[Avodah] Rambam

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Sep 10, 2024 at 08:15:48PM -0400, Joel Rich via Avodah wrote:
> From a Tradition Magazine book review:
> > As the old saw has it, there is Maimonides, Yourmonides, Hermonides,
> > etc. In the world of academic scholarship, there may be as many
> > versions of Maimonides as there are scholars of Maimonides...

> This seems to be a version of something I had said many years ago, not just
> about Rambam -- everyone looks into tora and sees their reflection. I've
> come to think it's a more nuanced and symbiotic relationship, which would
> explain why two gdolim can know all the corpus yet come to different
> conclusions...

I think there is a second thing going on with the Rambam, beyond the usual
"eilu va'eilu".

The Maharal explains Eilu vaEilu as the effect of the Divine Truth not
fitting within the universe. I would liken it to the story of the Five
Blind Men and the Elephant, where each only feels on one part of the
elephant and reach very different descriptions of what an elephant is
like. Except here, there is no way for a human mind to grasp the full
"elephant", or even for the universe to contain it. Simplified models
is the best we can do. Even if they contradict.

So perhaps a better metaphor is a shadow. Beis Hillel encounter a cube,
and they shine a light on it from the side. They pasqen that in practice,
cubes are square. Beis Shammai are coming from a different angle,
and so their light shines from beyond a corner, leaving a hexagonal
shadow. And so they pasqen hexagon. Both are capturing descriptions
of reality. Which is the right pesaq depends on where the community is
currently in relation to Hashem's Truth and goal for us.

Which is similar to the "symbiotic relationship" RJR describes.

(The "shadow" metaphor also give a language for discussing non-O
movements. Movements that don't even claim to be "halachiuc" have no
object to take the shadow of. And C kind of moves the light around to
draw the desired resulting picture.)

But as I opened, I think something else is going on with My-monides
beyond this.

I think the willingness for people to going further than I would with the
Rmabam's 7th cause of ambiguity in his introduction to the Moreh makes
the Rambam far more prone to this kind of thing than the rest of Torah.

The Rambam writes:
    Cause 7: It is sometimes necessary to introduce such metaphysical
    matter as may partly be disclosed, but must partly be concealed.*
    While, therefore, on one occasion the object which the author has in
    view may demand that the metaphysical problem be treated as solved
    in one way, it may be convenient on another occasion to treat it as
    solved in the opposite way. The author must endeavor, by concealing
    this fact as much as possible, to prevent the uneducated reader from
    perceiving the contradiction.

And this allows people (and not just Strauss and since, rishonim too!) to
say this bit or that wasn't what the Rambam really believed; it was just
to keep the uninitiated in line.

Although the Maharal and R Kook also seem to be prone to getting very
subjective interpretation (and reinterpretation) as well.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 A cheerful disposition is an inestimable treasure.
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   It preserves health, promotes convalescence,
Author: Widen Your Tent      and helps us cope with adversity.
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF       - R' SR Hirsch, "From the Wisdom of Mishlei"