[Avodah] Did Someone Forget Eilu v'eilu?

[Yitzhak Grossman]

On Thu, 1 Nov 2007 19:02:10 -0400 (EDT)
"Micha Berger" <micha at aishdas.org> wrote:

> On Wed, October 31, 2007 8:49 pm, Yitzhak Grossman wrote:
> :> What would Ralbag do with the Mishna in Avos (5:8) that says the Pi
> :> HaAson was created Erev Shabbos?
> 
> : That's exactly the point; he rejects that Mishnah!  Here is the
> : beginning of his remarks (Bamidbar 22:21)...
> : Note that this is not your typical peshat / derush dichotomy; Ralbag
> : is not rejecting Hazal's opinion based on the written text, but is
> : rather maintaining that it is philosophically untenable *on its own
> : terms*.
> 
> There is a reason why the Maharal's introduction to Gevuros Hashem
> takes the Ralbag to task with how tightly he embraces philosophy. In
> that case, it was his rejection of the notion that nissim could defy
> teva.

This is a misquote of the Maharal and a terrible misrepresentation of
the Ralbag's position on miracles, the existence of which he considered
of fundamental importance.  The Maharal's objections are rather more
complex and subtle than the above; here is the beginning of the
his discussion [0]:

---Begin quote---

There are some of the sages of our nation, such as the Ralbag, who in
his work has begun to investigate miracles, and he has said that some
miracles are 'be'ezem' and some are 'be'mikreh'.  Some are be'ezem, the
transformation of the stick to a snake and the water to blood, and some
are be'mikreh, the transformation of Mosheh's hand to become leprous
and the withering of Ye'ravam's hand near the altar.  There are also
some miracles that the prophet will know of before they occur, and some
that he will not know before they occur ...

---End quote---

After summarizing Ralbag's position at some length, he then proceeds to
criticize his views quite sharply, but his critique is against the
various assumptions that Ralbag makes about miracles and the limitations
that he places upon them, not on a supposed denial of the
very existence supernatural miracles. One of his objections is to the
Ralbag's restriction of miracles to the sub-heavenly region, which
compelled him to reinterpret the verses of "shemesh be'givon dom" [1]
and "va'yashev es ha'zel ba'ma'alos asher yardah be'ma'alos ahaz
ahoranis esser ma'alos" [2], but the Ralbag absolutely accepted, and
indeed insisted upon, the basic existence of supernatural miracles.

As a matter of fact, *right in my original citations* of Ralbag's
comments on the story of Bilam's ass is a clear acceptance of the
possibility of supernatural miracles; his rejection of the simple
reading of story is because God would not have performed *this
particular miracle* since it would have been, in the Ralbag's view,
pointless.

> I would be unsurprised if conteporary O Jews take for granted things
> that the Maharal did, and the chevrah respond to the Ralbag with
> surprise. There are a number of baalei machashavah the RY of the 20th
> century emphasized: the Kuzari, the Maharal, the Ramchal and REED seem
> to top the list.

Ultimately, we have the Rivash's famous assessment of the Ralbag (in
the context of a warning against the dangers of studying philosophy)
[3]:

---Begin quote---

And the scholar Rabbi Levi, he too [along with the Rambam] was a great
scholar in Talmud, and he made a beautiful commentary on the Pentateuch
and the books of the prophets, and he followed in the footsteps of the
Rambam.  But he too had his heart turned by those wisdoms far from the
true way, and he contradicted the view of the Rambam on certain issues,
such as Divine foreknowledge of future contingent events, and on the
standing of the sun for Yehoshua and the retrogression of the 'zel
ha'ma'los' he wrote things that are prohibited to hear ...

And now every man should argue a fortiori about himself: if these two
kings did not remain within the correct path on certain issues,
ke'vodam be'me'komam munah, how will we, asher lo ra'inu me'oros
le'erkam, remain there ...

---End quote---

While he obviously disagreed quite strongly with major aspects of
Ralbag's philosophy, he nevertheless considered him a great thinker,
ranking him with the Rambam and referring to him with great respect.

[0] Gevuros Hashem, Second Introduction
[1] Yehoshua 10:12
[2] Me'lachim 2:20:11
[3] #45

> SheTir'u baTov!
> -micha

Good Shabbos,
Yitzhak
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