The Nature of Post-Talmud Seforim

Yesterday the Chovos HaLevavos tells us that he surveyed the various chiburim that have been written after chasimah haTalmud.

מפני שחכמת המצוות שבתורה שני ענינים. האחד מהם גלוי והשני נסתר.

Galui is what's explicit and just the pshuto shel mikra in Torah Shebichtav. And nistar means what needs explaining, what's not immediately self-evident and clear.

עינתי בספרי הקדמונים שהיו אחרי אנשי התלמוד אשר חברו בעניני המצוות חבורים מרבים לעמוד על חכמת הענין הנסתר. וראיתי כל מה שכינו לפרש ולבאר איננו יוצא באחד משלושה ענינים.

And then as we saw yesterday he describes the three types of chiburim that have been written: Perushim on Tanach, Sifrei Hamitzvos and polemical literature to explain emunos vedeios. Vechakarti aleihem writes the Chovos HaLevavos

ולא מצאתי בהם ספר מיוחד בחכמת המצפון. וראיתי החכמה הזאת שהיא חכמת חובות הלבבות שהניחוה ולא חברוה בספר שיהיה כולל שרשיה.

There's I think a fundamental understanding and periodization here in just what's implicit, what underlies the Chovos HaLevavos. And maybe just to try to recognize that as follows. The Rambam in his Hakdama to Mishneh Torah he begins of course

כל המצוות שניתנו לו למשה מסיני בפירושן ניתנו שנאמר ואתנה לך את לוחות האבן והתורה והמצוה.

And then he describes the shalsheles hamesorah initially until Rabbeinu HaKadosh and then he sort of pauses at that point to give us context and perspective on Chibur HaMishnah. And then he continues with the shalsheles hamesorah until Ravina veRav Ashi and then he stops there. He stops there. He doesn't tell us, he doesn't connect the doros from Ravina veRav Ashi down to his day. Leumasu for instance, the Meiri does that. The Meiri gives you a דור אחר דור המסורה even beyond Ravina veRav Ashi. Now the Rambam ultimately is going to tell us that the Mishneh Torah not only distills everything that you find in Chazal but also what you need to know from the Geonim also. So it's not as if the next generations are not relevant in terms of if you're writing l'havdil a review of 17th century English literature, he's not going to mention authors who lived in the 18th century, that's not within the purview of the book he's writing. But l'havdil l'havdil, the Rambam does speak further on about chibbur ha-Geonim and he quotes takkanot ha-Geonim in Mishneh Torah. You do have takkanot ha-Geonim—כתובות נגבות מן המטלטלין. So that's a takkanas ha-Geonim, it's not midin ha-gemara. The Rambam records that. So it's not as if it's chronologically outside of the purview of Mishneh Torah. So that's not the answer. I think it's in Nefesh Ha-Rav that Rav Schachter quotes from the Rav's father that with Ravina and Rav Ashi, the masorah on a certain level, there was a qualitative shift in the masorah after Ravina and Rav Ashi. And the masorah, and it's that original quality of the masorah, it's that that the Rambam wanted to trace for us. And that extends until Ravina and Rav Ashi. Now what l'chora, I don't remember whether it says this there, ayen sham, but what characterizes that is that the way we learn Torah today, we don't open a Chumash and then apply מידות שהתורה נדרשת בהן and derive understanding, insight, new halakhos that way. The Tanna'im and even the Amora'im did that. When the Rambam says what every generation did, he has it here, he also has it in the Hakdama l'Perush HaMishnayos. In the Frankel, it's in the bottom of the right-hand column on amud bet here:

מדברים שנתחדשו בכל דור ודור בדינים שלא למדום מפי השמועה אלא במידה משלוש עשרה מידות והסכימו עליהם בית דין הגדול.

So the Rambam says every generation, and this was what Hakadosh Baruch Hu intended when He gave the Torah, in every generation there were dvarim she-nitchadshu which hadn't been—which Moshe Rabbeinu hadn't spoon-fed us. There were dvarim she-nitchadshu by the application of מידות שהתורה נדרשת בהן. Even in the tkufas ha-Amora'im, when the Rambam summarizes what the content and substance—inyan shnei ha-Talmudim. So on the one hand, הוא פירוש דברי המשנה וביאור עמוקותיה, but it's also

ודברים שנתחדשו בכל בית דין ובית דין מימות משה רבנו הקדוש ועד חיבור התלמוד,

meaning that same form. form of Talmud Torah, that same tzura of Talmud Torah continued bitkufas ha'amoraim. Again, of udvarim shenischadshu through the application of מדות שהתורה נדרשת בהן. And that kemidumeh is one of the characteristic defining elements of the Masora until that point. It was a Masora that not only preserved, but was also a Masora that directly from Chumash through מדות שהתורה נדרשת בהן was mechadesh as well. And clearly that's not what's happening post-chasimas hatalmud. When the Rambam describes what the avodas hakodesh of the Geonim. Again, reading here in the Hakdama, it's on amud daled in the Frankel in the right-hand column.

כל החכמים שעמדו אחר חיבור התלמוד ויצא להם שם בחכמתם הם הנקראים גאונים. וכל אלו הגאונים שעמדו בארץ ישראל ובארץ שנער ובספרד ובצרפת

lamdu derech hatalmud

והוציאו לאור תעלומותיו וביארו עניניו. לפי שדרך עמוקה דרכו עד למאוד.

You can't learn Gemara superficially.

לפי שדרך עמוקה דרכו עד למאוד. ועוד שהוא בלשון ארמי מעורב מלשונות אחרות לפי שאותה הלשון הייתה ברורה לכל בשנער בעת שחובר התלמוד. אבל בשאר מקומות וכן בשנער בימי הגאונים אין אדם מכיר אותה הלשון עד שמלמדים אותה לו.

Most of us don't grow up speaking Aramaic, so someone has to teach it to us. Don't have any time, most of us don't grow up speaking Aramaic.

גם חבור הגאונים שבכל דור ודור חבורים לבאר התלמוד. מהם מי שפירש הלכות יחידות ומהם מי שפירש פרקים יחידים שנתקשו בימיו ומהם מי שפירש מסכתות וסדרים. ועוד חבור הלכות פסוקות בעניין האסור והמותר והחייב והפטור בדברים שהשעה צריכה להן.

But the Geonim weren't osek in devarim she'nis'chadshu either from מדות שהתורה נדרשת בהן. So that ended with chasimas hatalmud. That level of Masora, that ability, that understanding of how the מדות שהתורה נדרשת בהן are employed and applied, and that ability to darshen pesukim. So you have still in the tkufas ha'amoraim, but we don't have that now in our Masora. You see this understanding is lich'ora is present in Chovos Halevavos as well. Chovos Halevavos didn't expect to find this in Chazal. Chovos Halevavos is surprised that he doesn't find it after Chazal. But the Chovos Halevavos doesn't say I learned Daf Yomi for seven and a half years and I didn't find this elaborate systematic presentation of Chovos Halevavos in the Gemara. You wouldn't expect to find it there. What the Chovos Halevavos says, where you would expect to find it is after chasimas hatalmud. Kol zman that we were still at that stage of the mesorah, so the focus in Talmud Torah again was A to transmit, to preserve and transmit, transmit and preserve, but again then also to increase through דברים שנתחדשו בכל דור ודור through מידות שהתורה נדרשת בהם. It wasn't the time to amplify and elaborate and systematize. No, that characterizes what our avodah is. Our avodah is again so we focus on all the Torah sheba'al peh again, preserved, transmitted, and nischadsha until chasimas hatalmud. So now the post-chasimas hatalmud chibburim are chibburim again that they explain, they systematize, they elaborate, but that wasn't Chazal's avodah. So the Chovos Halevavos didn't expect to find this in Chazal. He says, but I surveyed the post-chasimas hatalmud chibburim and there is where you would expect to find it and it's not there and that's the background to his chibbur. Okay, maybe there's another head over here what we did before, maybe we'll leave that for tomorrow b'ezras Hashem.