Hil. Yeshodei haTorah Perek 4, 7

In the end of Perek Daled of Yesodei HaTorah Halacha Yud-Beis, the Rambam is sort of returning to the same theme he had in the beginning of Perek Beis:

בזמן שאדם מתבונן בדברים האלו ומכיר כל הברואים ממלאך וגלגל ואדם וכיוצא בו וירא חכמתו של הקדוש ברוך הוא בכל היצורים ובכל הברואים מוסיף אהבה למקום ותצמא נפשו ויכמה בשרו לאהוב המקום ברוך הוא ויירא ויפחד משפלותו ודלותו וקלותו כשיעריך עצמו לאחד מהגופות הקדושים הגדולים וכל שכן אחד מהצורות הטהורות הנפרדות מן הגולמים שלא נתחברו בגולם כלל וימצא עצמו שהוא ככלי מלא בושה וכלימה ריק וחסר.

So, first of all, this is something that is clearly indicated already in Perek Beis Halacha Beis. The Rambam depicts Anavah as resulting from a person looking upwards. In Perek Beis Halacha Beis, a person looks towards Hakadosh Baruch Hu and that instills within him this awareness of being a בריה קטנה שפלה אפלה. And here he adds that the truth is that even if a person doesn't look that high, a person just compares himself to the higher spiritual beings, that too impresses upon a person shiflusov vedalusov vekalusov. In other words, the Rambam here tells us one of the answers, I mean the question itself is not really a question, but sometimes even though logically and conceptually it's not a question, sometimes psychologically it is a question. Let's say you have a person, he begins when he's three years old, begins preschool together with a chaburah of friends. And they all have the same opportunities and they have more or less the same abilities, and they have the same Rebbeim, everything, same seder hayom, level playing field. And he excels and he surpasses everyone else. So again, logically it's never a question. But psychologically, so what would be if this person would ask us, you know, how should I suppress the feelings of superiority? How should I suppress the feelings of ga'avah? There seems to be a basis for it. There seems to be a basis for it, I can't dismiss everything as well, I had better opportunities, we all had the same opportunities. So obviously there are many, many answers to this non-question. But the Rambam's answer is the following, again with a mashal. Let's say imagine you have an ant colony, you have an ant colony, and the... Within this ant colony so there's one ant that goes to the has a membership in the gym and goes to the gym regularly and mamash treadmill, weights, everything works very hard. Ad kdei kach that I don't know whether ants have biceps, they don't have biceps, but namniach shehaya chen so mamash he is mishichmo vamala. And then vayehi hayom a person, right, any person a giant vis-a-vis ants comes and is walking around and with every step he takes I don't know, 100 ants are getting wiped out, getting wiped out. So the sheila is whether or not this this king ant, the one who's bigger and stronger than than all the other ants, is he gonna he's gonna be feeling ga'avah? If he's if he's aware of the presence, is is there gonna be a question with an answer of how should he how should he work on his middos that he shouldn't feel superior to all the other ants in the in the ant colony? So we're gonna have to he's not gonna have a question in in the presence of of a giant. So there is no, which is the ultimate reality, so the horizontal perspective isn't one which forms his self-image. His self-image is gonna be vis-a-vis the giant. His self-image is not gonna be based on this horizontal perspective of of looking at others. That's what the Rambam says, there's nothing to if a person has an awareness of being in the presence of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so so again there is no there's no there's no question, there's no havah amina. Which only means that that when we are honest and and see ga'avah within ourselves, so that's a clear indication of this lack of awareness of being in in the presence of Hakadosh Baruch Hu because otherwise it's it just it just can't exist. That's what Chazal said, that אין אני והוא יכולים לדור בכפיפה אחת. Because by definition, it means that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is not on the horizon. It's an interesting change in a little bit change in lashon here in Halacha Yud Beis from what the Rambam had earlier in Perek Beis. He says ותצמא נפשו ויכמה בשרו. That's in Daled Yud Beis here. ותצמא נפשו ויכמה בשרו. But what did he have earlier in Beis Beis? He had mitaveh taiva gedola. So be'yoser sounds like that that any incipient ahavas Hashem in conjunction with what the Rambam writes in in Perek Yud of Hilchos Teshuva that a person is focused solely on this, but in particular it would seem that it's sort of suppresses the and it subdues the yeitzer that we all have for gashmius, for the physical, for the material. And that's what the Rambam says. saying that that once a person, if a person really is making steps, is really making strides, which presumably from the beginning of Perek Beis to Perek Daled, if a person is being misbonen, the Rambam says he's making strides, he's being mosif ahavah la'mokom, so then that should express itself. If it's true, if a person sort of wants to check to see whether it's true, so then it should not only be that titsme nafsho, but it should be yichme besaro in the sense that the koach hachomriyus shebo, if a person is really holding by a madreiga, if a person wants to see is he really holding by a madreiga, has he made progress, has he made steps, strides in ahavas Hashem, in bakashas ahavas Hashem? So it certainly should have translated into again a subduing of the yeitzer for chomriyus, and that's perhaps what the Rambam has in mind with the yichme besaro, that he attributes the quest and the thirst not only to nafsho but to besaro as well. Okay. פרק ד הלכה ג we've touched on a little bit, not exhaustively, but maybe we'll leave it for now and come back. I think that maybe we'll go a little bit shelo keseder, maybe we'll come back to Hey and Vov beli neder, probably come back to them, more straight halacha for the most part, and begin a little bit in Perek Zayin where the Rambam talks about nevuah.

מיסודי הדת פרק ז הלכה א: מיסודי הדת לידע שהקל מנבא את בני האדם ואין הנבואה חלה אלא על חכם גדול בחכמה גבור במידותיו ולא יהא יצרו מתגבר עליו בדבר בעולם אלא הוא מתגבר בדעתו על יצרו תמיד בעל דעה רחבה נכונה עד מאוד. אדם שממולא מכל בכל המידות האלו שלם בגופו כשיכנס לפרדס ויימשך באותן העניינים הגדולים הרחוקים תהיה לו דעת נכונה להבין ולהשיג והוא מתקדש והולך ופורש מדרכי כלל העם ההולכים במחשכי הזמן והולך ומזרז עצמו ומלמד נפשו שלא תהיה לו מחשבה כלל באחד מהדברים הבטלים ולא מהבלי הזמן ותחבולותיו אלא דעתו תמיד פנויה למעלה קשורה תחת הכיסא להבין באותן הצורות הקדושות הטהורות ומסתכל בחכמתו של הקדוש ברוך הוא כולן מצור ראשון עד טבור הארץ ויודע מהם גודלם מיד רוח הקודש.

First of all, it's I think the Rav has the comment, I think it's in Ish Halacha he comments, that let's say in the Ani Ma'amin, when we paraphrase the Rambam's Yud Gimmel Ikkarim, so the sixth of the Ani Ma'amin is שכל דברי נביאים אמת, right? So the yesod is that there's nevuah. The yesod is that there's nevuah. The Rambam here says much more than that. The Rambam says part of the yesod is the personality of the navi. Part of the yesod of nevuah is knowing what type of person hakadosh baruch hu is menabei. And the Rambam adds that that is all, right, as the Rav reads this halacha, not that מיסודי הדת לידע שהקל מנבא את בני האדם period, and now let me tell you some more about this, no, but this whole what ensues about ein hanevuah chola, who is zocheh to nevuah, is part of the miyisodei hadas, part of the miyisodei hadas. The yesod hadas is to know again not only that there exists such a thing as nevuah but upon whom nevuah descends. Okay. Then the Rav has another comment here, one which and I maybe you'll think about it and help me understand. He has a very in the English volume of the letters, there's a very fascinating but I'm not sure in terms of this prat, I'm not sure what it means. The Rav comments on the fact that we would have expected to find all the Yud Gimmel Ikkarim somewhere in Hilchos Yisodei HaTorah, right? So again this we spoke a little bit about I think in פרק ג הלכות תשובה, emes is you don't find all the Yud Gimmel Ikkarim anywhere, but at least twelve out of thirteen. 13 you do find in פרק ג הלכות תשובה when the Rambam is telling us who a min is and who a kofer is and the Rambam is telling us that a person who denies Mashiach or denies Techiyas HaMeisim אין לו חלק לעולם הבא so in all that you find 12 of the of the 13. You find 12 of the 13. But l'chol haphachas in Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah so you would have expected to find so which of the ikarim do you find in Yesodei HaTorah which don't you? So the Rav says that the ones you find and this also pertains to a distinction we discussed in a different context. He says you find those Yesodei HaTorah which it's a mitzvah lada'as. Again, in in the in the narrow sense of the word so we believe that that Mashiach is gonna come and we believe there's gonna be Techiyas HaMeisim. We don't know it logically by some kind of formal logical proof, right? There's no there's no formal logical proof that Mashiach is gonna come. There's no formal logical proof the way the Rambam says there is for metzius Hashem that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is one and that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is eino guf. So the Rav says those yesodei hadas which it's a which which we know and where it's a mitzvah to know, those are the ones you find in the Rambam in Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah and those you don't. And it's deika it it it works kaftor vaferach. Again, you don't know logically, scientifically Torah min Hashamayim. We know based on masorah, we know but in a different sense of the word knowing. Not in the again in the very narrow logical ich veis syllogistic sense of the word know. We know it in in in many different senses on many different levels but not on that very narrow level. But Nevuah is here. And ein hachi nami the Rambam takeh says lada'as, it doesn't say leha'amin. So the question is what is it and so what does it what does it mean לדעת שהאל מנבא את בני אדם? Or what does it mean that that's something which is susceptible not only to emunah and again knowledge in the sense we use it the way Torah min Hashamayim and Mashiach and Techiyas HaMeisim and the is? But here that it's it's susceptible, it's nitpas in even in the Rambam's narrow definition use of the term lada'as. I don't know the Rav doesn't explain it there. So I don't know that that's the something very very important here in that lashon of yesodei hadas lada'as, it's a very loaded term for for for the Rambam שהאל מנבא את בני אדם. Now halacha gimmel the Rambam begins to describe the nevuah of the nevi'im and and leads into what the four differences are between nevuas Moshe Rabbeinu and the nevuah of the nevi'im. So maybe we'll he sort of catalogs the differences in halacha vav about three lines into halacha vav.

ומה הפרש יש בין נבואת משה רבנו לשאר כל הנביאים?

One,

שכל הנביאים בחלום או במראה ומשה רבנו הוא ער ועומד.

Moshe Rabbeinu is is fully awake meaning his all his senses are are fully active the way when a person is is awake.

שנאמר ובבוא משה אל אוהל מועד לדבר אתו וישמע את הקול.

That's one difference. Difference number two,

כל הנביאים על ידי מלאך. לפיכך רואים מה שהן רואים במשל וחידה. משה רבנו לא על ידי מלאך שנאמר פה אל פה אדבר בו. ונאמר ודיבר השם אל משה פנים אל פנים.

So Moshe Rabbeinu's nevuah is direct, it's not via a malach, not via not not involving some kind of metaphoric vision. without again without there being the metaphor of a vision. So Moshe Rabbeinu's nevuah is direct, kol haneviim their nevuah is indirect. Point number three, כל הנביאים יראים ונבהלים ומתמוגגים they're overwhelmed they're terrified ומשה רבינו אינו כן kema shehakasuiv omeir

כאשר ידבר איש אל רעהו כמו שאין אדם נבהל לשמוע דברי חברו כך היה כוח בדעתו של משה רבינו להבין דברי הנבואה והוא עומד על עמדו שלם.

So that's number three, one is Moshe Rabbeinu is awake, two Moshe Rabbeinu is direct no and therefore no no visions, number three Moshe Rabbeinu is not overwhelmed, he's not terrified. Number four,

כל הנביאים אין מתנבאים בכל עת שירצו, משה רבינו אינו כן אלא כל זמן שיחפוץ רוח הקודש לובשתו ונבואה שורה עליו ואינו צריך לכוון דעתו להזדמן לה שהרי הוא מכוון ומזומן ועומד כמלאכי השרת, לפיכך מתנבא בכל עת שנאמר עמדו ואשמעה מה יצוה ה׳ לכם.

Moshe Rabbeinu can initiate nevuah, Moshe Rabbeinu can be misnabei at any time and that's not true for all other all other neviim. All other neviim they can't initiate it, it's only if and when HaKadosh Baruch Hu decides to grant them nevuah. It's a fascinating thing that when you look in the Yud Gimmel Ikkarim, of the Yud Gimmel Ikkarim so the one to which the Rambam devotes the most space is this one about nevuas Moshe Rabbeinu and he lists all these four differences there in Perush HaMishnayos as well. The Rambam is very sparing on details in the Yud Gimmel Ikkarim. He doesn't really go into what it means that the Yichud Hashem, he just sort of states Yichud Hashem, doesn't really elaborate it very much and here the Rambam is marich again to present all four differences in the Perush HaMishnayos as well. So partially let's say in terms of that contrast to why there's so much more he tells us elsewhere about what the Yichud Hashem really entails that he doesn't in Perush HaMishnayos so part of it is that that's more esoteric and more more difficult to understand. And maybe these differences is not so at least superficially it's not so difficult to grasp. So that's why he felt he could present it but that notwithstanding it clearly says something about just how important it is that we have some understanding of what the difference is between nevuas Moshe Rabbeinu and and that of all other neviim. The Rambam certainly doesn't doesn't say befeirush. The question is is he implying it, would he be maskim? There is a question which is discussed amongst others by Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky in in his Hakdama to Emes l'Yaakov. Gemorah in Bava Basra describes that Moshe Rabbeinu wrote down Chamisha Chumshei Torah as a sofer taking dictation and HaKadosh Baruch Hu was dictating the Torah, HaKadosh Baruch Hu says Bereishis Bara Elokim and Moshe Rabbeinu writes down Bereishis Bara Elokim. Dehainu that nevuas Moshe Rabbeinu consisted of the actual words of HaKadosh Baruch Hu, actual words of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Question is what about the nevuah of she'ar neviim? The nevuah of she'ar neviim, so when Yeshayahu HaNavi tells us that השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי, so those are the actual words of Hakadosh Baruch Hu? Well no, shtatsh is like this, what let's say take a mashal. Let's say you go, I don't know, you go to some art museum and you go look at all the pictures. Okay and you have a very good chush, a very highly developed, very acute chush for interpreting art, for interpreting art. And then someone asks you to write a column, you should write an article about explaining what it is that you saw in those pictures. And you write an article. And then they'll show the article to the artist and he'll say that you hit the nail on the head perfectly, squarely. That what you wrote in terms of explaining, in terms of translating from one medium into another medium, because after all what you saw was a picture and then you translated it into an oral medium, but you did it perfectly. That what you wrote expresses a hundred percent accurately, perfectly to the last kutzoy shel yud exactly what the artist's intent was and what he was conveying in the picture. And you couldn't add a word to express it better and if you would omit a word you'd be diminishing, you'd be detracting from it. You couldn't have done a better job, perfect job. At the end of the day, the words are still yours. The content is a hundred percent that of the artist, but the words are yours. So the question is, is that the case of what the nevuah that we have of she'ar neviim? So that's a major, major question. There are differences of opinion. Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky, he goes with the mahalach that that is the case. That that is the case, that she'ar neviim and that's what he says that that's pshat in אין שני נביאים מתנבאים בסגנון אחד. It's not pshat that Hakadosh Baruch Hu isn't menabe them besignon echad, it's that at the end of the day again, it's everything in nevuah is devar Hashem, again to the last kutzoy shel yud, but devar Hashem in the vocabulary, a hundred percent accurate, perfect rendition, but at the end of the day it's they weren't taking dictation because Hashem didn't give them the nevuah in words. Question is is the Rambam would the Rambam be maskim with that by saying that they were ro'eh bemoshal vechiddah and then they explain the moshal vechiddah or Hashem then gave them the pshat in the moshal vechiddah? Rambam doesn't say it black and white. Question is would the Rambam agree with that? Rav Schechter quotes sometimes, he says he saw in the Kedushas Levi that Chazal darshen that זה הדבר אשר צוה ה' לאמר. Like we have it in this week's krias hatorah also, that כל הנביאים נתנבאו בכה אמר ה' and Moshe Rabbeinu had a higher madreigah that he was also misnabe bezeh hadavar. So the Kedushas Levi apparently says that that's the pshat. Ko amar Hashem means, ko amar Hashem means that this is the tochen of the nevuah, and zeh hadavar means that these are the words of the Ribbono Shel Olam. These are the words of the Ribbono Shel Olam. So he says that he told the Rav what he had seen in the Kedushas Levi and the Rav told him that's what it says in all the sifrei kabbalah, that this difference between I don't know if he meant also in terms of what the Chazal mean with zeh hadavar versus ko or just the substance of the chilluk. The Rambam doesn't spell it out, doesn't spell it out mamash black and white. to the shaileh is would this have implications for for how you for whether or not מידות שהתורה נדרשת בהן should apply to nevi'im and kesuvim. Is the shaileh is does it have ramifications in terms of how divrei kabala are supposed to be interpreted? Someone once suggested assuming this pshat that the whoever the author of the paraphrase of the ani ma'amins is that maybe he held from this as well. Why? Because in the ani ma'amins,

אני מאמין באמונה שלמה שכל דברי נביאים אמת. אני מאמין באמונה שלמה שנבואת משה רבנו עליו השלום הייתה אמיתית והוא היה אב לנביאים לקודמים לפניו ולבאים אחריו.

So the beginning of that lichora is redundant, no? שנבואת משה רבנו הייתה אמיתית, I mean if Moshe Rabbeinu is a navi, you already said that כל דברי נביאים אמת, so skip that phrase and just fast forward to that that Moshe Rabbeinu he was אב לנביאים לקודמים לפניו ולבאים אחריו. So he was assuming with whatever marei mekomos he had in mind, he was assuming this mahalach and said, no, maybe what it means is that again that the ba'al ani ma'amins is saying שכל דברי נביאים אמת means that the tochen is is emes. And נבואת משה רבנו עליו השלום הייתה אמיתית means that again the divrei nevi'im, it's their words, but it's 100% emes. It's their words but again it's like that guy who who the artist is maeid that he said 100% exactly no more no less than what I was conveying in the picture, but at the end of the day it's it's the words of the art critic. shekol it's the divrei nevi'im which is emes and the nevuat Moshe Rabbeinu the nevua itself is emes, meaning that the nevua itself consisted of words. So maybe that's the kavana there as well. Back to Halacha Aleph for a minute when the Rambam is describing the navi. So the Rambam says

הוא מתקדש והולך ופורש מדרכי כלל העם ההולכים במחשכי הזמן והולך ומזרז עצמו ומלמד נפשו שלא תהיה לו מחשבה כלל באחד מדברים בטלים ולא מהבלי הזמן ותחבולותיו.

So my father zecher livracha was was fond of of juxtaposing this leshonos harambam here with the famous Rambam in פרק ג' הלכות תשובה, also in Hilchos Mezuzah, but we'll just read the one in Hilchos Teshuva, the one about tekias shofar.

אף על פי שתקיעת שופר בראש השנה גזירת הכתוב רמז יש בה כלומר עורו ישנים משנתכם ונרדמים הקיצו מתרדמתכם וחפשו במעשיכם וחזרו בתשובה וזכרו בוראכם אלו השוכחים את האמת בהבלי הזמן.

Again

ושוגים כל שנותם בהבל וריק אשר לא יועיל ולא יציל.

So the Rambam uses that same lashon of havlei hazman here by the navi as well as in Hilchos Teshuva. And again I think you have a similar leshonos in in Hilchos Mezuzah when the Rambam talks about what what thoughts, what associations are supposed to be triggered every time we walk past the mezuzah. So what's the significance of that? So it's an incredibly powerful message that in effect what the Rambam is saying is it's not that the navi is some meshuneh habriya. The navi just does and perfects what everyone's supposed to be doing. Again the Rambam describes the navi is what is he doing? He's being miskadesh. And and he unlike others, right, he avoids the machashakei hazman, he avoids the havlei hazman. Which is a message that the shofar sends to all of us. Certainly the description from vehu miskadesh veholech, again there's nothing, it's just what the person accomplished on his own with his with his willpower and presumably there's no no coincidence that the Rambam is is using those same leshonos. stama he wants us to make that association and says that that elevating ourselves above havlei hazman is not only something for the novi, it's something that he perfected, but it's something that we're also supposed to be striving for. Okay.