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cite="mid:mailman.15088.1314269838.21726.avodah-aishdas.org@lists.aishdas.org"
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<pre wrap=""><span class="moz-txt-citetags">> </span>We can ask a question on the Rambam what is the origin of his theory [that the sun and moon have intelligence--ZL].
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<pre wrap="">Why would it occur to us to question it? If he says it then he must
surely have had it bekabalah; where else would he get it?
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The idea that the celestial bodies are intelligent beings was widely
accepted among the Greek philosophers (Plato, Aristotle, etc.).
There were, on the other hand, some people the Rambam leaves unnamed
who thought the celestial bodies not only lack intelligence but also
possess no life, and the Rambam in the Moreh lambasts them for
thinking so. On the other hand, the Rambam himself emphasizes that
everything about the nature of the celestial bodies, their material,
their movements and causes thereof, etc., is a matter of human
speculation and not a matter of kaballah:<br>
<blockquote style="mso-element: footnote">
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">MN 2:24<br>
What I said before (2:22) I will repeat now, namely, that the
theory of Aristotle, in explaining the phenomena in the
sublunary world, is in accordance with logical inference. Here
we know the causal relationship between one phenomenon and
another; we see how far science can investigate them, and the
management of nature is clear and intelligible.</font></p>
<p><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><b>*But of the
things in the heavens man knows nothing except a few
mathematical calculations</b>,* and you see how far these
go. I say in the words of the poet," The heavens are the
Lord's, but the earth He hath given to the sons of man"
(Tehillim. 115:16). That is to say, God alone has a perfect
and true knowledge of the heavens, <b>*their nature, their
essence, their form,</b> <b><u>their motions</u>, and <u>their
causes</u></b>;* but He gave man power to know the
things which are under the heavens: here is man's world,
here is his home, into which he has been placed, and of
which he is himself a portion. This is in reality the truth.
For <b>*the facts which we require in proving [anything
about] the existence of heavenly entities are withheld
from us</b>:* the heavens are too far from us, and too
exalted in place and rank. Man's faculties are too deficient
to comprehend even the general proof the heavens contain for
the existence of Him who sets them in motion.<br>
</font></font></p>
<p style="" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman"
size="3">MN 3:14<br>
Now, do not ask it of me to conform everything our Sages say
respecting astronomical matters to the situation as it is. For
mathematics were lacking in those days, and <u>*their
statements on those matters were not based on a <em>mesorah</em>
from the Prophets</u>,* but on the knowledge which they
either themselves possessed or derived from contemporary men
of science. But we should not on that account say, about those
things that do conform to the truth, that they are incorrect,
or only conform coincidentally. Rather, it is preferable and
proper for every educated and honest man to explain a person’s
words in such a manner that they agree with fully established
facts.<br>
</font></p>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-language: he"><font
face="Times New Roman">The <i>Radak</i> (<i>Breishis 1:1</i>)
too, tells us that the Torah teaches us details only about the
creation of things that were to be located below the
moon—nothing about the universe beyond that point. The Light
and the celestial bodies, he says, are mentioned only insofar
as the role they play in what they provide for the Earth:</font></span><span
style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-language: he" lang="HE"><o:p><font
face="Times New Roman"><br>
<br>
</font></o:p></span><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><font
face="Times New Roman">"Only that which is below the moon’s
sphere is mentioned in the Torah’s account of Creation. The
Light and the celestial bodies are only mentioned for their
role in providing light on the earth. …The chacham Rabbi
Avraham Ibn Ezra also wrote that Moshe Rabbeynu spoke only
about the temporal world; and [when the Torah says Hashem
created the Heavens and the Earth,] the 'Heavens' refer to
the rakia (sky) created the second day [not to the spiritual
Heavens, nor the heavens containing the stars, sun and
moon]."<br>
<br>
Zvi Lampel<br>
</font></span></i><br>
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