[Avodah] Loving Israel while in Chutz

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, Jun 26, 2008 at 07:38:07PM -0400, Yitzhak Grossman wrote:
: On Thu, 5 Jun 2008 15:38:32 -0400 Micha Berger <micha at aishdas.org> wrote:
: ...
:> But the Rambam himself explains why: Because justice requires the soul
:> reside again in a body when judged, otherwise the defendent isn't present
:> as his own trial. The Ikkarim gives a different answer: This life is

: Where does Rambam say this?

Igeres Techiyas haMeisim. Drawin on the mashal of the blind man and
lame man who get together to streal some figs (Sanhedrin 91b). IIUC,
he understands the yom hadin as whether or not the person has the actual
ability to resurrect.

Here's a quote from ch. 4, near the beginning:
> As I will explain in the current essay: Why should we not interpret these
> pesuqim allegorically, as we have done with many other Biblical verses,
> allegorically without their literal meaning? The reason is as follows:
> The idea of techiyas hameisim, ie, that the neshamah will return to the
> body after death, is described by Daniel in a way cannot be explained any
> way but literally: "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth
> will rise, some to everlasting life, and some to reproach and everlasting
> contempt." Daniel was similarly told by the mal'akh, 'Now go your way to
> the end and rest, and you shall arise to your destiny at the end of days.'

: ...
:> But the Rambam didn't "okimta techiyas hameisim away". He made it an
:> ikkar emunah. A move that wasn't compelled by the sources; it was
:> within his worldiew that ThM is central to defining Judaism!

: Rambam in Iggeres Tehias Ha'Mesim says that belief in bodily resuscitation
: most definitely *is* compelled by sources...

But making it an ikkar is not.

:                What is your source for the assertion that "it was within
: his worldiew that ThM is central to defining Judaism"?

Because it's the 13th ikkar emunah. Aren't the ikkarim the center of
his definition of Judaism?

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             It's nice to be smart,
micha at aishdas.org        but it's smarter to be nice.
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