Yeshiva University - Masmid Yearbook (New York, NY)

Page 12 text:

M A SM ID mortal soul and its happiness and delit;lu in the knowledge and love of God. The fulfillment of the Biblical commandments inculcate fear of God, whereas true knowledge of His nature, as far as it is attainable, leads to love of God. For, as Maimonides says, One cannot love God except through the knowledge with which one knows Him; and love is in proportion with such knowl- edge. Thus love must by its ■e y nature occupy man ' s entire mind, so that no room is left for any other desire. It is well known, says Mai- monides elsewhere, and quite evident that the love of God cannot strike deep root in the heart of man unless it occupies his mind constantly so that nothing in the world really matters to him except the love of God. The general object of the Law is twofold; the well-being of the body and the well-being of the soul. The first con- sists in being healthy and in the best possible physical condition. The second perfection of man consists in his becoming an actually intelli- gent being; knowing about things in existence all that a person most perfectly developed may know. It is evident that this second perfection does not include any actions and moral virtues, but only intellectual conceptions, which are ar- rived at by speculation, and are the result of rea- soning. It is also evident that the second and superior kind of perfection can only be attained when the first perfection had been acquired. To help man attain this first perfection Maimonides dedicated his great halakic trilogy. In his early manhood he composed his Com- mentary on the Mishna. The Mishna, the basic and authoritative code of the Oral Law, edited by Judah Hanasi, with whom Maimonides claimed relationship, with whom indeed he felt a spiritual kinship, became after a millennium a work al- most unintelligible by itself and inaccesible to the average student because of the maze of the tal- mudic and post-talmudic literature, which in time had been grouped around it. Maimonides, through his Commentary written in Arabic, — then the language of the people — endeavored to restore the Mishna to its historic place as the fount.iin head of the Halakah. What his Code is to the discursory literature, his Commentary is to the Mishna. Every division of the Mishna is pre- ceded, in his Commentary, by a comprehensive, and often exhaustive, introduction, revealing the underlying principles of the Mishnaic laws. The text and context of every Mishna are properly analyzed and interpreted, and where several opinions are offered, the final decision is made clear. The moral, theological, and scientific ref- erences are made subject to lengthy discussions, displaying the impact of Maimonides ' incisive and systematic mind. The Commentary is still in- valuable to the student as a scientific introduction to the study of Jewish belief and Law. This first resume by Maimonides of the Oral Law, while revealing him as the undisputed master of his subject and his method, is not so all-inclusive as the source-material used by him in the Code. This is particularly true of his use of the Palestinian Talmud. Some of the views expressed in the Commentary, particularly in matters of religious speculation, are somewhat modified in his later works, and we are thus granted a glimpse of the unfolding of his creative mind and vigorous spirit. The Book of Precepts, the second in the halakic trilogy, serves as an introduction to his monu- mental work, the Code. It enumerates and classi- fies the laws of the Torah, which, according to an old tradition considered by Maimonides to be authentic, number 613, in accordance with new and precise criteria and principles. The revela- tion of the Torah to Moses on Sinai is to Mai- monides one of the cardinal principles of Judaism, upon which rests the authenticity of the Torah ; this serves as the basis of his conception of the Torah. The supremacy and uniqueness of the prophecy of Moses is the key to many views of Maimonides. In the 14 Principles in his Book of Precepts he established criteria to distinguish between the Scriptural laws given to Moses on Sinai, laws that are immutable and eternal, to be numbered among the 613 Precepts, and the tem- Twelve

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M A S M I D unlike our (iwn ol Jtwisli pris( i iinun, ol di luiiu i.ilioii .mil ' ililii .iiiciii ul JuiLiisni .iiul Kijci, of biul.il h.uh.iriMii in ilic ruthless pcrscculioii ol Judaism, which led lo despair and spiritual stagna- tion within Israel. The ancient centers of Jewish life and learning, Palestine and Babylonia, were, as he graphically describes them, hovering between life and death; the old scats of learning, outside of Provence, were hut reminders of a spiritual grandeur that was no more. Maimonidcs blessed by heredity, — scion of an illustrious family claim- ing descent from the House of D.ivid, favored by environment, intellect and training, saw, like Moses, the suffering of his people and tiieir broken spirit. He considered his superior en- dowments as a grave responsibility. He set out to dedicate his vast erudition, deep insight and outstanding position to the service of his people, to help save the ship of Israel then tossing in the stormy sea of the religious fanaticism of the Cross and the Crescent, to help strengthen the faith of his people in God, in themselves, in their higher destiny, in the ultimate triumph of Israel and the Torah. He consecrated his life to strengthening their will to live, to teaching them to understand the Torah and to suffer and sacrifice for it, to bringing solace and peace to their bleeding hearts, and to protecting them against religious aberra- tions, particularly the then powerful Karaite schism, and the alluring, but dangerous, hopes of false Messiahs. Every phase of his life and ac- tivity tended to comfort his people, inspire them, teach them the truth of faith purified by reason and the fundamental verity that the test and value of spiritual knowledge lies in follo ing it. in liv- ing it. These aims Maimonides sought to achieve mainly through his halakic works and his Epistles of counsel and comfort to the near and far Jewish communities. Most of his literary efforts — as all his life — he devoted to the needs of the people at large, and only the Guide he wrote for the chosen few. Of the Guide, his philosophic Magnum Opus. 1 1 II first .systematic presentation of Jewi l) belief and Jewish hope, suffice it to say, in the words of Dr. Wolfson, that it is the most excellent de- pository of medieval philosophic lore, where one finds the most concise analysis of philosophic problems, the most complete summaries of phil- osophic opinions, the clearest definitions of terms expressed in clear quotable phrases, that the works and views of Maimonides determined the philosophic training of Spinoza and helped guide him in the formation of his own philosophy. Nor is it necessary to dwell upon the influence of Mai- monides on Albertus Magnus and Thomas Atjuinas, the greatest of Latin Scholastics, and on the lesser lights of the scholastic period, who represent the union of Aristotelianism and Chris- tian dogma. Maimonides placed reason above all other hu- m,m qualities and considered its exercise the acme of human attainment and the source of eternal life. But he also taught that moral perfection must precede intellectual perfection, and that the life of reason can flourish only in an orderly society. True wisdom is founded upon moral perfection ; they must ever go hand in hand. Moral perfection can be attained only through the study of the Torah and the faithful obser -ance of its precepts. For, according to Maimonides, the Law is not imposed upon man arbitrarily as something which is foreign to his nature, as the imposed will of God, but is based upon reason; and all its commands have a threefold purpose. It aims first at the establishment of good mutual relations among men by removing injustice and by the acquisition of moral virtues, so that the orderly life of the people of a country may con- tinue uninterruptedly and every individual may acquire his first perfection, his physical and social well-being; secondly, it aims to train us in cor- rect beliefs and to impart to us true opinions whereby we may attain the highest perfection. Maimonides makes the moral virtues, to be ac- quired by following the dictates of the Torah, a condition prerequisite to the blessing of the im- Eleier.

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M A SM I D por.iry l.iws, m.iicr.il i. li(iri,iticins, ilci.iiK ol, .iiul reason for, ihc h.isic l.iws in(.-ntioni. ' J. Divrc Soplierim, ,is util ,is llic rabbinic laws, though of equal nonnativt value, arc not be be counted amon the 613 Precepts. The Revelation on Sinai was the most exalted event in human history, and the laws then iven to Moses must be set apart and distinguished from all oihcr bindini; laws. Upon this concept JLpciul .scvi.r.il le al views peculiar to Maimonides. It is probable that in the establishment of the criteria concerning the 613 Precepts Maimonides was influenced by the views of Abraham Ibn Ezra in his Ye.sod More. Maimonides states somewhere that the Code, Mishna Torah, was originally planned by him as a reference work for his own use, as a path in the labyrinth of talmudic and rabbinic literature for practical purposes. A study of the Code, the highest expression of the systematic genius of post- Talmudic literature, convinces one that, consciously or subconsciously, Maimonides planned the Mishne Torah to be the authoritative code of life for all Israel, including the laws that are not ap- plicable to Jcwisii life in the Diaspor.i, like the laws of the Sanctuary and Levitical purity. It is evident from the Epistle of Maimonides to the Jewish Community in Yemen that he con- sidered the misery and anguish of Israel under the Cross and under the Crescent as the agony of the days preceding the Advent of the Messiah. He felt keenly the universal distress of his people and believed that the advent of the Redeemer was imminent. For, according to Maimonides, the redeinption depends mainly upon Israel ' s repen- tance and return to God. He exhorted the people against indulging in computations and predic- tions, from possible indications in the Scriptures, of the time of the redemption, but he hoped that the day might be near when Israel and its great affirmation of faith— its social morality — would come into their own. when the world would be blessed with peace and plenty, and would follow the sublime religious .ind social teachings of the Torah. The binding power of the Tor.di to be nrilidrii.itive even in the days of (lit Messiah, he composed the first, systematic presentation of the entire body of the Jewish behef and law, based upon the entire traditional literature of Israel of all ages to be jde(|uaie not only for his generation and the generations to come in the I)i3.s|X)ra, but even for the Messianic days. The Code contains all the Halakah, the well-spring of Jewisli reason, and all (hat is essential in the Agadah, the source and the depository of Jewish vision and emotion. The Halakah and the Agadah of Millennia, from Moses to Alfasi, Maimonidc-s sifted, selected, ar- ranged, recapitulated, illuminated and established as the norm of Jewish belief and law. In the Code, rabbinic learning celebrates its greatest triumph. The significance and influence of this epoch-making creation of Jewish lore, fashioned by Israel ' s supreme systematic and syn- thetic mind in the middle ages, can hardly be comprehended by those who are not thoroughly familiar with Jewish law and lore. The Code gave new impetus to the study and elucidation of many phases of traditional law which had been neglected since the day of the Amoraim. The scope of the encyclopedic knowledge, of the sources drawn upon in the construction of the Code, is even now not fully appreciated. It is likely to remain a permanent source of study for the serious student of the Halakah, second only to the Talmud itself. The greatest work in the codification of any system of law is thus the product of a .son of the pieople who placed content and depth above form and method of presentation. Maimonides seldom introduces a personal opinion in the Code. But the interpretation of individual Sug ' yoth of the Talmud, as often gleaned from his decisions, constitutes a com- mentary on both Talmuds, and sheds light also on their correct text, for Maimonides was a pains- taking student of the text, searching and verifying old manuscripts, as he penetrated and absorbed their spirit. As we view Maimonides from the perspective of three-quarters of a millennium, we behold him Thirteen