[Avodah] Rambam Hilchot Qriyat Shema

[Zev Sero via Avodah]

On 09/06/17 11:19, Ben Waxman via Avodah wrote:
> Rambam Hilchot Qriyat Shema A:4 brings in  the famous midrash about 
> Yaacov's sons saying Shema to justify or explain why we say "Baruch Shem 
> Kavod . . .". This seemed different, out of place, to me. Why bring in a 
> source? Because interjecting these words is so foreign that even a dry 
> halacha guide demands that they be sourced?
> 
> Does the Rambam bring in a midrash in other places to justify a practice?

I don't understand the question.  The Rambam always gives reasons and 
sources, and this chapter is a perfect example.  He's spent the previous 
three halachos giving the source for the mitzvah, the reasons for the 
selection of these three parshios, the reason we say the third parsha at 
night and the source for that reason, and now in halacha four he adds 
the final detail, and its reason and source.

When we say the Rambam doesn't give his sources, we mean that he doesn't 
tell us where in the gemara he derives the halachos.  He doesn't expect 
his audience to be familiar with the gemara, and he's not interested in 
convincing those who are, or in defending himself to them.  But he 
always gives the pasuk where a mitzvah or halacha is stated, or tells us 
that it comes "mipi hashmuah", or was instituted by chazal or by the 
geonim. When he gives a psak which doesn't come directly from the gemara 
he says "ken horu hage'onim", "ken horu rabosai", or "ken nir'a li".

-- 
Zev Sero                May 2017, with its *nine* days of Chanukah,
zev at sero.name           be a brilliant year for us all