PHM #8: 4 Amos Halacha and more

Skipping a little bit from from what we saw last time. Last time I think we saw the גל עיני ואביטה נפלאות מתורתך. So just a little bit forward from that. If you if you see where the Rambam quotes the Gemara in Berachot of

אין לו להקדוש ברוך הוא בעולמו חוץ מארבע אמות של הלכה.

In the newest edition it's on page Mem Tet. In in this Mossad Harav Kook it's on the top of Ayin Bet. Yeah, the where the Rambam quotes the Gemara in Berachot of

אין לו להקדוש ברוך הוא בעולמו חוץ מארבע אמות של הלכה. ואמרו אין לו להקדוש ברוך הוא בעולמו חוץ מארבע אמות של הלכה.

So so the Rambam is sort of doing a a case study for us. He said last time the the obviously many things in in Torah, הן תורה שבכתב הן תורה שבעל פה, that are cryptic to us, some remain cryptic, others just initially, but when, if and when properly understood, so express ideas of of great Chochma. So the Rambam is now doing a case study in Agada.

ואמרו אין לו להקדוש ברוך הוא בעולמו אלא חוץ מארבע אמות של הלכה.

The only stake Hakadosh Baruch Hu has in the world, the only the only the only interest He has in the world are the

ארבע אמות של הלכה. ויתבונן בעניין הזה שאם תעיין בו כפשוטו תראהו רחוק בתכלית מן האמת.

If you just look at its simple meaning, so it seems very distant, very off the mark.

כאילו ארבע אמות של הלכה בלבד הן התכלית. ואלו שאר החכמות והידיעות יהיו מוזנחות.

That other Chochmas are neglected, are not are unimportant. And that that would also imply if a person just sort of understood this very literally, Uvizman Shem vaEver שלאחריהם שלא הייתה שם הלכה Ein Safek

שלא היה להקדוש ברוך הוא בעולם כלום. אבל אם תעיין בענין הזה בעיון מעמיק תראה שיש בה מן החכמה דבר נפלא.

Excuse me.

ותמצא שכל דבר גדול מן המושכלות ואני אבארנו לך כדי שיהיה זה משל לשאר מה שיבוא לידך ולכן התבונן בו כראוי. דע כי החכמנים חקרו חקירה נפלאה. כפי החכמה שהיתה להם בטוב השכל. והתאמת אצלם שכל נמצא לא יתכן מבלי שיש לו תכלית שלמטרה זו היתה מציאותו. כי אין שום דבר שהוא מצוי לריק.

The Rambam presents this idea in a different context as well. Let's say when he talks about Ta'amei Hamitzvot. So he says the view that's compelling is that mitzvot all have there's a reason, there's an intended goal for all mitzvot because it's a characteristic of a Chacham of Chochmah that the Chacham acts purposefully. That the Chacham doesn't act arbitrarily or randomly, but that the Chacham acts purposefully. To deny that mitzvot are geared, that they're oriented towards achieving a certain goal, that they have reasons that shed light on what the purpose, what the goal of mitzvot are, so then that would be to deny the Chochmah shebahem, the it's characteristic of Chochmah that again, that a person or the Ribbono shel Olam if one is speaking about the ultimate Chochmah acts purposefully. That's the same thing he's saying here as well. Ve'hit'amet etzlam that the kadmonim understood this yesod that everything that exists must exist for a purpose. Right? Because because Hakadosh Baruch Hu acts purposefully, so therefore that implies that everything that exists exists for a purpose. ומאחר שנתאמתה להם ההנחה הכללית הזאת once they understood, once they grasped the truth of this axiom,

עסקו בפרטי כל המציאות כדי לדעת תכלית כל מין מן המינים. וראו שכל נמצא מלאכותי

anything which was artificially created, meaning not something that exists in nature. Tables don't exist in nature, they were artificially manufactured, שכל נמצא מלאכותי תכליתו ידועה ואין צריך בזה לחקירה. You don't need to engage in too much investigation, כי עושהו לא עשהו אלא כשתכליתו כבר נצטיירה לעצמו. Whoever first invented a table recognized the need for a table, recognized the function that it could serve, and that's why he invented the table. כי עושהו לא עשהו אלא כשתכליתו כבר נצטיירה לעצמו. Ve'amar mashal? What what do you have in the other translation there? Hinei? Ve'amar mashal hinei what? What's the next word? Anyone? Yeah, anyone have a different word? Mashor? Everyone has the same trans? All translations are the same word? Mashor, what would you have after ve'amar mashal hinei what? Okay, anyway, I think the Rambam's talking about some kind of I don't even know what exactly what the kli is that he's talking about something to smooth things out.

אין הנגר עושה אלא לאחר שחישב בדעתו איך יוכל לפצל חיבורי העץ הזה וצייר לעצמו את צורת המשור והחל לעשותה כדי לנסר בה. וכמו כן תפס הקרדום לבקע בו והמחט כדי לחבר בו בגד לבגד

things were created for a purpose, so the needle was created that you should be able to sew things together, and the the axe was created to be able to split split wood kahana vechahana. וכל הדברים שהומצאו במציאות מלאכותית. But that's again, that's talking about artificially manufactured things. But what about אבל מה שהמציאה המלאכה האלוהית, what about the natural things which Hakadosh Baruch Hu brought into existence?

והחכמה הטבעית כגון מיני הפירות ומיני העשבים ומיני המחצבים ומיני האבנים,

various fruits, vegetation, minerals, stones, u'minei ba'alei chayim, different types of animals. יש בהם שתכליתם מושגת בחקירה מעטה, some things a person can very quickly understand what their purpose and function is. ויש בהם שתכליתם נמצאת בחקירה מרובה, some it takes a lot of thought and delving to figure out. ויש בהם שתכליתה דקה ונעלמת שאינה נודעת כלל, and some is beyond our grasp, it's too subtle and it's beyond our grasp

אלא אם כן נודע בנבואה או בידיעת הנסתרות. אבל בחקירת השכל אין זה אפשרי, כי אין ביכולת האדם לחקור ולדעת למה המציא הטבע את הנמלים מהם בכנפיים מהם בלי כנפיים ולמה המציא גם כן תולעת מרובת רגליים ואחרת בפחות רגליים ומה תכלית התולעת הזאת והנמלה הזאת.

It's not it's not nitan for us to know that without Ruach HaKodesh, without some kind of normal application of human intelligence cannot unravel that that mystery of what the purpose, what the function of all these types of insects is.

אבל דברים שהם גדולים יותר מאלו ופועלם גלוי יותר הנה בידיעת תכליתם יראו יתרון אנשי החכמה. ככל שיהיה יותר מלומד וחזק בשקידה יותר ונבון דעת יותר ידע,

excuse me,

ככל שיהיה יותר מלומד וחזק בשקידה יותר ונבון דעת יותר ידע

yoter hatachlis. The more a person, the more discerning, the wiser the person is, the more discerning he is, the more he applies himself with that wisdom and discernment, the more he'll know, the more he'll understand.

ולכן כאשר נתן השם לשלמה מן החכמה כפי שהבטיחו ידע מתכליות המינים האלו מה שאפשר לאדם באשר הוא אדם לדעת.

Shlomo Hamelech knew the maximum you could know. ודיבר על תכליות העצים והעשבים ומיני בעלי החיים, and he was able to discourse about the purpose of all different types of trees and grasses and vegetations and all kinds within within the animal kingdom from small to big.

אמר הכתוב וידבר על העצים מן הארז אשר בלבנון ועד האזוב אשר יוצא בקיר וידבר על הבהמה ועל העוף ועל הרמש ועל הדגים. והיה בזה הוכחה על כך שיש בו כח אלוקי,

that that what he knew, again, as the Rambam said earlier, it exceeded what a person could have understood just by applying his own intelligence. Aval bederech klal what can be said in as a generalization, even though we can't necessarily flesh out all the details,

אבל בדרך כלל כל הנמצא מתחת גלגל הירח לא נמצאו אלא בשביל האדם בלבד.

Right? In the in the Rambam's cosmology, so everything that's under the moon was created for the purpose of man. This this isn't as the Rambam indicated lechatchila, this this isn't, this wasn't his original idea. I think Saadia Gaon has it and you you The idea he here in the Hakdama Perush HaMishnayos he accepts the idea but it's not his chidush.

אבל בדרך כלל כל הנמצאים מתחת גלגל הירח לא נמצאו אלא בשביל האדם בלבד. וכל מיני בעלי החיים יש מהם למזונות.

Some is for us to eat, כגון הצאן והבקר וזולתם. ויש מהם לתועלת שאינם למזון. Not all of it is for nourishment, k'gon hachamor להובל עליו מה שאינו יכול להובל בידו. vehasusim לרכב בהם דרך רחוקה בזמן מועט for transportation.

ויש בהם מינים שאינם יודעים את תועלתם. ויש בהם תועליות לאדם שאינו מודע להם.

Some things serve a function that we're just not aware of. vechmo chen haperos יש מהם למזונות ויש מהם לריפוי ממחלות. Some are staples of the diet and others have medicinal uses. vechen ha'asavim vechen kol haminim.

וכל מה שתמצא מבעלי החיים והצמחים שאין בו תועלת ואינו מזון לפי דעתך הוא מחסרון ידיעתנו.

Anything that we can't identify its function, what it contributes, that's our ignorance.

ואי אפשר מבלי שיהיה לכל עשב ולכל פרי ולכל מין מבעלי החיים מן הפיל ועד התולעת איזה תועלת לאדם. ראיה לך על כך שהרי בכל דור ודור מתגלה תועלת של עשבים ושל מיני פירות שלא נתגלתה למי שהיה קודם.

The word raya is I don't know if the Rambam means it in the sense that we usually use it of proof as much as sort of a reflection of this, an indication of this. The Rambam says the fact that when we can't identify the purpose, the function of something in the briah, that's to be attributed to our shortcomings and our ignorance, what supports that idea is the fact that with the passage of time we figure out more and more things. So many things that today in the 12th century or today in the 21st century that we're now able to understand that we can now explain, so previous generations were befuddled by them, and if they would have erroneously inferred, well, if we can't figure out the tachlis obviously there is no tachlis, so we see now in retrospect how that would have been a fallacy, how to draw such an inference is a fallacy. It's clear that this is not the only place in the Rambam you have other indications of this also, that even though we certainly do believe in yeridas hadoros in terms of what spiritual level we're on, and we certainly do believe in yeridas hadoros in terms of yedias HaTorah, that yerida hasn't been totally linear, but that has been the general trajectory. Even though again many maamarei Chazal indicate that,

סורו וראו מה בין דורות ראשונים לדורות אחרונים והראשונים שהיה ליבם פתוח כפתחו של אולם

etc. and our mind is so much more limited and constricted, so even though we certainly do believe in yeridas hadoros in those two ultimate crucial areas, the spiritual level that people are on as well as the degree of yedias HaTorah, but in terms of natural scientific knowledge, so there we do recognize progress. That's what this Rambam is saying. I think the Malbim has in Tehillim in the kapitel of Tehillim l'Dovid, aka Ashrei, on the pasuk of דור לדור ישבח מעשיך, so what does that mean? So generation to generation. praise your handiwork, Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So what does that mean? What do you mean dor l'dor? What's the pshat? So the Malbim says dor l'dor that in every generation the praise increases because in every generation as we understand, as we discover, uncover more of the chochma of the briah, so then the shvach also increases and and that's what what the Dovid HaMelech is saying דור לדור ישבח מעשיך. How does this notion of scientific progress fit with the Rambam's identification of Maaseh Bereshis as as like the natural sciences? Like how how do those two fit together? So maybe for for now I'll I'll give a very superficial answer and and bli neder be'ezrat Hashem come back to maybe say it a little bit less superficially and a little bit more accurately. The division of branches of knowledge that we have today, the Rambam didn't have. This sharp demarcation, again, of the, again, we have so many different branches of knowledge and everyone is identified and everyone is demarcated. The Rambam didn't didn't have that. So maybe to give one one example, and again this is very incomplete, very inadequate, hopefully a little bit correct. The Rambam says that that, I think the Rambam thought that the, that the motion of the planets and other things was circular, not the way modern science thinks is more of what's this shape called? Yeah, yeah. But the Rambam thought it was more circular and the Rambam says because circular motion is is is the represents the most elegant and perfect form of motion. There's no you don't have to turn any corners. There's no it's one and and it's their way, it's the planets' way of trying to emulate Hakadosh Baruch Hu and and that part of his scientific understanding, that's part of Maaseh Bereshis. So Maaseh Bereshis lich'ora for the Rambam means, it for us it means I don't know, the laws of thermodynamics. But for the Rambam that's inseparable from religious principles and religious knowledge. So I don't know that I don't know that that element of it is... okay, that's a beginning answer and and we'll come another time maybe to to go further but that's that's the beginning of part of the answer. ואין ביכולת האדם להקיף את תועליות כל צמחי הארץ, and we're not going to figure out what every plant is there for, אלא שזה מתגלה על ידי נסיון במהלך הדורות, but again but there has been progress over the course of generations. ושמא תאמר ולמה נבראו הסמים הממיתים, why is there poison

שיש בהם להמית את האדם ולא להועילו, מן הראוי שתדע שיש בהם תועליות שאף על פי שהם ממיתים כשהם נאכלים הרי שאינם ממיתים כשנותנים אותם על פני הגוף.

Right, all of our medications, right, you know for topical use only, you know and and chas v'shalom call poison control if if swallowed if ingested. So the Rambam had had such medications also. He says they're poisonous when ingested but but they have topical benefits. ומאחר שמצאו שתכלית כל אלה היא מציאות האדם that everything in, again, what the Rambam calls tachat galgal ha-yare'ach in his cosmology of concentric circles with the earth in the middle,

ומאחר שמצאו שתכלית כל אלה היא מציאות האדם והוצרך לחקור גם למה נמצא האדם ומה תכליתו.

Okay, so all that is here for us. What's our tachlis? וכאשר האריכו לחקור בזה מצאו לאדם פעולות רבות מאוד. Unlike the animal kingdom, the world of vegetation where things only engage in one type or two types of activity,

לפי שכל מיני בעלי חיים והאילנות אין להם אלא פעולה אחת בלבד או שתיים ותכלית אחת, כפי שאנו רואים שלכל אילן פעולה אלא להניב תמרים.

The point of the palm tree is to yield dates, ve-chen she'ar ha-ilanot, ve-chen ba'alei chayim

נמצא מהם מי שאורג בלבד כגון העכביש ומי שבונה כגון הסנונית ומי שאוגר כגון הנמלים, אבל האדם הרי הוא עושה פעולות רבות שונות.

So it's not immediately apparent, so which of the many activities that a person can engage in, which is tachlis-dik and which is only to facilitate?

ולכן חקרו את כל פעולותיו פועל פועל כדי לדעת מה תכלית הפעולות הללו ומצאו שהתכלית היא פועל אחד בלבד.

There's only one thing which is uniquely human. This is an amazing thing. There's one thing which is uniquely human that we do.

ושאר פעולותיו אלא להתמדת קיומו כדי שתשלם בו אותה פעולה אחת והיא השגת המושכלות וידיעת אמיתות הדברים כמות שהם.

Knowledge is what's the acquisition of knowledge of truth, which the Rambam is about to tell us, obviously, the ultimate knowledge, ultimate truth is Ha-Kadosh Baruch Hu. That's what's uniquely human.

כי אין זה מן הראוי שתהיה תכלית האדם לאכול ולשתות ולבעול ולבנות כותל או להיות מלך.

First of all, שכל אלה מקרים חולפים עליו ואינם מוסיפים בתכונתו. They're all external because a melech can be deposed, so you see that's nothing intrinsic about that attainment. The action itself is a fleeting action. ועוד, another clear indication that this isn't the tachlis of a person,

שהרי הוא משותף בפעולות הללו כולם עם זולתו ממיני בעלי חיים.

Again, there's nothing uniquely human about that. והחכמה היא אשר מוסיפה בתכונתו. Chochmah, though, answers both of those. A, chochmah is something which becomes intrinsic, it becomes a part of the person. It's not something fleeting. It's something which does enhance the person.

והחכמה היא אשר מוסיפה בתכונתו ומעתיקה אותו ממהות פחותה למהות מעלה שהרי היה אדם בכוח ונעשה אדם בפועל.

This is something the Rambam writes in Hilchos Yesodei Ha-Torah also and it's so fundamental in a... A person is born not human but with a potential to be human. Obviously, since Hakadosh Baruch Hu is not going to delegate it to us to decide when that happens, so obviously there's an and we're mechuyav to relate to all people as as as such without without giving them a five-step test and deciding whether that adam bekoach or adam adam befoal. But in a spiritual sense, in an ultimate sense, a person isn't born human; a person is born with a potential to be human. And the defining, the defining human quality, by virtue of which a person isn't just a more sophisticated organism, by virtue of which a person is not just a more sophisticated animal, is chochmah.

החכמה היא אשר תוסיף בתכונתו ותעתיק אותו ממהות פחותה למהות מעולה שהרי היה אדם בכוח ונעשה אדם בפועל כי האדם קודם שישכיל,

a person without knowledge of, not not technical knowledge, not that he can be he can have lots of technical knowledge, but without knowledge of devarim muskalim, ultimately Hakadosh Baruch Hu, ki ha'adam kodem, animals have technical, have amazing technical knowledge also. They're much better at meteorology than than any of the meteorologists on on on the airwaves. They have lots of technical knowledge.

כי האדם קודם שישכיל אינו אלא כבהמה שהרי אינו נבדל משום מיני בעלי חיים אלא בהגיון. כוונתי בהגיון השגת המושכלות והחשוב שבמושכלות השגת אחדות השם יתהדר ויתרומם וכל הנלווה לזה,

and everything associated with that min ha'inyanim ha'elokiyim

כי שאר החכמות אינן אלא להכשיר עצמו בהן להגיע לחכמה האלוקית.

All of the chochmos are that a person should be trained and a person should know how to think logically and abstractly to to be able to to recognize and understand Hakadosh Baruch Hu and and his uniqueness. והדיבור בעניין זה בשלמות יאריך מאוד. This this idea that that a person, again on a ultimate spiritual level, not on a halachic practical level, but on an ultimate spiritual level that a person has to become a person, has to actualize potential is a lynchpin of of of the Rambam's hashkafa. It's reflected in his understanding of hashgacha that hashgacha is something that we earn. It's not something that that a person is entitled to. We we like to think that we're big yichusnim and we sort of operate with a sense of entitlement and assume ela vada'i there has to be hashgacha pratis on every every every thing I do. And and it's the same idea that a person is only by virtue of birth, a person is only an adam bekoach and and he has to by virtue of what he does, he has to be na'aseh adam befoal. So a person has to Many many of the Rishonim, the Rambam amongst them, say there's no such thing as hashgacha pratis for for animals, for anything other than anything other than people. Even Lassie, even Lassie doesn't have doesn't have hashgacha pratis believe it or not. There's no there's no hashgacha pratis for animals, many many of the gedolei rishonim are of that that opinion. So basically what the Rambam is saying is that heyos that So basically what the Rambam is saying is that he holds that a person is only an adam bekoach until he actualizes that potential, so hashgacha pratis isn't a given for people either. It's something that a person earns and the more of an adam he becomes, the more he actualizes that, so then the higher is the degree of the of hashgacha. It's a very humbling approach, which is why we don't like it so much. But it's a very, very humbling approach. But the emes is if if one can put aside one's gaiva long enough to think about it, but there's there's a lot about it that's very, very compelling also. That's why in Perek Daled we saw the Ibn Ezra when the Rambam describes tzelem elokim, he taka describes it in two different ways. He describes tzelem elokim as a potential, and then he describes tzelem elokim as something which is realized and something which is actualized, which is the same idea that he's telling us here. That a person has the a person isn't different from an animal because animals walk on all fours and we walk on on two. No, Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave us that capacity so that if spiritually we'll become human, it should be reflected also in in in our stature. But but that doesn't make a person doesn't make a person human. I always find that that position more than humbling just like scary to think that someone like me who's definitely more in the potential than actualized stage at least at this point doesn't have personal hashgacha. Like if I think about it the wrong way it seems like a very terrifying world. I guess two reactions. Not suggesting that you stop striking, but obviously you're certainly a person befoal not not not bekoach. And as much as one should never ever ever be complacent, but we shouldn't overstate the the other side either. Number two, I don't know, is it a terrifying world or is it a world with vulnerabilities? It is a world with vulnerabilities. It is a world with uncertainty. But I don't know if that does that necessarily rise to the level of terrifying or explain why I find it terrifying. God forbid or maybe I'm making a wrong assumption, but if a person doesn't have individual divine providence then a) if something bad happens to him he can't really say, you know, כל דעביד רחמנא לטב עביד that everything's for the best. And b) do you really So again I am at a loss in terms of the first reaction. So maybe to partially recast your question, but it's the same question. So what's pshat in the beracha Dayan Ha'Emet according to the Rambam's view of hashgacha? Maybe it wasn't... maybe what happened wasn't providential. So what's pshat in the beracha Dayan Ha'Emet? So the pshat in the beracha Dayan Ha'Emet is that a person is the tziduk hadin is on the system. The tziduk hadin isn't necessarily in that theoretical instance, the tziduk hadin isn't on the specific incident or instance, the tziduk hadin is that that when that the person is matzdik all of the din that this is the system that the Ribbono Shel Olam created, a system again where a person is given the opportunity, the blessing for self-actualization, self-realization. The Rav talks about this at length, especially in the second half of Ish HaHalacha very, very beautifully and powerfully. He talks about the Rambam's view on hashgacha there. So the tziduk hadin is but there's still a כל דעביד רחמנא לטב עביד, meaning that Gemara is going to be true whether a person is Rabbi Akiva for whom takeh this individual instance was by hashgacha or whether the person is so far from Rabbi Akiva that it wasn't providential because that's also כל דעביד רחמנא לטב עביד, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu created this world and this system. And the strength that a person appropriately should and can, should and does in such instances rachmana litzlan derive from that is also true in this form of tziduk hadin as well. Because ultimately, okay, so again naniach that a person would know, he never does, a person never does, but naniach that a person would know that what happened to me wasn't providential. It was rather because I wasn't worthy of hashgacha and it was just the other person's bechirah chafshis impacting me. Even if a person virtually never ever does know that, but in theory even if a person would know, so the acceptance of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's created the world this way, that this is right and that a person is given the beracha of the opportunity for self-actualization and until that happens, this is the system, so the person is still coping with Hakadosh Baruch Hu's system and it gives that same infusion of strength to deal with. It's a very humbling hashgacha, but it's also tremendously empowering. The person is becomes a shutaf with Hakadosh Baruch Hu in his self-realization and self-actualization. It's on the one hand there's a side to it that's very, very humbling, but there's also a side to it that's incredibly empowering. Okay, so maybe we'll everyone should please note where we are. Okay, everyone make a note what page we were on, what page. Okay, in the in this brown one, on the top of nun aleph. There will be a quiz on Sunday as to where we left off.