Hil. Yesodei HaTorah Perek 1; Super Bowl

We began last time Perek Aleph of Yesodei HaTorah. First five halachot, the Rambam talks about metziut Hashem. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the only matzui amiti. Then Hakadosh Baruch Hu is אלוהי העולם אדון כל הארץ and that he's אין לו קץ ותכלית. The way he says it initially in Halacha Hei is that he has כוח שאין לו קץ ותכלית, but the Rambam subsequently explains in Halacha Zayin that the only way to have koach which is אין לו קץ ותכלית is in fact that the being, the matzui itself, is אין לו קץ ותכלית, and that in turn means that he's eino guf. Rambam doesn't really spell that out when he says it initially in Halacha Hei, but he tells us later that that's nichlal. Okay, and then the Rambam concludes here in Halacha Vav that ידיעת דבר זה מצוות עשה שנאמר anochi Hashem Elokecha. If we take a look in the Smag, so the Smag,

המצוה הראשונה מצות עשה להאמין כי אותו שנתן לנו את התורה בהסיני על ידי משה רבינו הוא השם אלוהינו שהוציאנו ממצרים וזהו מה שאמר בשעה שנתן את התורה אנכי ה' אלוהיך אשר הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים.

The Sefer HaChinuch,

להאמין שיש לעולם אלוה אחד שהמציא כל הנמצא ומכוחו וחפצו היה כל מה שהוא ושהיה ושיהיה לעדי עד וכי הוא הוציאנו מארץ מצרים ונתן לנו התורה שנאמר בתחלת נתינת התורה אנכי ה' אלוהיך אשר הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים.

Dehainu, the Smag, the Chinuch, in following in the footsteps of the Rambam that anochi is a mitzvat aseh, against the Bahag or the Yere'im who don't count it, say that part of the mitzvah is the אשר הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים מבית עבדים. Part of the mitzvah is that emunah that Hakadosh Baruch Hu who is Hashem Elokecha, who's standing here kavyachol at Har Sinai to give us the Torah is the one אשר הוציאנו מארץ מצרים. So and then the Rambam, the Rambam stops the pasuk after the third word. The Rambam has that the mitzvah's anochi Hashem Elokecha and seemingly ignores the balance of the pasuk. So lechora the pshat is as follows. The other crucial difference between the way the Rambam presents the mitzvah and the way the Smag and the Chinuch present the mitzvah is that the Rambam says that ידיעת דבר זה מצוות עשה. The Chinuch and the Smag talk about mitzvat aseh le'ha'amin. The pashtus is that yidiya in the Rambam means logical demonstration, derech mofes, mofes sichli. Dehainu, for the Rambam the mitzvah is not a mitzvat emunah, again assuming. What Reb Chaim Heller quotes in the Sefer Hamitzvos, that really the lashon which was translated in the Sefer Hamitzvos is leha'amin, the Judeo-Arabic word that the Rambam used can also and should also have been translated as leda also. And that the Rambam consistently is talking about leda, not leha'amin. So for the Rambam, the mitzvah is leda. And again, leda means with a logical proof. So a person can prove again logically, logically a person can, if we're defining knowledge in context of a mitzvas asei as logically proving, a person can logically prove, the Rambam says, metzius Hashem. A person can logically prove that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is eino ba'al guf. A person can logically prove that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is אין לו קץ ותכלית. But a person can't logically prove that Hakadosh Baruch Hu took us out of Mitzrayim. That's not something which is nitpas. Again, it's something which we know beyond a shadow of a doubt. We use the word knowledge for this also. It's something we know beyond a shadow of a doubt based on an uninterrupted masorah. But if we're going to use the word know, and we'll see bli neder soon why we should insist on that, but if the word leda in this context means to know derech mofes sichli, through logical proof, logical demonstration, it's not the same to know al pi hamasorah as it is to know על פי מופת שכלי. It's different types of, we'll call it different types of knowledge. And the Rambam's leda is talking about that type of knowledge which is derech mofes sichli. So mamaila that Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave us the Torah we know, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu took us out of Mitzrayim we know, but we don't know it in the same way, on the same basis, as we do that לידע שיש שם מצוי ראשון וכולו. So if the mitzvah is leda, so the mitzvah can only be leda Anochi Hashem Elokecha, it can't be אשר הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים מבית עבדים. If the mitzvah is leha'amin, so then the mitzvah can encompass the entire pasuk. Okay, so two follow-up questions in the Rambam. One, so why takeh does the Rambam think that what's included in the mitzvah is limited to that which is known again derech mofes sichli as opposed to an emunah which is well, firmly grounded in masorah? And second of all, so what's the rest of the pasuk about according to the Rambam? So fine and good, the mitzvah stops here, but the pasuk goes on. So what's the pshat in the pasuk as a whole according to the Rambam? Lechorah, on the first question, al rishon rishon, one of the first time you notice it, it comes as a surprise. One of the very surprising things in the Rambam is if you look in Minyan Hamitzvos and you look to find the Rambam's Yud Gimmel Ikarim in Minyan Hamitzvos, you can't find all of them in Minyan Hamitzvos. You can search high and low, you don't find all of the Yud Gimmel Ikarim in Minyan Hamitzvos. You find the first five, the ones about Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and then the fifth which is basically the issur avodah zarah. So all those are to be found between the mitzvah of Anochi, the mitzvah of Shema Yisrael, and the issurei avodah zarah. So you have the first five. But there isn't a mitzvah in Minyan Hamitzvos of Torah min hashamayim. No such mitzvah in Minyan Hamitzvos. There's no mitzvah, הכופר בתחיית המתים אין לו חלק לעולם הבא. There's no mitzvah in Minyan Hamitzvos to believe in techiyas hameisim. There's no mitzvas lo sasei in Minyan Hamitzvos to disbelieve techiyas hameisim. So it's אין לו חלק לעולם הבא is לא יכונה בשם ישראל the Rambam says in Hakdamah lePerek Chelek, but in Minyan Hamitzvos it doesn't appear. So even before we try to understand it, it sort of explodes the myth that... Whatever is mandatory you have to be able to find it in Minyan HaMitzvos. That's sort of a reductionist understanding of Torah that if it's not in Minyan HaMitzvos it's not, can't be, otherwise it would have to be, it would have to. Now some of the most basic things are not in Minyan HaMitzvos. Don't, don't, don't manifest themselves in Minyan HaMitzvos. So what's the pshat? So the pshat apparently is as follows. The Rambam's notion of a mitzvah is that a mitzvah is something where there's a well-defined asiya. Now by asiya I don't mean literally action. It can be a mental asiya as well. It can be an asiya sichlis as well. But a mitzvah, the category of mitzvah for the Rambam means that there's something, again, a well-defined, again in its looser sense, in its broader sense, a well-defined asiya. Something which lends itself to mofes sichli. So according to the Rambam that's the asiya. The asiya is to, to, to be able to follow the steps of this logical demonstration and know metzias Hashem. That, that's, that's an asiya. To believe in Torah min HaShamayim, again which is a thousand percent, a thousand percent mandatory, a thousand percent obligatory, but heyos that it's not על פי מופת שכלי that's not nitfas in the category of mitzvah according to the Rambam. So mimaila and that's why if you now look and see within the Yud Gimmel Ikkarim you see which of those are mitzvos, which of those are not, so those, again, so avoda zara expresses itself in actions also, but those which are nitfas in ידיעה דרך מופת שכלי are mitzvos and all the emunos, basis of everything, basis of life, basis of reality, basis of Torah, basis of everything, but they're not nitfas in the category of mitzvah according to the Rambam. There's one lashon later in Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah which, which you have to work out. What the Rambam means by yediya, ידיעת דבר זה פרק א הלכה ו מצות עשה, again we'll come in a minute bli neder to, to what the rest of the pasuk is, is expressing according to the Rambam.

ידיעת דבר זה מצות עשה שנאמר אנכי ה' אלהיך וכל המעלה על דעתו שיש שם אלוה אחר חוץ מזה עובר בלא תעשה שנאמר לא יהיה לך אלהים אחרים על פני וכפר בעיקר שזהו העיקר הגדול שהכל תלוי בו.

That's an amazing, amazing hagdara that the Rambam gives here. The Rambam says that a person is over Lo Yihiyeh Lecha, ma'aleh al da'ato means a person's toying with the idea. He's not affirming it. He's not, he's not assenting to such a belief. So leha'alos al hadas means it occurs. Something he's weighing. It's an idea he's, he's toying with. The Rambam says that in and of itself a person is over the lo sa'aseh. The Ramban says no, the Ramban says לא יהיה לך אלהים אחרים על פני means a person accepts, not, not just that a person is ma'aleh al hadas. The Rambam is is a is a striking definition. Lichora the pshat is like this. Right? It's clear, right? That's the impression we get from the psukim in Chumash and the Rambam confirms it that lo yiyeh lecha again going with the not with Rashi's pshat in based on on one day in the Mechilta that it means having idols. But but we're talking about on on the level of of thought of belief. Lo yiyeh lecha is this sort of the lo ta'aseh which is the flip side of the mitzvat aseh of Anochi Hashem Elokecha. So the pashtus is that the pshat in the Rambam seems like this. Yedias davar zeh means that again so the לא יהיה לך אלוהים אחרים על פני is davar vehipucho. Anochi Hashem Elokecha is the positive and לא יהיה לך אלוהים אחרים על פני is the negative. Okay. So we would have thought the positive is to to believe, to know Hashem and and the negative is to believe to know in in in in to think one knows elohim acheirim. Says the Rambam no. If the the positive side is yedias davar zeh it means a yediah which is a thousand percent, a yediah which is such absolute compelling vadda'os that the very notion of la'alos al hadaat already contradicts Anochi Hashem Elokecha. The contradiction of Anochi Hashem Elokecha and Anochi Hashem Elokecha says that a person has to a person has to arrive at this certitude. This absolute again the Rambam would say knowledge so we'll add belief conviction but the Rambam would say absolute knowledge so then even even the la'alos al hadaat even a person likes to Rambam's obviously not talking about someone who's trying to discover Hakadosh Baruch Hu and because of that is thinking what do I believe what's the emes. The Rambam's not he's not throwing the book at him. He's talking about someone who's philosophizing. A person philosophizes ahin aher so that already is a stirah to yedias davar zeh because yedias davar zeh means again with absolute certitude. Absolute certitude. So there's no room la'alos al hadaat. Two plus two is four. There's no a person doesn't well let me let's think think through what two plus two is five. There's no such thing. There's no such thing. If a person can can be maaleh al hadaas that two plus two is five that's already a stirah to the yedias davar zeh of two plus two is four. Okay. What's the rest of the pasuk according to the Rambam? It's not part of the statement of the mitzvah because that's what we said according to the Rambam again a mitzvah has to have a well-defined asiyah even if that asiyah is sort of a a logical proof for a person to work through and understand. But it has to be that qualifies as asiyah. So what's the balance of the pasuk? So lichora like this and what we're saying now is be'ikar based on a footnote in the Rav's Kuntres Kerias Shema. The Ramban in both in Sefer Hamitzvos as well as in the perush al HaTorah quotes a Mechilta. Kach amar bamechilta:

לא יהיה לך אלוהים אחרים על פני למה נאמר לפי שנאמר אנוכי ה' אלוהיך משל למלך שנכנס למדינה אמרו לו עבדיו גזור עלינו גזרות אמר להם לאו כשתקבלו מלכותי אגזור עליכם גזרות שאם מלכותי אינכם מקבלים גזרותיי היכן אתם מקיימים כך אמר המקום לישראל אנוכי ה' אלוהיך לא יהיה לך אני הוא שקיבלתם מלכותי עליכם במצרים אמרו לו הן כשקיבלתם מלכותי קבלו גזרותיי.

So the Mechilta says that Anochi Hashem Elokecha is before the melech can be gozer a gezeirah the melech has to be acknowledged. There's no point in in in a melech in a melech legislating for the people if the people don't first acknowledge. And first mekabel malchuso. Or in other words, Anochi Hashem Elokecha, in addition to being a mitzvas asei, is also a formulation of קבלת עול מלכות שמים. So Anochi Hashem Elokecha is both: A, it's a mitzvas asei. Maybe we'll talk next time bli neder the Rambam, the Ramban, about the Gemara in Horayos, the proof that it's a mitzvas asei, but Anochi Hashem Elokecha is a mitzvas asei, but Anochi Hashem Elokecha also, al pi this Mechilta, is a, again, a formulation of קבלת עול מלכות שמים. And the emes is, being metzarev two things in the kontres, so the Rambam works out remarkably. The Rav quotes from Reb Chaim, if you take a look in the Rambam at the beginning of Hilchos Krias Shema, I don't have a Sefer Ahava here. Thank you. The Rambam has at the beginning of Hilchos Krias Shema.

פעמיים בכל יום קוראין קרית שמע בערב ובבקר שנאמר ובשכבך ובקומך ומה הוא קורא שלוש פרשיות אלו שמע והיה אם שמוע ויאמר אף על פי שאין מצות ציצית נוהגת בלילה קוראין אותה בלילה מפני שיש בה זכרון יציאת מצרים ומצוה להזכיר יציאת מצרים ביום ובלילה שנאמר למען תזכר את יום צאתך מארץ מצרים כל ימי חייך וקריאת שלוש פרשיות אלו על הסדר זו היא הנקראת קרית שמע.

So the mashma'us in the Rambam against all the other Rishonim is that the Rambam holds that gimel parshiyos d'Oraisa. Gimel parshiyos d'Oraisa. Because the Rambam says it's a mitzvas d'Oraisa to say Krias Shema, to learn Krias Shema, then the Rambam tells you, without mentioning anything about d'Rabbanan, he's just giving you the definitions of the mitzvah, the gimel parshiyos are called Krias Shema, so three parshiyos are all d'Oraisa. That's he'ara number one. He'ara number two is again one of Reb Chaim's two answers for why the Rambam doesn't count zechiras Yetzias Mitzrayim as a separate mitzvah in the minyan hamitzvos, even though the Gemara in Brachos is meforesh that it's a d'Oraisa. So Reb Chaim says, because if you look here in the Rambam, the Rambam clearly says it's a mitzvah in the context of Krias Shema. In the context of Krias Shema there's a mitzvah lehazkir Yetzias Mitzrayim by day and by night. It's not an independent mitzvah. Right, so clearly this havana depends upon the machlokes in the Gemara, Krias Shema d'Rabbanan, Krias Shema d'Oraisa. Not that the Rambam holds this havana is muskam l'kol. But so then what it comes out is like this, and again, this is what the Rav says al pi Reb Chaim, is that zechiras Yetzias Mitzrayim, the mitzvah of zechiras Yetzias Mitzrayim is that קבלת עול מלכות שמים should be expressed also through the association by mentioning Yetzias Mitzrayim. קבלת עול מלכות שמים again, not only to say Hashem Echad, but Hashem Echad in history. Hashem Echad in history. So zechiras Yetzias Mitzrayim for the Rambam isn't an independent mitzvah, but it's rather part of the mitzvah of קבלת עול מלכות שמים, not just to affirm that Hashem Echad, but to affirm what the implications, what the repercussions of that are. What the implications, the repercussions of Hashem Echad is that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is in charge of history, and that's why it's a mitzvah to mention Yetzias Mitzrayim in the context of קבלת עול מלכות שמים. So according to him, that's exactly what the pasuk of Anochi Hashem Elokecha does. And the Rambam's here in Yesodei HaTorah and Hilchos Krias Shema mamash works out beautifully leshitaso in the sense that for the Rambam Anochi Hashem Elokecha is two things. A, it's a mitzvas asei. As a mitzvas asei it ends after the third word, Anochi Hashem Elokecha. Then it's also a formulation of קבלת עול מלכות שמים. That's what the balance of the pasuk is. And that's takeh what the Rambam in Hilchos Krias Shema tells us, that zechiras Yetzias Mitzrayim is not an independent mitzvah, but it's rather a detail in the mitzvah of קבלת עול מלכות שמים. Just in maybe we'll just quickly read through the first five halachos just to draw your attention to just the Rambam's parshanus here. Halacha Alef: יסוד היסודות ועמוד החכמות לידע שיש שם מצוי ראשון. Kes Mishneh says that... That idiom of sham is basically an Arabic idiom, doesn't mean sham in the sense of there. It's not associating Hakadosh Baruch Hu with a place. Sheyesh sham means like there exists, right? When we say there exists, so there isn't referring to a specific place, it's that's the figure of speech. And that's what the Kesef Mishneh explains is true in Arabic.

יסודי היסודות ועמוד החכמות לידע שיש שם מצוי ראשון והוא ממציא כל הנמצא,

we already spoke about the present tense.

וכל הנמצאים משמים וארץ ומה ביניהם לא נמצאו אלא מאמיתת הימצאו. אם יעלה על הדעת שהוא אינו מצוי אין דבר אחר יכול להימצאות. ואם יעלה על הדעת שאין כל הנמצאים לבדם מצויים הוא לבדו יהיה מצוי ולא ייבטל הוא לביטולם.

So Hakadosh Baruch Hu is absolutely independent and everything else is absolutely dependent.

שכל הנמצאים צריכים לו והוא ברוך הוא אינו צריך להם ולא לאחד מהם. לפיכך אין אמיתתו כאמיתת אחד מהם. הוא שהנביא אומר

v'Hashem Elokim Emes, right? Again, punctuated according to the Rambam, Hashem Elokim Emes. הוא לבדו האמת ואין לאחר אמת כאמיתו, we spoke about existence equaling truth.

והוא שהתורה אומרת אין עוד מלבדו כלומר אין שם מצוי אמת מלבדו כמוהו.

Halacha Hei:

המצוי הזה הוא אלוהי העולם אדון כל הארץ והוא המנהיג הגלגל בכוח שאין לו קץ ותכלית בכוח שאין לו הפסק שהגלגל סובב תמיד ואי אפשר שיהיה סובב בלא מסובב והוא ברוך הוא המסובב אותו בלא יד ולא גוף.

So basically, Halacha Hei is the Rambam's explanation of the word Elokecha, right? Until then, the Rambam is telling us what יהוה means. How are these yesodos again? So what is the mitzvah of Anochi Hashem Elokecha include according to the Rambam? Metziyas Hashem and again, Metziyas Hashem in the sense that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is mechuyav hametziyas, that he exists absolutely, independently, intrinsically, and nothing else does. And then in addition, right, Halacha Hei, so that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is again directly responsible for sustaining everything that exists and that he is Adon kol haaretz. So the pshatus is that the Rambam until Halacha Hei is saying that's what the name יהוה expresses, that יהוה I think the Malbim comments in Parshas Yisro, again, so יהוה the shoresh havayah means existence and that יהוה is written again as it were in the future, right, the yud which represents the future tense, saying that Hakadosh Baruch Hu always will be, right? Whatever one's vantage point, Hakadosh Baruch Hu always will be, expressing again Hakadosh Baruch Hu's eternity. And that's how again the name יהוה expresses that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is mechuyav hametziyas, taking the word for existence with the future, so that's how it's again condensed into hayah hoveh veyihiyeh. Halacha Hei represents the Rambam's explanation of Elokecha. Someone once made the following he'arah in leshon ha-Rambam. I think it's a correct he'arah. You can take countless examples, whatever, I opened up to Hilchos Shvisas Assor. The Rambam begins מצוות עשה לשבות ממלאכה. Mitzvas aseh shel Torah לשמוע קול שופר בראש השנה. See the Rambam doesn't get around to mitzvas aseh until halacha vav. He should have said,

מצות עשה לידע השם. מצוה זו היא יסוד היסודות ועמוד החכמות.

Here it's in comparison to how the Rambam formulates it other places, it's backwards. But this isn't the only place he has it. So the suggestion that was made is the following, interesting suggestion. Zol zain that there was no pasuk in the Torah Anochi Hashem Elokecha. Dehainu, that there was no mitzvas aseh, that the Torah for whatever reason had decided this is so yesodistik that we don't need to make it a mitzva. We don't need to make it a mitzva. People will do it anyway and so they won't get the sechar. So everything the Rambam wrote and the Rambam still could have and very likely would have written halachos aleph through hey. The tochen isn't nischadesh by it being a mitzva. The tochen is absolutely all true and warranted. And then it just so happens that the Torah also says it's a mitzva. But even if it hadn't been a mitzva, it would still be יסוד היסודות ועמוד החכמות לידע שיש שם מצוי ראשון. Ma'shein kein netilas lulav has no standing other than the fact that the Torah says it's a mitzva to be notel lulav. There's a mitzva to blow shofar. I'm trying to say it, express it a little bit better. Right the Rambam does the same thing again with the mitzva of Shema Yisrael. Again, first he presents all the tochen and then he says at the end that yedi'ah zu mitzva. He doesn't begin with a mitzva and then tell you what the mitzva entails. He tells you the tochen and then at the end says that it's a mitzva. So that again that's the pshat that the tochen shebo is all absolute and emes is absolute and binding even without being elevated to the level of a mitzva. Which isn't the case for rov rubbei mitzvos. Okay, maybe I'll try to clean it up next week, try to explain that a little bit more lucidly. I just want to take the last two minutes, not related to what we've been discussing until now, just to encourage each of us, איש את רעהו יעזרו, and even things which Baruch Hashem we recognize as devarim peshutim, we live in a world... simply unknown and and because they're unknown neglected. Sunday night is the is the Super Bowl. Part of the the whatever American cultural life which says something about the level of American cultural life. And and that's sort of a shmooze for for a different occasion one worth having. But just to zero in on the the most blatant what should be the most blatant but again given bilbul hamilchos is is also not understood and not known. It's it's impossible again leaving aside all other all other issues and and by no means reducing this to a a one-issue conversation but just having that that circumscription of of what we're talking about now recognizing that there are other dimensions. The pictures of pritzus that one inevitably has to see will see during commercials but kemeduma even at times not during the commercials at other times as well makes it absolutely just impossible to to see it without without being over on on issur. It's it's something which is obvious but as obvious as it is that's how confused people can be about it and it's a big mitzvah not that I think that anyone here needs needs that chizuk but it's a big mitzvah if anyone you know you can be mechazek in this. Seeing such things can can a whole zman can be ruined by the tumah of of that of that exposure. A whole zman a whole zman of of sitting in seder and and and working on Tosafos about shtaros about Rambam about Anochi Hashem Elokecha and then those images it's taka a Gemara among other things latest Bava Basra. You know what perek? The Gemara about נשים שעומדות על הכביסה. The נשים שעומדות על הכביסה were dressed more tzniyusdik than than the images that that will be projected Sunday night that's probably a safe a safe assumption. So the Gemara says that if a person doesn't have to be exposed to it אי דאיכא דרכא אחריתא רשע הוא. It's a scary description. But we're we're unaware of it we think of it as oh it's just an American pastime so therefore by definition it has to be innocuous it has to be parve and and people who mean well and and people who are to the best of their knowledge they have sincere devotion. It's a mitzvah as much as possible to just to A educate people and then B try to be mechazek people there's a very big yetzer hara a very big yetzer hara in in in America to to this and and to whatever extent we can help each other A be informed and B be strengthened not not to be be contaminated and not ruin a week, a month, a zman, a year of learning with that tumah would be a very very big mitzvah and a very very big chesed.