[Avodah] Mesora only through Rashi

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

On Tue, Jul 28, 2015 at 02:10:52PM -0400, Saul Guberman via Avodah wrote:
: AIUI the [MT] "was all that you needed to study".  Are you/RGS saying that
: this is only as a codifier?  RAMBAM did not feel that he was passing on the
: mesorah? In the end, it does not matter what he wrote, RASHI vs RAMBAM, you
: must have RASHI, RAMBAM is nice but without RASHI you come to a dead end?

As the Rambam says in the haqdamah (par 40 <http://j.mp/1SdAuoD>), the
goal was to put the "TSBP kulah sedurah befi hakol" -- his primary
audience was the masses.  And we know how much he thought of the masses.

Similarly he continues (41) by telling you he his work "Mishneh Torah"
because it fulfills the shelish bemishnah -- the studying of halakhah
pesuqah. (He calls it sheliesh BTSBP, but as you just saw in the haqdamah,
the Rambam both identifies the two and also says they're contained in
his MT.) However, in Hil' Talmud Torah 1:12 tells you that that's only
"betechilas tazlmudo shel adam, aval kesheyagdil bechokhmah" he should
set time for TSBK and divrei hashemu'ah so as not to forget,
"veyifneh kol yamav ligemara".

So it is not impossible that even the Rambam himself might agree that
those who explain how to do the shaqlara vetarya like gemara, or lomdus,
or "veyotzi davar midavar veyidmeh dava ledavar" etc... are more central
to the mesorah than his own Mishneh Torah.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             When faced with a decision ask yourself,
micha at aishdas.org        "How would I decide if it were Ne'ilah now,
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Fax: (270) 514-1507                            - Rav Yisrael Salanter