניו ואלו שאחריו כולם הם למטה ממנו במעלה.

So all nevi'im, whether those who preceded Moshe Rabbeinu or those who followed him, were inferior to Moshe Rabbeinu. When the Rambam expresses this idea in the Yad, so there the Rambam uses the phrase רבן של כל הנביאים. In Zayin Vav, Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah:

כל הדברים שאמרנו הם דרך הנבואה לכל הנביאים הראשונים והאחרונים חוץ ממשה רבינו רבן של כל הנביאים.

And again, I think we mentioned last week, at the end of Perek Aleph, the first perek of Hilchot Avodah Zarah:

ומאהבת השם אותנו ומשמרו את השבועה לאברהם אבינו עשה משה רבינו רבן של כל הנביאים ושלוחו.

So Moshe Rabbeinu is the master of all nevi'im, again expressing this idea of the uniqueness, superiority of nevuat Moshe Rabbeinu. Lashon av, though, seems to have okay so you sort of maybe lashon av just means you draw a let's say you're drawing a family tree. To draw a family tree, so the patriarch of the family is on top of the family tree and then everyone else is underneath. So over here, if we're drawing not a family tree but sort of a hierarchy of nevuah, so Moshe Rabbeinu would be on top. Somehow rabban seems to express that because av has a sense of being source, right? The av is the source of something. That's what it means biologically and that's how it's used al derech hamashal. So the avos melachos are the source for how we conceptually derive the toldos. Or the avi hatumah is the actual source, imparts what becomes a rishon letumah. So how is that description appropriate for Moshe Rabbeinu? So maybe the Rambam means as follows. In Perek Ches, Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah, Rambam writes that משה רבינו לא האמינו בו ישראל מפני האותות שעשה. The abiding, absolute conviction that we have in the truth of nevuat Moshe Rabbeinu is not based on the miracles that he performed.

שהמאמין על פי האותות יש בליבו דופי שאפשר שיעשה האות בלהט וכישוף.

You can never believe with 100% conviction based on a miracle.

ובמה האמינו בו? במעמד הר סיני שעינינו ראו ולא זר ואזנינו שמעו ולא אחר. והקול מדבר אליו ואנחנו שומעים משה משה לך אמור להם כך וכך וכן הוא אומר פנים בפנים דיבר השם עמכם ונאמר לא את אבותינו כרת השם את הברית הזאת

and the Rambam doesn't quote the rest of the pasuk ki itanu. So there was an experience that Klal Yisrael themselves had at Har Sinai where everyone present witnessed, heard Hakadosh Baruch Hu appointing, anointing Moshe Rabbeinu as his shaliach.

ומנין שבמעמד הר סיני לבדו היא הראיה לנבואתו שהיא אמת שאין בה דופי.

How do I know this, says the Rambam? That again the source for the absolute conviction that we have in the truth of nevuas Moshe Rabbeinu is from ma'amad Har Sinai

שנאמר בפסוק הנה אנוכי בא אליך בעב הענן בעבור ישמע העם בדברי עמך וגם בך יאמינו לעולם.

mikal shekodem zeh, even though it said in Parshas Shemos, Vaya'aminu, and even though it says in Beshalach, ויאמינו בהשם ובמשה עבדו, but those two pesukim notwithstanding, says the Rambam,

מכלל שקודם דבר זה לא האמינו בו נאמנות שהיא עומדת לעולם.

It doesn't say in Beshalach ויאמינו בהשם ובמשה עבדו לעולם. The ne'emanus which is omedes l'olam only happens now in ma'amad Har Sinai. The previous ne'emanus was אלא נאמנות שיש אחריה הרהור ומחשבה. What their belief until then was a belief that they could legitimately and appropriately second-guess and question. So now the Rambam expands this and says, based on this, that not only is our belief in nevuas Moshe Rabbeinu not based on osos umofsim, but our belief in other nevi'im is not based on osos umofsim. How so? nimtzas omer in Halacha Beis, says the Rambam, I'm skipping the beginning of Halacha Beis, nimtzas omer

שכל נביא שיעמוד אחר משה רבינו אין אנו מאמינים בו מפני האות לבדו כדי שנאמר אם יעשה אות נשמע לו לכל מה שיאמר. אלא מפני המצווה שציוונו משה בתורה ואמר אם נתן אות אליו תשמעון. כמו שציוונו לחתוך הדבר על פי שני עדים ואף על פי שאין אנו יודעים אם אמת העידו אם שקר כך מצווה לשמוע מזה הנביא אם האות אמת או בכישוף ולאט.

So says the Rambam, once nevuas Moshe Rabbeinu is established beyond any possibility of doubt, so then we have the Torah and the reason if when Yeshayahu Hanavi comes and Yeshayahu Hanavi possesses all the personal qualities that a navi has to have and then he performs a miracle or time and time again he predicts the future, what's going to be, and is always one hundred percent correct and accurate, so the reason we believe that he's a navi emes is not that that's our inference based on his miracles, but because the Torah says that's the standard for accepting and recognizing a navi. The same way when Beis Din paskens על פי שני עדים, it's not because Beis Din on their own infers and says, well if two eidirn tell the whole story, what's the possibility that they're both lying? No, it's got nothing to do with our inference and our theory of probability. No, the Torah says ציוונו לחתוך הדבר על פי שני עדים. So kumt ois that nevuas Moshe Rabbeinu which gives us the Torah, nevuas Moshe Rabbeinu is also the source of our belief in other nevi'im. You hear the p'shat? That's quite gevaldig. So the emes is that that's not only true about the nevi'im who lived after Moshe Rabbeinu, it's also true now retrospectively about the nevi'im who lived before Moshe Rabbeinu. So it comes to that the nevuas Moshe Rabbeinu is in the sense of our definitive knowledge of other neviim is the source of all neviim, both not only who came after him but shekodmu lefanov as well. The only reason the Rambam says שכל נביא שיעמוד אחר משה רבנו, the only reason the Rambam says שכל נביא שיעמוד אחר משה רבנו, he means a navi who's he's talking about neviim who are not mentioned in the Chumash. That's why he says that Moshe Rabbeinu is the source of all knowledge of neviim shekodmu lefanov who the Torah attests to. So that the Rambam doesn't have to talk about. The chidush is no, Moshe Rabbeinu is also the basis is the source of all knowledge of Yechezkel, Yeshayahu. There's no pasuk in the Chamisha Chumshei Torah that HaKadosh Baruch Hu was talking to Yeshayahu. That's why the Rambam is talking about that achar Moshe Rabbeinu. Then we talked about how Ma'amad Har Sinai is like the core reason for our belief. Does he mean that just the fact that everyone was there or does he mean the fact everyone was there and everything that happened subsequently? For example, the reason we believe the Gemara is divine is because it was a direct chain but it's not necessarily... meaning, is it everything that came from Ma'amad Har Sinai or simply... we'll talk a little bit about that in be-siyata d'shmaya, be-ezras Hashem. I'm not sure we'll get to everything, but we'll at least touch on that be-ezras Hashem. Go right to the end of the perek before the halachos,

כל המקבל שבע מצוות ונזהר לעשותן הרי זה מחסידי אומות העולם ויש לו חלק לעולם הבא. והוא שיקבל אותם ויעשה אותם מפני שציוה בהן הקדוש ברוך הוא בתורה והודיענו על ידי משה רבנו שבני נח מקודם נצטוו בהן.

So what the pshat in this stipulation is is its own sugya which isn't our focus now, but for whatever reason the Rambam stipulates that bnei Noach have to observe sheva mitzvos. Their observance has to be framed as follows. It has to be framed that HaKadosh Baruch Hu commands these sheva mitzvos to all of humanity in the Torah and HaKadosh Baruch Hu informed us via Moshe Rabbeinu that bnei Noach mikodem Noach had previously been been commanded. So you see here an example of what we're talking about, how Moshe Rabbeinu is the source for the nevuah in the sense of he's the source for the nevuah in the sense of the validation of it, our knowledge of it, our absolute conviction of a nevuah that preceded him as well. So shouldn't that have been before the Yesod haShishi? You know, Moshe established nevuah as a foundation or nevuah and then the Yesod haShishi to follow after that, how one becomes a navi? It doesn't have to precede the Yesod haShishi? I guess he could have done it that way but he's going מן הקל אל הכבד. He's going מן הקל אל הכבד of such a nevuah, of such a thing as nevuas Moshe Rabbeinu. In a certain sense, so you could say that how is the Rambam quoting psukim to prove everything? How can he quote psukim to prove anything after Torah min HaShamayim? Otherwise why is the significance of the psukim? But he's going מן הקל אל הכבד from nevuah which again which describes what all neviim had to the unique type of nevuah of Moshe Rabbeinu. Okay. That's the yesod of the Rambam.

והיסוד השמיני הוא תורה מן השמים והוא שנאמין שכל התורה הזאת המצויה בידינו היום זו היא התורה שניתנה למשה ושהיא כולה מפי הגבורה כל מה שהגיע אליו כולה מאת השם בהגעה שנקראת על דרך השאלה דיבור.

One more time.

והיסוד השמיני הוא תורה מן השמים והוא שנאמין שכל התורה הזאת המצויה בידינו היום זו היא התורה שניתנה למשה ושהיא כולה מפי הגבורה כל מה שהגיע אליו כולה מאת השם בהגעה שנקראת על דרך השאלה דיבור.

He skipped towards the end of the Yisod HaShemini, which you see right after the Rambam quotes the pasuk of גל עיני ואביטה נפלאות מתורתך. After he quotes that pasuk, so the Rambam writes

וכמו כן פירושה המקובל הוא גם כן מפי הגבורה וזה שאנו עושים היום את אופן הסוכה והלולב והשופר והציצית והתפילין וזולתם הוא אותו האופן עצמו שאמר השם למשה והוא אמר לנו והוא מושך שליחות נאמן במשנתו.

One more time.

וכמו כן פירושה המקובל הוא גם כן מפי הגבורה וזה שאנו עושים היום את אופן הסוכה והלולב והשופר והציצית והתפילין וזולתם הוא אותו האופן עצמו שאמר השם למשה והוא אמר לנו.

It's quite clear so at first at the beginning of the Ikker the Rambam talks about Torah Shebiksav and then he says but the Ikker Torah Min HaShamayim is kollo Torah Sheba'al Peh as well. But it's quite quite clear that the Rambam is telling us that the Ikker of Torah Min HaShamayim isn't simply to believe that Moshe Rabbeinu received both the Torah Shebiksav that was dictated to him as well as the Torah Sheba'al Peh that was given to him orally and brought those down from Har Sinai, but the Rambam is quite emphatic in saying כל התורה הזאת המצויה בידינו היום that the Torah Min HaShamayim is what we have today, is when you take the Sefer Torah out of the Aron Kodesh and you learn Bereishis Bara Elokim and you learn about until le-einei kol Yisrael, that that's the Torah Min HaShamayim, not just that there was a... the Ikker is not just that משה קיבל תורה מסיני. No, the Ikker is משה קיבל תורה מסיני ומסרה ליהושע ויהושע לזקנים etc. and that's what the Rambam emphasizes again when he talks about how Torah Min HaShamayim includes not only the Torah Shebiksav but the Torah Sheba'al Peh as well. וזה שאנו עושים היום our daled minim, so that's that's what Hakadosh Baruch Hu explained to Moshe Rabbeinu that that's what the that's what pri eitz hadar is, that's what kafos temarim is, that's what anaf eitz avos is, arvei nachal, arba'as haminim that we take today, arba'as haminim that we take today. So that that it's clear, right? So sometimes the sort of the summary or the the the when we encapsulate it by saying Torah Min HaShamayim, so one can sort of in one's mind be understating what the what the yesod is, right? It's not just Torah Min HaShamayim, it's not just that Moshe Rabbeinu had a Torah Min HaShamayim. No, it's that the Torah that we have today is that Torah Min HaShamayim that Moshe Rabbeinu was mekabeil, הן תורה שבכתב הן תורה שבעל פה. But alla ma, but mipshat then so the last two three lines here of the Ikker, the Rambam says המאמר המורה על היסוד השמיני הזה. The pasuk that that attests to that that states this yesod hu amro בזאת תדעון כי ה' שלחני וכולי כי לא מלבי. Okay, so the Rambam understands this pasuk not like Rashi says, but the Rambam understands the pasuk that Moshe Rabbeinu is saying that everything I've been doing has been bishlichus Hashem and ki lo milibi, not just the appointing of Elitzafan as as the as the nasi, not just the appointing Aharon as the Kohen Gadol, but everything, nothing ki lo milibi, I don't do. But where do you see in this pasuk what the Rambam was so emphatic about, that the yesod of Torah min hashamayim is not only that משה קיבל תורה מסיני, but that's the Torah that we have today, that היא היא התורה שבידינו היום. How is that nirmaz in this pasuk of בזאת תדעון כי השם שלחני כי לא מלבי? The be'ur is as follows. What would be if I tell you for purposes of this conversation, assuming that I tell the truth, what would be if I tell you that in my oven this morning I made a gingerbread man? So what would you know based on that statement? That this morning I made a gingerbread man. Just so made, that's all you'd know. What would be if I tell you that this morning in my oven I made an indestructible gingerbread man? So then what would you know? What would you know? So you'd know that not only did I make a gingerbread man in my oven this morning, but that gingerbread man is still here because I'm telling you I made an indestructible gingerbread man. Moshe Rabbeinu says ki lo milibi. You should know that everything everything that I've done is ki lo milibi. The shoresh hashlishi, you don't you don't need this, but it maybe it helps to understand this idea. The shoresh hashlishi in the shorashim beginning Sefer Hamitzvos is שאין ראוי למנות מצוות שאין נוהגות לדורות. The minyan taryag is mitzvos mitzvos ledoros. The same way the taryag mitzvos of the Torah are ledoros in terms of their lihood, so all of Torah is ledoros in the sense that that's what's unique about Torah. So when you say that Moshe Rabbeinu received Torah min hashamayim, you're saying Moshe Rabbeinu received תורה נצחית מן השמים. The word Torah means Torah nitzchis. That's what Torah means. Again, I'm just giving the shoresh as a mashal because obviously we're talking not only about the taryag mitzvos shebo, we're talking about everything shebo, מבראשית עד לעיני כל ישראל. So when you say that Moshe Rabbeinu received Torah min hashamayim, it means he received a Torah nitzchis. Rachmana litzlan, either of two different things would negate nitzchis hatorah. Number one, which is the the more obvious negation, is what the next yesod is going to be. Yesod t'shi'i. Yesod t'shi'i is bitul. To say that the Torah is no longer no longer... quotes in Hilchos Teshuva where he illustrates this והאומר שהבורא החליף מצוה זו במצוה אחרת and therefore

וכבר בטלה תורה זו אף על פי שהייתה מן השם כגון הנוצרים וההגרים.

So that's that's a kfira in Netzchiyus HaTorah. But another negation, rachmana litzlan, of Netzchiyus HaTorah is if Torah's lost. That's also not Netzchiyus HaTorah. The same way, the same way if the pasuk is there, the mitzvah is there, but no, there's no more mitzvah, there's no more mitzvah, like the notzrim, like the hagrim say. So that's that's a kfira in Netzchiyus HaTorah to say Moshe Rabbeinu, the yesod is, not that Moshe Rabbeinu brought down, brought down, brought down a book. Moshe Rabbeinu brought down a Torah Netzchis. That's that's what, when Moshe Rabbeinu brought down Torah he said, Hakadosh Baruch Hu said this is this is a davar netzchi. So the yesod is that which Moshe Rabbeinu said which was a davar netzchi, that was min hashamayim. That Torah means that it's netzchis. The same way, rachmana litzlan, it's a negation, it's a kfira of Netzchiyus HaTorah to say that Hakadosh Baruch Hu החליף מצוה זו במצוה אחרת, to say that something got lost from the Torah, to say that to say that that something is is lost from from the Torah. That that what we have today, yeah, yeah, I agree that a person will rachmana litzlan say, yeah, yeah, he agrees that Moshe Rabbeinu received the Torah min hashamayim but we don't have it anymore. It got lost at some point over the millennia. So that's also a kfira in Netzchiyus HaTorah. That's also a kfira in Netzchiyus HaTorah. So mimaila that that's the pshat over here. בזאת תדעון כי השם שלחני כי לא מלבי, that pasuk does express everything the Rambam is saying in the ikar because Moshe Rabbeinu says, I gave you a Torah, right? I gave you a Torah and I told you this Torah is is is netzchis, you should know that wasn't my Torah. I didn't make that up. That was ki Hashem shelachani, that was that was ki lo milibi. And the emes is, the emes is you see that this is what the Rambam means. It's so so extraordinary. If you look at each of each of the yesodos, so the Rambam has this extraordinary uncanny ability at the beginning of the yesod he has one phrase that encapsulates the entire yesod and then he he he explains to us everything that's compressed into that one phrase. So היסוד הראשון הוא מציאות הבורא ישתבח. Okay, now the Rambam explains what that what what's compressed into that extraordinarily rich phrase and formulation. היסוד השני אחדותו יתעלה he explains. היסוד השלישי שלילת הגשמות ממנו. Skip. It works for each one. היסוד הרביעי נבואת משה רבנו then he tells you the four differences. But all that is compressed into that one phrase because נבואת משה רבנו means a nevuah which is which is sui generis. Here by Hayesod Hashmini so the Rambam says הוא תורה מן השמים. And then he goes on to say

והוא שנאמין שכל התורה הזאת המצויה בידינו היום זו היא התורה שניתנה למשה.

So how is that just just being holech umefaresh what he compressed into the phrase Torah min hashamayim? Ela mai, hen hen hadevarim. That's what the word Torah means. Torah means a davar netzchi, a davar netzchi. So now the Rambam says I'm explaining to you what that phrase means. The same way he explained to us what achdus means, the same way he explained to us what metzius means, he's explaining to us what Torah min hashamayim means because Torah means that it's netzchis. If if it's lost, so that's also a kfira in in its netzchiyus. So obviously if you believe that Torah was lost entirely you'd be against the ikar. But then again you also have like what much of machlokes that some prat, some thing was lost at some point in the Torah, right? In the machlokes about what what's correct. So what level does things something got lost in the tradition machlokes do? Nothing got lost in terms of in terms of Torah Shebiksav, so even if you let's say take the non-conformist. Seemingly at face value the Rambam says so when the Rambam's talking about when the Rambam says that the כל התורה המצויה בידינו he's not saying the way we write tzura d'chatva he's not saying whether or not that duplicates the way it was written in Moshe Rabbeinu's Sefer Torah. He's talking you see from the hemshech he's talking about the tochen had'varim right

הוא מעתיק וכותב את כולו דברי הימים שבו סיפוריה ומצוותיה

Rambam's not coming to to ee nami so so the p'shat is again the simple reading on Chidushei is no that and and this is certainly the way many many understand Rambam Chidushei no so we don't have the tradition about where you spell with a vav where you don't spell with a vav that's not what the Rambam's talking about the Rambam's talking about the tochen again whether with a vav or without a vav ee nami so that he's not talking about that. So too the next thing I guess everything we're doing is really superficial. Someone says you have to shano a hundred times and still haven't and you think you understood it you're kidding yourself so I guess everything we're doing is superficial but this next point is maybe even a little bit more superficial than the rest. But but the same thing also in terms of the basic again contours of mitzvas lulav so nothing is lost there nothing is lost there in terms of what the daled minim are v'chulu. Right the Rambam is not claiming yes we do find machlokesin in Gemara itself mitzvas lulav right that the dispute between the Zaken Mamre and the Sanhedrin HaGadol might be that Zaken Mamre claims to have a halacha l'moshe misinai that the Beis Din HaGadol doesn't have or vice versa or Beis Din HaGadol quotes a kabbalah and the Zaken Mamre doesn't have it. But in terms of the basic the most fundamental elements in terms of what's a lulav what's a shofar what's tzitzis what are tefillin וקשרתם לאות על ידך what are you doing? Taking a parchment and putting it on your arm so that the Rambam says no that the ikkar of nitzchius hatorah again Torah means a davar nitzchi to get lost is also a kfira of avodas nitzchius. In hilchos teshuvah again perek gimmel v'sham is where we've seen where the Rambam just about adds the yud gimmel ha'ikkarim then the Rambam has a broader list of those who rachmana litzlan have no chelek l'olam haba.

ואלו הן שאין להן חלק לעולם הבא. השלושה הן הכופרים בתורה. האומר שאין התורה מעם השם אפילו פסוק אחד אפילו דקדוק אחד ואם אמר משה אמר מפי עצמו הרי זה כופר בתורה. וכן הכופר בפירושה והיא תורה שבעל פה והכחיש מגידיה גם צדוק וביתוס. והאומר שהבורא החליף מצוה זו במצוה אחרת ובטלה תורה זו אף על פי שהייתה מעם השם כגון הנוצרים והישמעאלים כל אחד מאלו הוא כופר.

So each of these is kfira. Again so as we have it here albeit counting... definitely but the tochen is parallel lechora. Torah Shebichtav, Torah Shebe'al Peh and then again saying that the what corresponds to these three things about about about people. But when the Rambam he talks about Torah Shebe'al Peh so his phrase is וכן הכופר בפירושה והיא תורה שבעל פה והכחיש מגידיה or the the the some some versions have והכחיש מגידיה ומסורת דבריה. So the Rav has a very very crucially important insight here into the leshonot HaRambam. What does the Rambam mean when he says וכן הכופר בפירושה והיא תורה שבעל פה והכחיש מגידיה? So that lechora just repetitious. To deny Torah Shebe'al Peh is to contradict those who transmit the Torah Shebe'al Peh. If a person denies a pshat that ayin tachat ayin means mamon, so then he's being makchish, you know, Yehoshua and Phinehas and all those maggidei, all those who who transmitted the the Torah Shebe'al Peh. So why does the Rambam have two different phrases? A, וכן הכופר בפירושה והיא תורה שבעל פה, B, hikchish maggideha? So the Rav very famously says: No, what the Rambam has in mind is the following. Kofer bepeirusha taki means, chas veshalom, the person says: No, I don't think Hakadosh Baruch Hu said that Hakadosh Baruch Hu didn't didn't tell us what constitutes a melacha on Shabbos and and really what the pasuk means is don't don't break a sweat on Shabbos. That's what it means לא תעשון כל מלאכה on Shabbos. I'm really believe that Hakadosh Baruch Hu said a pri etz hadar is an esrog, really a pri etz hadar is just just fruit vechulu. So that that's kofer bepeirusha. Hikchish maggideha means things that the chachmei hamesora said not al pi masora. Things that they said mishikul daatam umisvaratam. That if the person, so that's a hakchasha in the maggideha which is something distinct from kofer bepeirusha. And and that's what the Rav famously said, this is it's you have this bichtav in in the Kovetz Shiurim Letorah in the the dvar Torah about קידוש החודש על פי ראיית הלבנה. Bichtav there, and then very famously the Rav said it in in the drasha be'al peh for which the transcript is in in many places as well and he applied it to people who will chas veshalom reject chazakos that Chazal Chazal told us. And lechora there is one one simple kasha. Tzaddukim u'Baitusim. Yes, so Tzaddukim u'Baitusim. The Tzaddukim u'Baitusim said that there is no Torah Shebe'al Peh bechlal, right? If there's no Torah Shebe'al Peh then then avada there's no maggidei Torah Shebe'al Peh. If there's just the Torah Shebichtav so then there are no maggidei Torah Shebe'al Peh. So it's a little bit funny that that kegon Tzaddukim u'Baitusim, okay, not it's true, okay, it's true, if there's no such thing as Torah Shebe'al Peh then there are no maggidei Torah Shebe'al Peh. So I guess Tzaddukim u'Baitusim are sort of archetypes of both, but I don't know, it's kind of funny. I don't know, maybe it would have made sense, Tzaddukim u'Baitusim, maybe it should have been

וכן הכופר בפירושה והיא תורה שבעל פה כגון צדוקים ובייתוסים והכחיש מגידיה.

Well, maybe not a kasha. But I don't know, I was wondering as follows. So you take a look in in the Rambam in in Peirush Hamishnayot in Avot when he tells us how how the the movement of the Tzaddukim...

אלא היו כעבדים המשמשים את הרב על מנת שלא לקבל פרס.

So the Rambam writes

ויהיו להחכם הזה שני תלמידים שם האחד צדוק ושם השני בייתוס.

Amongst his talmidim, it doesn't mean that he only had two talmidim, but in terms of what he is about to tell us, he had two talmidim.

ויהיו להחכם הזה שני תלמידים שם האחד צדוק ושם השני בייתוס. וכאשר שמעו אותו שאמר מאמר זה יצאו מלפניו ואמר אחד לשני הנה הרב פירש בביאור שאין שם שכר ועונש.

So they, they misunderstood what he said. When Antignos Ish Socho said that to be oved me-ahavah means that a person is oblivious to s'char, so in their minds, that got twisted into saying that rachmana litzlan there is no s'char.

הנה הרב פירש בביאור שאין שם שכר ועונש ואין שם תקווה כלל. הואיל ולא הבינו את כוונתו עליו השלום.

They misunderstood. ונדברו זה עם זה. So they talked back and forth.

וסרו מן התורה ונתקבצו לזה כת ולזה כת קראום חכמים צדוקים ובייתוסים.

Then the Rambam says the truth is they didn't believe in Torah she-bi-khtav either, but that wasn't socially acceptable. They thought that that was going too far, so they pretended to believe in Torah she-bi-khtav but just denied תורה שבעל פה. The Rambam says because basically as long as there's no תורה שבעל פה, you can make the Torah she-bi-khtav into anything you want, so it didn't really clip their wings. But there's a very simple question here. Tzadok and Boethus, they're sitting and they're listening to Antignos Ish Socho say shiur. And they taka misunderstand something he says. So before you go throw away the whole religion, go to the Rav and ask him, "Is this what you said? Did you really mean this?" What happened over here? One says to the other,

הנה הרב פירש בביאור שאין שם שכר ועונש ואין שם תקווה כלל. ונדברו זה עם זה.

So they talked. Go and ask! The Rambam says, what happened? So lichora there was some kind of cynicism before this that they had about Antignos Ish Socho. The Rambam describes Antignos Ish Socho: הוא מה שאמר החסיד השלם משיג האמיתות, Antignos Ish Socho. הוא מה שאמר החסיד השלם משיג האמיתות. The Rambam's nispoyel from Antignos Ish Socho, mamash nispoyel. He can't, he can't say enough about him. So you're talmidim of such an incredible, incredible individual. So go ask him, "What did you say? What did you mean?" Ela mai, if there's a cynicism, if there's a cynicism and totally unwarranted, insidious cynicism, so then you don't ask. You just assume, "Oh, he's a faker and the whole thing is he doesn't really believe in anything. So the tallis and the tefillin and the davening and then the mitzvos, it's all one big show, it's all one big joke." Tzadok and Boethus, actually the way they came to cover up their reishus was because of that cynical approach and cynical take on Antignos Ish Socho. Because otherwise, just a simple misunderstanding.

היסוד השמיני הוא תורה מן השמים. והוא שנאמין שכל התורה הזאת הנמצאת בידינו היום היא התורה שניתנה למשה ושכולה מפי הגבורה, כלומר שהגיעה אליו כולה מאת השם בהגשה שנקראת על דרך ההשאלה דיבור

meaning it says

וידבר השם אל משה לאמר, ויאמר השם אל משה לאמר

and we translate that as Hakadosh Baruch Hu spoke. So really spoke is in quotation marks. It means that Moshe Rabbeinu received this directly from Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Speech means you use your you use your vocal cords and your vocal cords vibrate and they and they produce sound waves. So obviously that isn't that wasn't the source of of what was communicated to Moshe Rabbeinu. But we but we use speech the same way when one person talks to another, it means that it's that that the second person is receiving this, hearing this directly from the first person, no no intermediary. So that's what that's what it means. However, the emes is that אין יודע איך היא ההגעה אלא הוא עליו השלום. But what exactly again beyond that just general description that it means that Moshe Rabbeinu receives it directly from Hakadosh Baruch Hu, exactly what that how that reception happens, what the mechanism is, so only Moshe Rabbeinu knew that and understood that, asher elav higia.

וכי הוא נחשב כסופר שמקריאים לפניו והוא מעתיק וכל סיפוריו כולה.

So the Rambam again based on the Gemara in Bava Basra says that here it's it's integral to to the yesod hashemini that Torah she-bichtav is dvar Hashem verbatim. That that Moshe Rabbeinu is like a scribe who's taking dictation. I I think we've mentioned that there is a question in terms of the nevuah of she’ar nevi’im, whether they received words or or whether they had a non-verbal experience which then they were given a siata d'shmaya to 100 percent accurately translate into the verbal medium. But but the words are the words of Yeshayahu. The words are the words of Yechezkel. What what does the Rambam think about this? So you can't really prove conclusively. The fact that by nevuah he didn't talk about didn't talk about the kesofer, that they actually get words, is because even if it is true, maybe it's not part of the yesod ha’emuna whether that's true. So the only the only thing we do know is that it is part of the yesod ha’emuna that Chamisha Chumshei Torah is verbatim from Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Whether that's also true for the rest of the chof-daled sefarim that it's verbatim, or whether it's just 100 percent and accurate presentation of the tochen hanevuah, so so that you can't really infer. Vekach nikra mechokek. And that's what it means when Moshe Rabbeinu is described as a mechokek, שם חוקת מחוקק סופר, Moshe Rabbeinu mechokek, one who inscribes, one who writes. And that's why Chazal also use the description of Moshe Rabbeinu of sofer rabbah, that Moshe Rabbeinu was the great scribe. He he was the one who who took the dictation from Hakadosh Baruch Hu.

ואין הפרש בין בני חם ובני חם כוש ומצרים ופוט וכנען ושם אשתו מהיטבאל בת מטריד או אנכי השם ושמע ישראל השם אלקינו השם אחד הכל מפי הגבורה.

The Rambam doesn't mean that there's no difference in terms of tochen. There's a difference between the pasuk ולקחתם לכם ביום הראשון and the pasuk וקשרתם אותם על ידך. One's telling you a mitzvah of lulav, one's telling you a mitzvah of tefillin. He doesn't mean that they're identical in terms of tochen. He means that they're identical in the sense that they're al pi hagevura, that that they're verbatim from from Hakadosh Baruch Hu.

והכל תורת השם תמימה טהורה קדושה אמת. ולא היה מנשה בעיניהם כופר ומחלל קודש חמור יותר מכל כופר אלא לפי שחשב שיש בתורה פנים וקליפה.

There's a peel, there's a shell which is which is unimportant, which is inconsequential, Rachmana Litzlan, and then there's a fruit, there's a there's an inner core which is which is important. ושדברי הימים הללו והסיפורים אין תועלת בהם. And the psukim which which ostensibly are just providing us a history or just narrating stories, so that's part of the klipa, Rachmana Litzlan. Lich'ora when the Rambam wrote the line, again, half of it just the quote from from Sefer Tehillim, and then that that והכל תורת השם תמימה טהורה קדושה אמת, so what he means is that Toras Hashem is temimah le'afukei from saying that there's anything unimportant in the in Torah. No, Toras Hashem is temimah is perfect everything, everything is is an expression of Chochmas Hashem. Tehorah Kedoshah le'afukei from saying that the Torah is dealing with anything that's pashtus that the Torah should be talking about. No, you should know that every word in the Torah is tehorah kedoshah, not not like Menashe who said that it's not temimah in the sense that the Rachmana Litzlan דברים של מה בכך, or not like Menashe, this the Rambam doesn't specify, but I think Chazal have the lashon that that there were stories of dofi, stories which are are unbecoming. No, והכל תורת השם תמימה טהורה קדושה אמת. Vzehu inyan, that position that Menashe took, אין תורה מן השמים, which is the phrase that you have here in Mishnah Chelek. Amru, Chazal say, hu zeh shesover, a person who is bechlal, Rachmana Litzlan, a kofer אין תורה מן השמים, not if he just denies the entire Torah,

שכל התורה כולה מפי הגבורה חוץ מפסוק אחד שלא אמרו הקדוש ברוך הוא אלא משה מפי עצמו וזהו דבר השם בזה. יתעלה השם ממה שאומרים הכופרים, אלא כל אות ממנו יש בו חכמה ונפלאות מי שהבינה השם.

Velotusak tachas chochmaso, a person never, never is grasps the the full extent of Chochmas HaTorah.

ארוכה מארץ מדה ורחבה מני ים. ואין לאדם אלא ללכת בעקבות דוד משיח אלוקי יעקב

shehitpalel גל עיני ואביטה נפלאות מתורתך.