[Avodah] Truth and the Rambam

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Oct 12, 2010 at 01:40:55PM -0400, David Riceman wrote:
>  The more I read your (RMB) posts, the less I understand your position.  
> Here's one way to get at the problem: according to you, what was the 
> Rambam's motive for publishing the MT.  Surely the Rambam's readings of 
> halacha have no precedential value, so of what use are they without 
> footnotes? See the Ra'avad's final hassaga on the Rambam's hakdama.

I'm suggesting that according to the Rambam, the only thing that has
authority is the "mah she'einav ro'os" in the original taqanah, derashah,
or pasuq.

So, he cataloged the pesaqim as he saw them. That's not to establish
precedent. That's to enable people to find the truths he did in an easy
organized way, rather than needing to know Mishnah, Tosefta, medrashei
halakhah, Y-mi, and Bavli well enough to find them, to be able to figure
out a pesaq from a shaqla vetarya, etc..

This take on the Rambam also would explain the Gra's observation that
the Rambam holds like a named shitah in the Y-mi over a stam bavli.
The shaqla vetarya in the bavli illuminates the shitah, but the Y-mi's
quote of the original IS the shitah.

And similarly what RZL and I discussed about Rashi vs the Rambam on when
the gemara takes a dochaq peshat in the mishnah.


In the off-list discussion, I wrote that the Rambam only intended to be
a code for the masses, and RDR asked where I got that from.

#42 in the haqdamah says the Yad is "kedei shelo yehei adam tzarikh
lechibut acheir be'olam bedin". Which is why he called it MISHNEH Torah.

However, in Hil TT he tells you the role of mishnah, and how a talmud
chakham is supposed to go beyond it to gemara, such that only "betechilas
talmudo shele'adam" (TT 1:12) would someone spend even 1/3 of his time
on the mode of study called mishnah. Leshitaso, "mishnah" is somewhat
more than zil kerei bei rav, but still, future pesaq comes from gemara
(1:11), not mishnah. Including not Mishneh Torah, which was so that
"ad sheyei TSBP kulah sedurah befi haqol" -- for the masses.

In the letter I'm discussing, the Rambam tells chakhmei Luneil to study
the topic for themselves, and if they find an error, they should rule
according to their own correction.

RDR wrote a nice summary of his position. I'll reply to that later.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             I always give much away,
micha at aishdas.org        and so gather happiness instead of pleasure.
http://www.aishdas.org           -  Rachel Levin Varnhagen
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