[Avodah] The Rambam and Eliyahu haNavi

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Jun 28, 2011 at 05:52:52AM +0300, Ben Waxman wrote:
>> - so far out he didn't need to list it,
>> - so mesoretic it's not speculation, or
>> - the list simply isn't an attempt to be complete?

> Regarding the last two, are there other examples in the Rambam?

Regarding the 1st, I don't think it's possible. A gemara isn't too far
out to discuss. If the Rambam wanted to dismiss it, wouldn't he have had
to explicitly do so?

But to get to RBW's question...

> Regarding "so mesoretic..." what falls into that category? Mosiach ben
> David isn't so mesoretic therefore the Rambam felt the need to list it
> but Mosiach ben Yosef is?

The Rambam distinguished between things chazal knew by tradition from
revelation and things that the deduced on their own. Saying that such
deductions about yemos mashiach are just guesses, and we won't know
until it happens. If he thought the arrival of Mashiach ben David was
revealed rather than deduced, it wouldn't be on his list of things that
they deduced on their own.

> Regarding "the list isn't an attempt to be complete": doesn't that go  
> against the Rambam's raison d'etre for the Mishne Torah?

Except that it fits the Rambam's wording, that he was giving a rule
followed by a list of *examples*. "Vekhein kol kayotze ba'eilu hadevarim
be'inyan hamashiach meshalim heim... Ameru chakhamim... Veyeish min
hachakhamim..." And at the end of the list, "Vekhol eilu havevarim
VEKHAYOTZEI BAHEM..."

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             "I hear, then I forget; I see, then I remember;
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