[Avodah] The Rambam and Eliyahu haNavi

[Micha Berger]

On Sun, Jun 26, 2011 at 08:02:03PM -0400, Prof. Levine wrote:
> At 03:02 PM 6/26/2011, R. Ben Waxman  wrote:
>> Is there any ikkar, any belief, that the Rambam holds, which are not based
>> on clear sources?

> According to Professor Marc Shapiro there are a number. Please see
> <http://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/704648/Professor_Marc_B._Shapiro/The_Last_Word_in_Jewish_Theology_Maimonidies%27_Thirteen_Principles>The 
> Last Word in Jewish Theology? Maimonidies' Thirteen Principles

I think RMS conflates
1- whether there are sources for the belief, with whether there are sources
   for making them iqarim, and
2- whether there are sources for the iqar, with whether there are
   sources for all the non-iqar details in the Rambam's personal take
   on the basic belief.

And I think RBW conflates in his question
3- the iqarim as spelled out in Peirush haMishnayos with the less specific
   and less detailed version that became common circulation.

All of the Rambam's iqarim are beliefs that can be drawn from Chazal. Vekol
shekein the fuzzier version we generally discuss. That's not to say we can
find amora'im who say "if you don't believe X you're outside the fold" for
all 13 of them. Nor to say that the Rambam's particular take on (e.g.)
sekhar va'onesh beyond the iqar is necessarily stated by any of Chazal.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Nearly all men can stand adversity,
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