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The Rambam writes at the beginning of his discussion of Avodah
Zarah 1:2<br><br>
"<font size=3>After Abraham was weaned, while still an infant, his
mind began to reflect. By day and by night he was thinking and wondering:
"How is it possible that this [celestial] sphere should continuously
be guiding the world and have no one to guide it and cause it to turn
round; for it cannot be that it turns round of itself." He had no
teacher, no one to instruct him in aught. He was submerged in Ur of the
Chaldees, among silly idolaters. His father and mother and the entire
population worshiped idols, and he worshiped with them. But his mind was
busily working and reflecting until he had attained the way of truth,
apprehended the correct line of thought, and knew that there is one God,
that He guides the celestial sphere and created everything, and that
among all that exist, there is no god besides Him. He realized that men
everywhere were in error, and that what had occasioned their error was
that they worshiped the stars and the images, so that the truth perished
from their minds. Abraham was forty years old when he recognized his
Creator."<br><br>
The Abarbanel says that Avraham knew Noah. (Their lives overlapped
for 58 years.) Someone told me that the Doros Rishonim says that Avraham
fled from Ur and spent many years in the house of Noah. The Me'Am Lo'az
says that Noah and Shem convinced Terach that Avraham was right about
Avodah Zarah being meaningless. He also says that according to some
Avraham "went to an academy that Noah and Shem had established, and
spent 39 years there, learning the divine mysteries."<br><br>
My question is, "How does all of this fit together?" Is the
Rambam referring to Avraham's youth when he says that he had no teacher?
Because, according to the Abarbanel and the Me'Am Lo'Az, he apparently
did have teachers after he met Noah and while he attended the
"academy." <br>
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Yitzchok Levine</font></body>
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