[Avodah] Truth and the Rambam

[David Riceman]

> RZL: ...[Again, the Rambam writes] that "rov" halachos resulted from 
> these methods and that the 1,700 halachos that Osniel ben Kenaz 
> reconstructed were only a fraction of the total number of laws 
> generated through the 13 middos.
But look at the first sentence in that shoresh [#2].  He says this 
includes both peirushim that come from Sinai and peirushim that don't.  
See Heller's footnote #1 which offers two alternate translations of your 
"resulted from", one of which is "notzieim", which I would render as 
"can be deduced from".  Perhaps an Arabic speaker can help us out.
RZL:
> But even if I am mistaken, and by "rov dinei haTorah" the Rambam is 
> referring to all inexplicit dinim--both mekuballim MiMoshe and 
> generated--and I would have no proof that the rule-generated details 
> outnumber the mekuballos dinim reinforced by the rules of 
> interpretation--I still don't see any support for the reverse, that 
> the Rambam "claims that few laws were deduced from them."
See the Hakdama to PhM (tr. Kafih, p. 9) where the Rambam explains (my 
translation of Kafih): "Similarly there is no argument about the 
analogous aspect of every mitzva, because they are traditions stemming 
from Moses, and the sages said about these and similar instances "the 
entire Torah, its general principles and specific details and [I can't 
think of a good translation for dikdukeha] came from Sinai."  But even 
though they are traditional and are not disputed it is possible to 
deduce them from precise reading of Scripture using the MSNB<I 
translated this last phrase quite loosely>."

If Hazal say "the entire Torah" when we know they don't mean it 
literally, I think we are entitled to understand it as "a large majority".

David Riceman