Ikar #1

Good evening, Shalom aleichem. I hope everyone is well. Last week we had a little bit of an introduction to the Rambam Yud Gimmel Ikkarim. Tonight, be'ezrat Hashem beli neder, we'll begin learning the actual Ikkarim. So let's begin with the first Ikkar. There are different translations of the Rambam's Perush Hamishnayot. The Rambam, of course, other than Mishneh Torah, most of or virtually everything else he wrote, the Rambam didn't write in originally in Lashon Hakodesh, but he rather wrote it in Judeo-Arabic. So we're reading from a translation. There are different translations, there's the standard traditional translation that's printed in the back of the Gemaras, and then there are two more modern translations. I'll be reading from the relatively new recent translation from HaRav Kapach shelita. The what we're going to discuss is not a function of any differences between the translations, so whichever text you have in front of you, be'ezrat Hashem will serve you equally well. So maybe we'll just initially read through and then try to understand a little bit what the Rambam is presenting to us. Ha'yesod Harishon, the first fundamental belief. Metziut HaBoreh Yishtabach, the existence of the Creator, may He be praised. Vehu, what is this principle of belief, what does this fundamental of belief encapsulate? שיש שם מצוי בשלמות היותר שבאופני המציאות. There's a perfect being, there's a perfect existent. Vehu, and this perfect being, this perfect existent is עילת מציאות הנמצאים כולם. He's the cause of everything else that exists. Ubo kiyum metziutam. They exist, their existence is literally within Him, we'll have to see what that means. Umimenu hamshachat kiyumam, and their existence is sustained, their ongoing existence is also from Hashem. ואילו יכולנו לשער סילוק מציאותו. If we could, this is a, right, a counterfactual conditional, if we could imagine that Hashem rachmana litzlan didn't exist, היתה בטלה מציאות כל נמצא. Everything else would also cease to exist. ולא יישאר מחמת עצמו במציאות. Nothing else in the entire cosmos, nothing else in the entire briyah could continue to exist. On the other hand, ואילו יכולנו לשער סילוק הנמצאים כולם זולתו, if we would imagine that everything else other than Hakadosh Baruch Hu would cease to exist, לא היתה בטלה מציאותו יתעלה ולא תגרע. Hakadosh Baruch Hu would be unaffected by that, as it were, disappearance of everything else. כי הוא יתעלה קיים מצד עצמו. He is self-sufficient. He exists on His own. ואינו נצרך במציאותו לזולתו. And doesn't depend for His existence on anything other than Himself, capital H. By contrast, vechol mah shezulato, that everything else, even me-hasichlim, even those which are purely spiritual beings, right, just intelligences, כגון המלאכים וגרמי הגלגלים ומה שלמטה מהם וכולם, and certainly all lower forms of existence such as ours where we are hybrid creatures, we're not purely intellectual spiritual, we're hybrid creatures, הכל נצרך במציאותו אליו. Everything depends. for its existence upon him. וזה היסוד הראשון הוא שהורה עליו בדיבור אנוכי השם. And it's this, this first fundamental principle of belief which the Torah encapsulates in the first of the Aseret Hadibrot in the pasuk of Anochi Hashem. Generally, I think when we try to reduce to a phrase what the yesod harishon of the yud gimmel ikkarim consists of, so we say that metziut Hashem, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu exists, there's a God, there's a Borei Olam. Now obviously that is correct, but it doesn't really encompass everything that the Rambam is telling us. Why does the Rambam insist on having us do this thought experiment? Right, the Rambam says engage in the following thought experiment. Imagine that Hakadosh Baruch Hu chas veshalom didn't exist. So the Rambam says if you do that thought experiment, so then you should understand that there would be nothingness, nothing else could or would exist either. On the other hand, do another thought experiment that nothing other than Hakadosh Baruch Hu exists, He would still exist. That first half of the Rambam's thought experiment is very strange that the Rambam encourages us to engage in that. The Rambam has in perek bet of Hilchot Avodah Zarah, the Rambam says that there's a lav of לא תתורו אחרי לבבכם, and the lav of לא תתורו אחרי לבבכם the Rambam defines as follows:

כל מחשבה שגורמת לו לאדם לעקור עיקר מעיקרי היהדות מעיקרי התורה.

Any thought which potentially could cause a person to uproot one of the fundamental beliefs in Torah, מוזהרין אנו שלא להעלות על לבנו. There's a lav in the Torah of לא תתורו אחרי לבבכם to initiate such a thought. A person is not allowed to initiate voluntarily, initiate a thought which contradicts one of the fundamental beliefs. Clearly when the Rambam tells us to engage in this thought experiment of ilu yacholnu lesha'er, if we could imagine that Hakadosh Baruch Hu didn't exist, so nothing else would exist, so clearly the reason that's not included in this lav, in this prohibition לא תתורו אחרי לבבכם, is because we're not conjuring up that thought gratuitously, needlessly, but for something which is very, very vital. There's an important yedi'ah which that thought experiment clarifies for us. What is that? So let's read a little bit here in the beginning, I'm going to read you just a little bit in Hilchot Yesodei Hatorah, if you happen to have the Rambam in Hilchot Yesodei Hatorah on hand, so take a look. But it's where the Rambam also begins in his Mishneh Torah, he also begins with discussing Anochi Hashem which corresponds to the first of the yud gimmel ikkarim. The Rambam says as follows: He has this again, this same thought experiment. אם יעלה על הדעת שהוא אינו מצוי, if it would occur to someone that Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn't exist, אין דבר אחר יכול להימצא, nothing else could exist. On the other hand, אם יעלה על הדעת שאין כל הנמצאים מלבדו מצויים, if it would occur, if someone could again have this flight of thought, this thought experiment, that nothing else existed, הוא לבדו יהיה מצוי, Hakadosh Baruch Hu would exist unaffected, unaltered. Hu shehannavi omer, the Rambam says, v'Hashem Elokim emet. Hu levado ha'emet, ואין לאחר אמת כאמיתו. V'hu shehatorah omeret, and we're going to especially try to understand a little bit this next line, v'hu shehatorah omeret in Sefer Devarim ein od milvado. Nothing exists other than Hakadosh Baruch Hu, כלומר אין שם מצוי אמת מלבדו כמוהו. What does all this mean as follows? The first Yesod, the first fundamental belief of Yahadus is not simply that HaKadosh Baruch Hu exists, but that only HaKadosh Baruch Hu exists in an ultimate sense. That HaKadosh Baruch Hu is existence. HaKadosh Baruch Hu exists absolutely, independently, He is existence. Everything else draws its existence, its sustenance from Him, from His existence. And that's what it means Ein Od Milvado means that nothing else truly exists in the sense that HaKadosh Baruch Hu's existence is absolute, independent. Every other existence is contingent and dependent. Our existence lowercase e depends upon, derives from, is only possible and happens through His existence. His existence on the other hand is absolute and independent. That's why the Rambam needs us to engage in this thought experiment of what would be if nothing else existed, how Hashem would exist unaffected by that. But on the other hand, if a person rachmana litzlan would conjure up the thought that HaKadosh Baruch Hu doesn't exist, so we need to engage in that thought experiment to make sure that we grasp and to drive home the point that our existence is totally, totally contingent. Because HaKadosh Baruch Hu is existence. Anochi Hashem Elokecha is not only that HaKadosh Baruch Hu exists, but Anochi Hashem I, HaKadosh Baruch Hu, am existence. Everything else exists through Me, because of Me. Let's read a little bit again here in the Perek HaMishnayos the lines that we began with rabbosai, and try to see it in the words and try to hear it as it were directly from the Rambam. יסוד הראשון מציאות הבורא ישתבח. Now existence of Hashem can only mean that Hashem exists, but it can also be telling us something about that existence. And here it has that broader meaning because really what the Rambam's about to tell us is the first Yesod, the first fundamental belief is Hashem's existence that that existence is the only exclusive absolute existence.

מציאות הבורא ישתבח והוא שיש שם מצוי בשלמות ביותר שבכל פני המציאות.

Now here these next two lines are where the Rambam encapsulates this fundamental belief that we're trying to grasp. והוא עילת מציאות הנמצאים כולם. Understand the Rambam is telling us that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is the cause of everything else that exists, but more than the cause. A cause can be something which is sort of external. U'vo and within Him capital H, U'vo kiyum metziusam. And their existence is bo, is within Him. Let's understand what it means. I'm drawing here upon a discussion that my grandfather has in one of the posthumous English volumes, Worship of the Heart. The sefer on themes in tefillah. But to give an introductory mashal to what he says and the way he explains and presents this idea, let's take the following mashal. Take the mashal of any electric appliance. Any electric appliance and let's define for purposes of our again any mashal by definition when we're talking about HaKadosh Baruch Hu so any mashal is going to be inadequate, right? HaKadosh Baruch Hu is unique, there isn't any really adequate mashal but Hopefully its inadequacy notwithstanding that there will be something helpful here. So take any, any electric appliance. Any air conditioner, a fan, whatever, any electric, an electric oven, whatever, any electric appliance. Okay, let's think of the definition of that appliance as its ability to function. Okay, so we're not defining the fan as the you know its physical structure, but its functionality, its ability to function. So on the one hand, the fan is something which is distinct from the electrical current. It's something distinct from the generator which generates the electrical current. It's not, if you point to the fan and you say "Is this the electrical current? Is this the generator?" the answer is no. On the other hand, if you ask the question, "Does the fan function?"—and we're using, we're using the functioning of the fan as a mashal for existence of the world—does the fan function independently? Does the fan have any autonomy? Does it have any autonomous existence? So the answer is clearly no because if you wouldn't have that, that electrical current, if you wouldn't have that infusion of the current from the generator, so the fan is nothing. So on the one hand, the fan is not the electrical current, it's not the generator. We're not Hashem. This is not pantheism. Pantheism is heresy. We're not Hashem. We're something distinct. The world, everything is something distinct from Hashem. Pantheism is not a Jewish view. It's it's a form of kefirah rachmana litzlan. We're not talking about that. The same way the fan is something distinct, the fan, the air conditioner, whatever the electric appliance is, is something distinct from the electrical current, is something distinct from the generator, but on the other hand it's totally dependent in terms of its functioning on that electrical current. So that's the mashal. What's the nimshal? The nimshal is we, we are something distinct from Hashem. Our substance, as a substance, we're something distinct from Hashem. We're not Hashem. We're not Hashem. The sun is not Hashem. The earth is not Hashem. Jupiter is not Hashem. None of these things are Hashem. It's as as the fan is not the electrical current, is not is not the generator. But ume'idach gisa, just as the fan, just as the air conditioner can't function without the electrical current, we don't exist without Hashem's existence. Because all existence is Hashem's. Hashem's existence is absolute and infinite. Nothing exists alongside Hashem. We're distinct from Hashem and and that's what the yesod hayesodos is. The yesod hayesodos is to recognize that we are totally, totally contingent. It's not only that historically almost six thousand years ago Hakadosh Baruch Hu pressed the button and vayehi or, vayehi or, and יהי רקיע בתוך המים etcetera. It's not that Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave us existence. No, Hakadosh Baruch Hu brought us into existence that we exist through him, because of him, on account of him. That's why again, just reading a line from Mishneh Torah, the opening famous line of Mishneh Torah, again, which is sort of a parallel discussion to what we have here in the Perek Mishnayos, so the Rambam writes יסוד היסודות ועמוד החכמות, right? The foundation of all foundations and the pillar of all branches of wisdom, לידע שיש שם מצוי ראשון, to know that there is an eternal existent. And now listen to this next phrase, let's pay special, special, careful attention to this next phrase: והוא ממציא כל הנמצא. Vehu mamtzi, מ מ צ י א, והוא ממציא כל נמצא. Mamtzi is a present tense. Right, the past tense would be imtzi, the future yamtzi, and mamtzi is present tense. Hakadosh Baruch Hu gives existence to everything that exists. Now my grandfather zecher tzaddik livracha used to call attention to this, the Rambam doesn't write it in the past tense. He doesn't say that 6,000 years ago when Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world, himtzi kol nimtza, he gave existence to everything that exists. No, that would imply that he gave us existence and now we have our own existence. No, there's no such thing, ein od milvado. There's no such thing as an electrical appliance which functions without an electrical current. There's no such thing. There's no such thing. An electrical appliance always remains dependent for its functioning on an electrical current, and the same way the electrical appliance always remains dependent upon the electrical current for its functioning, we for our existence always depend upon Hakadosh Baruch Hu's existence. And that's why the Rambam says, you know, to really make sure that we grasp this, how totally dependent and contingent we are, so the Rambam says do this thought experiment, and that's why it's not governed by the lav of לא תתורו אחרי לבבכם. The lav of לא תתורו אחרי לבבכם is to gratuitously, recklessly, needlessly entertain thoughts which contradict the fundamentals of belief. But this, this thought experiment is necessary to really understand what it means that Hakadosh Baruch Hu's existence is exclusive and absolute, and that our existence again is an existence which in terms of existence exists from him, through him, within him, again with the mashal of the way the fan, the electric fan is totally dependent upon the electrical current for its functioning. This perhaps, so if we were to, if we were to again try to reduce the Yesod HaRishon to a single phrase, so instead of just saying that the Yesod HaRishon is that Hakadosh Baruch Hu exists, it would be the existence of Hakadosh Baruch Hu that is absolute and exclusive. That's what the Yesod HaRishon is. Not simply that Hakadosh Baruch Hu exists, but the Yesod HaRishon speaks of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's absolute exclusive existence. It's infinite, there's no room for anything else alongside infinitude. Where do we fit in? We fit in like the fan fits in again with that inadequate mashal to the electric current. This perhaps, so if we were to, this perhaps would shed light on a remarkable halacha in the Rambam in Hilchos Deos. In perek beis of Hilchos Deos, halacha gimel, so the Rambam lists those two character traits or dispositions which are exceptions to the rule that he's been teaching and presenting that a person is supposed to blend extremes and be moderate. So a person is supposed to blend the extremes of asceticism and hedonism and a person should have a healthy appetite to eat, to keep himself healthy and to be able to function at maximum capacity. And the Rambam says that on the whole, on the whole gamut of character traits and dispositions, this is the mandate, the mandate is to blend those two extremes. The Rambam says there are two exceptions. One of the two exceptions is on the spectrum of extreme humility to arrogance and, I guess, the ultimate in arrogance is narcissism. The Rambam says here a person doesn't blend the two extremes, a person should go to the extreme of extreme humility. Now in that context of doing so, the Rambam writes the following: ויש דעות שאסור לו לאדם לנהוג בהן בבינונית. There are two character traits, dispositions, where a person is not supposed to, again, have that middle balanced approach, אלא יתרחק עד הקצה האחר, but he should go all the way to one end of that spectrum. The first is ve-hu govah lev, arrogance, haughtiness, שאין דרך הטובה שיהיה אדם עניו בלבד. It's not sufficient that a person should be humble, אלא שיהיה שפל רוח ותהיה רוחו נמוכה למאוד, he should be exceedingly humble. ולפיכך נאמר במשה רבנו והאיש משה, when the Ribbono shel Olam holds up Moshe Rabbeinu as the, as the example, as the paradigm, and Moshe Rabbeinu is not merely anav but he is anav me'od me'od. ולפיכך צוו חכמים מאוד מאוד הוי שפל רוח. Okay. Now here comes one of the most staggering lines I think in Mishneh Torah. I don't really know, but that's my guess, that it's one of the most staggering lines in Mishneh Torah. ועוד אמרו שכל המגביה לבו, listen to this rabbosai. One who is haughty, kafar ba-ikar, shene'emar veram levavecha, your heart will become haughty, ושכחת את ה' אלוהיך. According to the Rambam, the pshat in that pasuk is not veram levavecha and that will trigger a sequence that results in ושכחת את ה' אלוהיך. No, according to the Rambam, the pshat is veram levavecha and eo ipso, by virtue of that, by virtue of the fact of veram levavecha, that in and of itself already means and constitutes ושכחת את ה' אלוהיך. But this is what's so staggering and overpowering and overwhelming about this Rambam? There are lots of comparisons that we find in Chazal that the Rambam quotes, even within this very halacha. The other exception for instance is anger. Here too a person shouldn't blend the extremes but a person should go to the extreme of that emotional self-control of never never allowing himself to get angry. And the Rambam quotes from Chazal, כל הכועס כאילו עובד עבודה זרה. If a person gets angry, so that lack, that loss of control is כאילו עובד עבודה זרה. It's not literally avodah zarah, it's not literally idolatry, it's tantamount to. So whenever you have these types of equivalences, it's with a disclaimer of it's not actually that, it's not literally that, but it's tantamount to. On some level there's a common denominator. But you have that disclaimer, the ke'ilu, the ka, the chaf ha-dimyon. Let's re-read this line in the Rambam and listen not only for what the Rambam says but for what the Rambam does not say. ועוד אמרו שכל המגביה לבו, a person who has govah lev, a person who allows himself to become haughty and arrogant, kafar ba-ikar. Not ke'ilu kafar ba-ikar, it's not as if he denies Hakadosh Baruch Hu. He denies Hakadosh Baruch Hu, no disclaimers, no as-if, no tantamount to, it is. Wow. What does that mean? What does that mean? That ga'avah is a midah meguna, so that we intuit. I don't know if we necessarily live by it, but we intuit it. That, but it's kafar ba-ikar, but in its extreme form that it's kafar ba-ikar, that it's denial of Hakadosh Baruch Hu? What does that mean? So what's the definition of humility? What's the definition of haughtiness? What's the definition? I once heard the following from my teacher הרב גרשון זאק זכרו לברכה. He said, you know, commonly people say that someone's a... A baal ga'ava, he's arrogant if he knows a little bit and he thinks he knows everything. So Rav Zak used to say no, that person's not a baal ga'ava, he's a meshugene. He's out of touch with reality. I know ten Blatt in Shas and I think I'm a leading expert. That's got nothing to do with ga'ava, that's out of touch with reality. He's a meshugene. On the other hand, if you have an adam gadol who knows alef Shas, anava doesn't mean not to have self-awareness. Obviously the gedolim have self-awareness, and they always throughout the doros had self-awareness, which is what allowed them to pasken shailos and assume the responsibilities that they did. So what then is anava? What then is ga'ava? Ga'ava is the sense of kochi ve'otzem yadi. Ga'ava is the sense that I am responsible, I am solely responsible for what I have. I'm so smart and that's why I'm so successful. It's me, kochi ve'otzem yadi. It's me, kochi ve'otzem yadi, it's my strength, כחי ועצם ידי עשה לי את החיל הזה. I'm so perceptive, that's how I made a fortune. It's me, it's me. That's what the baal ga'ava. The anav recognizes that Hakadosh Baruch Hu's demand for human effort notwithstanding—but yes, it's true, if there's an adam gadol who knows Shas, he worked very, very hard for many, many years. But what did he work hard with? He worked hard with the blessing of life and existence that is Hakadosh Baruch Hu's. It's not his. He worked hard with the abilities, the intellectual abilities and the gifted memory that Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave him. It's not his. And what did he work hard with? The opportunity to have time to learn, to have access to people to teach him. So without for a moment downplaying the stress on human effort and hard work, but an anav recognizes my own existence isn't mine, so על אחת כמה וכמה my accomplishments are not either. Again, without for a moment detracting an iota from the importance of hard work in all areas of human endeavor. But my very existence is not mine. So how can I be self-congratulatory and think that כחי ועצם ידי עשה לי את החיל הזה? The anav recognizes that ultimately, again, his hard work notwithstanding, the need for hard work notwithstanding, but the anav recognizes that ultimately as Moshe Rabbeinu says, venachnu ma. What are you complaining about, Aharon and me? venachnu ma, what are we? We're nothing. We're nothing. So a baal ga'ava—if the baal ga'ava thinks kochi ve'otzem yadi, baal ga'ava doesn't attribute Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So what does he think? He feels independent. He feels autonomous. That's how he can be self-congratulatory. He feels autonomous, he feels independent. So if a person really, really feels that way, he really takes it to heart, that's not tantamount to kofer be'ikar? It is kofer be'ikar. Because the ikar harishon that we've been trying to learn a little bit tonight is that Hakadosh Baruch Hu's existence is absolute and exclusive. There's no such thing as we being that we are autonomous. We don't even have our own existence. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is not only ilat hanimtzaim kulam as the Rambam here in the Perek Rishon tells us, he's not only the cause of everything, is בו קיום מציאותם וממנו נמשך קיומם. The fan never ever for a moment can credit itself for cooling the room or cooling people because the fan knows that it can't function, that it's nothing without the electrical current. current, without the generator. So how can it ever be, have a sense of kochi ve'otzam yadi when it knows that it can't even function? And again, the moshel of functioning by the electrical appliance, the nimshal, the analog to that is not only our functioning but our very existence. And that's why, so it's remarkable to recognize here, rabosai, that sometimes we sort of bifurcate belief and behavior. There's sort of what I believe and there's what I do. And that's a spurious bifurcation because in reality, if a person internalizes what he or she believes, so belief in Hakadosh Baruch Hu means that we have to be humble. There's no such thing as consistently believing in Hakadosh Baruch Hu and being arrogant. Because what belief in Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, not only is it not כחי ועצם ידי עשה לי את החיל הזה, it's not my strength and the force of my hand which has generated all this wealth and all this success, but I have no koach of my own. I have no otzem yad of my own. Hakadosh Baruch Hu's existence is absolute, infinite, exclusive. That's where the yesod harishon is. Hakadosh Baruch Hu's existence is absolute, infinite, and thereby exclusive. And our existence is totally dependent, totally contingent upon Him. Again, with the moshel of the electrical appliance to the electrical current, to the generator. Okay, so maybe we'll stop here for this evening and bli neder, im yirtzeh Hashem, I hope we'll have the zchus of continuing next week with the yesod hasheini. I hope everyone should have a good week and be well and be safe. Thank you very much, rabosai.