Mishneh Torah (Moznaim)
Featuring a modern English translation and a commentary that presents a digest of the centuries of Torah scholarship which have been devoted to the study of the Mishneh Torah by Maimonides.
Mishneh Torah (Moznaim)
Featuring a modern English translation and a commentary that presents a digest of the centuries of Torah scholarship which have been devoted to the study of the Mishneh Torah by Maimonides.
The grandson of Adam. See Genesis 4:26, 5:6-11. Enosh lived from the year 235 after creation to the year 1140 (3525 to 2620 B.C.E.).
Interestingly, the Rambam does not attribute the rise of paganism to simple commoners, but to the “wise” of the generation.
Our text of Shabbat 118b mentions that “the generation of Enosh” were idol worshipers. However, certain versions of that text omit the words “generation of.” (See She’iltot D’Rabbi Achai Gaon, Bereishit.)
See Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah, Chapter 3, for a description of the stars and the spheres, and their place within the Rambam’s conception of the cosmos.
I.e., mediums of Divine influence.
Rashi finds an allusion to the worship of false gods in Enosh’s times in Genesis 4:26: אז הוחל לקרא בשם ה', which he renders, “It was then that they called profanely upon the name of God.”
In Hilchot Yesodei Torah, Chapter 3, the Rambam explains that the stars and the spheres are on a higher plane than the creations of our world. Though they influence our world, they are also God's creations and have no free will of their own. They are no more than an axe in the hands of a wood-chopper, and should not worshiped or served.
Note the Rambam’s comments on astrology in his Commentary on the Mishnah (Avodah Zarah 4:7), which are quoted in the commentary on Chapter 11, Halachah 16.
It is questionable if such worship is forbidden to gentiles or not. Based on Deuteronomy 4:19, certain authorities maintain that the gentiles may worship other gods, provided they have the awareness that God is the ultimate power (שיתוף). The Rambam, however, does not mention this perspective in these halachot, nor in Hilchot Melachim, ch. 9, where he discusses the prohibition against the worship of false gods as it affects gentiles.
[In Sefer HaMitzvot (positive commandment 2), however, he states “Israel is commanded regarding the unification of God”; from which it could be inferred that gentiles need not believe in this concept and can combine their worship of God with other powers.] All authorities agree that such worship is forbidden for Jews.
It is unclear from the Rambam’s statements here whether, originally, they would worship the stars without any self-interest — merely with the intent of honoring those whom God honors — or whether their service was self-oriented — i.e., they worshiped the stars because they considered them as mediums of Divine influence and hoped to derive benefit from their service. In the following halachah and in his Commentary on the Mishnah (Avodah Zarah 4:7), the Rambam mentions the second view. It is, however, unclear if this was the original intent of the star-worshipers or whether this was a later development.
See Chapter 2, Halachah 1.
As the pagans mentioned in Halachah 2 later did. The first generations of star worshipers were aware of God’s existence and conceived of the stars as no more than intermediaries between themselves and Him.
See also the Guide for the Perplexed (Vol. I, Chapter 36) where the Rambam explains a similar idea using the same Biblical proof-text.
i.e., as an entity of substance.
The worship of the stars.
This and the following two halachot are somewhat problematic. The Rambam conceived of the Mishneh Torah as a book of law. He included philosophical and historical points only when they are halachot, directives for our behavior. In this light, this entire chapter seems unnecessary. This difficulty can be resolved based on Chapter 2, Halachah 3, which states that it is forbidden to entertain thoughts of idol worship. Hence, in order to know which thoughts are forbidden, the Rambam feels it necessary to describe the entire thought process which led people to worship idols (Likkutei Sichot, Vol. 20). The phenomenon described by the Rambam does not belong entirely to the past. Although, at present, bowing down to the “stars and spheres” is not very common — although it has been renewed by some cultists — the theoretical premise that motivated the ancients to serve the stars is still followed by many. Is it all that uncommon to find people who compromise their service of God in expectation of receiving benefits by following what they perceive as the natural order?
Note Hilchot Yesodei Torah 9:5, which states that anyone who states that God told him in a prophetic vision to worship idols should be considered a false prophet. See also the Guide for the Perplexed (Vol. II, Chapter 36) where the Rambam describes how people can be overcome by their powers of imagination to the extent that they — as do others who see them in such a trance — think of themselves as prophets, although, in fact, they received no Divine influence.
Thus, this represents a second stage in the spread of idol worship. At first — as explained in Halachah 1 — star worship was not institutionalized, but was practiced by individuals because of their mistaken conceptions. The second phase involved the development of religious institutions and set modes of worship. The leaders, however, still recognized God and attributed the instructions to worship the stars to Him. In the third stage — as the latter portion of this halachah states — people would worship the stars and idols without any awareness of God.
See the Rambam’s Commentary on the Mishnah (Avodah Zarah 4:7) and his statements in Chapter 11, Halachah 16, where he explains that idol worship was instituted by the leaders of the nations to unite the people of a particular land, give them a sense of national identity, and establish a hierarchy of leaders.
With these statements, the Rambam explains how people began to worship statues and idols. Since the star was far away and could not be perceived as more than a twinkling dot in the sky, the people wanted a more tangible image which they could relate to. The “prophets” obliged and devised forms for statues to serve as talismans to bring down influence from these stars.
Note Deuteronomy 12:2, which commands the Jews to destroy “all the places where the nations... would worship their gods, on the high mountains, on the hills, or under any luxuriant tree.” Note the Guide for the Perplexed, Vol. III, Chapter 45, where the Rambam mentions the gentile practice of building temples on hills and mountaintops.
At this stage, their service was clearly self-oriented. They wanted to derive benefit or prevent harm to themselves through this service.
This represented a further descent. Rather than prophesy in the name of God, these imposters would speak in the names of the false divinities themselves. (See also Chapter 5, Halachot 6-7.)
Note Chapter 3, Halachah 2, which describes the service of Ba’al Pe’or. The people would defecate before the idol as an act of worship.
It is not clear at which point in the history of the world this change took place. The period between Enosh’s birth and Abraham’s lasted slightly more than one thousand years, with the flood taking place approximately 750 years after Enosh’s birth.
Note the Rambam’s Commentary on the Mishnah (Chulin 1:1), where he also differentiates between the people who believe in the spiritual service intended to draw down spiritual energy from these celestial bodies and practice it, and the common people who worship the idols blindly, on faith.
Thus: At first star worship was not institutionalized, but was practiced by individuals because of their mistaken conceptions. The second phase involved the development of religious institutions and set modes of worship. The leaders, however, still recognized God and attributed the instructions to worship the stars to Him. In the third stage people would worship the stars and idols without any awareness of God.
The true God.
See also the Guide for the Perplexed, Vol. II, Chapter 39, where the Rambam cites these individuals as prophets. Despite the awareness of God possessed by these individuals, our Sages speak critically of them. For, although they themselves were righteous, they did nothing to influence the people around them.
Note Genesis 5:22: “And Chanoch walked with God.”
Though his righteousness is not mentioned explicitly in the Torah, it is mentioned by our Sages in a number of places — e.g., Yalkut Shimoni, Bereishit 42, which states: “Metushelach was a completely righteous man.”
See Genesis 6:9: “And Noach was a righteous man, perfect in his generation.”
Noach’s youngest son.
Shem and Ever are frequently mentioned by our Rabbis as righteous sages. See Bereishit Rabbah 63:6, which explains that when Rivkah went “to seek out God” (Genesis 25:22), she went to the house of study of Shem and Ever.
Abraham was born in the year 1948 (1812 B.C.E.).
In several places — e.g., Bava Batra 15a and Rosh HaShanah 11a — our Sages referred to Abraham with this expression.
Nedarim 32a states: “Abraham was three when he recognized his Creator.” Although the Rambam states that it was not until Abraham was forty that he gained true awareness of God, his process of search began at age three.
Note the Midrash HaGadol (Parashat Lech Lecha), which explains that Abraham questioned: Why should we bow down to idols, gods that we ourselves make? We should bow to the earth, for it produces crops that sustain us. Therefore, he began to worship the earth. Then he saw that the earth needs rain, and began to worship the sky. Later, he saw that the most brilliant creation in the sky was the sun, and began to worship it. Afterwards, when the sun set and the moon rose, he began to worship the moon. When the sun rose the next morning, he did not know what to do. He did not see which was stronger: the sun or the moon. So Abraham continued in a quandary, questioning: Who was the true God?
Interestingly, in Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah 1:5, the Rambam uses the same concept as a proof for the existence of God.
Bereishit Rabbah 61:1 elaborates on the lack of instruction that was available to Abraham. Note the Ra’avad and the Kessef Mishneh, who question why Noach, Shem, and Ever (all of whom were alive at this time) did not try to nullify the worship of idols and why they did not instruct Abraham. They offer two explanations. The first is that they were afraid and hid from the idolaters. (See Midrash Tehillim 118. Note, however, teachings which state that these righteous men also protested the worship of false gods, Tanna Devei Eliyahu Rabba, Chapters 20 and 25.) Alternatively, Shem and Ever lived in the land of Canaan, while Abraham lived in Babylon. The question remains, however, why did Abraham not seek out these righteous men (Kinat Eliyahu)?
Indeed, our Sages relate that his father had a shop where idols were sold.
See Bereishit Rabbah 39:8, which states that Abraham was always worried that God would not absolve him from his sin of worshiping idols.
These are the fundamental principles of the Jewish faith, as explained in Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah 1:1-6.
Their worship of idols dulled their sensitivity to spirituality to the point where they lost all awareness of God.
Note Bereishit Rabbah 64:4, which mentions two opinions regarding when Abraham became aware of God: one when he was three and one when he was forty-eight. It is possible that the Rambam’s text of the Midrash read “forty” instead of “forty eight.”
As explained above, these opinions are not necessarily contradictory. Abraham’s process of inquiry could have begun at age three, while at forty he gained greater understanding, and at forty eight, he achieved an even higher level of awareness.
Avot 5:21 states: “At forty, one achieves understanding.” By associating Abraham’s appreciation of the Creator with this age, the Rambam implies that this awareness can come as a product of our own thought and meditation.
Bereishit Rabbah 39:1 explains Abraham’s process of thought with a parable. A person saw a brightly lit palace. He wondered: Could this palace exist without an owner? Immediately, the owner revealed himself to him. Similarly, Abraham wondered: Is it possible for the world to exist without One Who controls it? Immediately, God revealed Himself to him.
Our Sages relate that after breaking his father’s idols, he put a stick in the hands of the largest idol. When his father asked him why he destroyed the idols, he replied that he didn’t do it; the idol holding the stick did. His father curtly dismissed his reply: “That idol is only metal. It cannot do anything,” he roared at his son.” If so, why do you worship it?” Abraham replied.
The Rambam’s words imply that the value of offering sacrifices at this time (before the Torah commanded that they be offered) was not as the acts of service of God, but in the educational effect they had on the people and the awareness of God they inspired.
Nimrod (Pesachim 118a).
By tossing him into a burning furnace.
Interestingly, when the Rambam lists the ten trials that Abraham endured in his Commentary on the Mishnah, Avot 5:3, he does not mention this episode at all.
See Genesis 11:31. In his Commentary on the Mishnah (loc. cit.), the Rambam mentions Abraham’s exile from his native land as the first of his ten trials.
On the phrase, Genesis 12:5, “the souls they had gathered in Charan,” Bereishit Rabbah 39:21 comments, “These are the converts they made. Abraham would convert the men and Sarah would convert the women.”
See Genesis, Chapter 12, which describes Abraham’s journeys within the land of Canaan.
Sotah 10a states: “Do not read ‘And he called.’ Read ‘And he had others call’” — i.e., Abraham motivated others to become aware of God and call out to Him.
The Rabbis question the fate of all these people. We do not find any mention of the perpetuation of their faith in God. Perhaps the cultural influences of the surrounding environment were too powerful. If the children of Israel themselves turned to idol worship after two generations in Egypt, could any more be expected from these individuals?
Most commentaries point to Avodah Zarah 14b, which relates that Abraham composed a four-hundred-chapter text against the worship of false gods. Kinat Eliyahu notes that here, the Rambam is not referring to the negation of idol worship, but to the propagation of the faith in one God. Therefore, he suggests that the reference is to the Kabbalistic tradition (Zohar, Vol. II, 275b) that Sefer Yetzirah was composed by Abraham. (See also Kiryat Melech.)
Note Genesis 18:19: “I have known him that he will command his children and household after him, and they will keep the way of God....”
Jacob also studied under Shem and Ever (see Rashi, Genesis 25:27, Bereishit Rabbah 25:16).
I.e., he and not Esau would continue the spiritual heritage of Abraham.
In contrast to Abraham and Isaac, all of Jacob’s children were righteous. (See Hilchot Kri’at Shema 1:4.)
The Torah itself does not mention Jacob’s selection of Levi as a leader. A number of sources in the oral tradition (Pirkei D’Rabbi Eliezer, Chapter 39; Shemot Rabbah 15:27), however, reveal this concept.
The Midrash Tanchuma (Vayigash) interprets Genesis 46:28: “And Jacob sent Judah before him,” to mean that he charged him with founding a yeshiva. Similarly, Yoma 28b states that this Talmudic academy continued throughout the Egyptian exile.
Note Hilchot De’ot 1:7, which explains that the expression, “the way of God,” refers to ethics, emulating the qualities of spirit which God has revealed.
In this context, note the Rambam’s statements in Hilchot Melachim 9:1. After relating the seven universal laws given to Noach and his descendants, the Rambam states:
In addition to these, Abraham was commanded regarding circumcision. He instituted the
morning prayer. Isaac separated tithes and added another prayer service towards evening.
Jacob added the prohibition against eating the gid hanasheh, the “displaced nerve,” and
instituted the evening prayers.
Thus, the mantle of leadership passed to Kehat and then to Amram, Moses’ father.
This describes the initial period of the Jews’ stay in Egypt, when they prospered both spiritually and materially.
The entire period of the Egyptian exile lasted 210 years. As long as Jacob’s sons were living, the Jews preserved the heritage of their fathers and were treated with honor by the Egyptians. The last of Jacob’s sons to die was Levi. After his death, the spiritual level of the Jews descended. Levi lived 137 years. He was 44 when he entered Egypt. Thus, this spiritual descent occurred 93 years after the Jews entered Egypt.
When the Jews adopted Egyptian values, as a reflection of their spiritual state, they were enslaved by the Egyptians.
The tribe of Levi was also the only tribe which perpetuated the mitzvah of circumcision (Sifri, Berachah). As a result of their spiritual fortitude, the tribe of Levi was never enslaved.
Our Sages relate that, in the Egyptian exile, the Jews had descended to the forty-ninth degree of impurity. Had they descended another level, it would have been impossible for us ever to be redeemed.
This is a reference to Deuteronomy 7:7-8: “It is not because of your greatness over all the other nations that God desired you and chose you..., but it was because of God’s love for you and because He kept the oath He swore to your fathers.”
Rav David Arameah notes that the word עשה, rendered as “brought forth,” literally means “made.” He explains that from Moses’ birth, God granted him the potential to develop unique spiritual awareness. Although the Rambam also accepts this concept (see the Guide for the Perplexed, Vol. II, Chapter 32), it is more likely that he chose this expression as a reference to I Samuel 12:6 (Rav Kapach).
See Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah 7:6, where the Rambam elaborates on the advantages Moses had over all the other prophets. Indeed, in his Commentary on the Mishnah (Introduction to Chapter 10 of Sanhedrin), he includes belief in the supremacy of Moses’ prophecy as the seventh of his Thirteen Principles of Faith.
After 117 years of idol worship and slavery.
As will be explained in the subsequent chapters. The Rambam's elaboration on the negative experience of our people in Egypt and the giving of the Torah has the following implication. Although man can appreciate the futile nature of idol worship and the greatness of God with his own intellect, because man is fallible, it is necessary to have these principles institutionalized in an objective, unchanging religious code (Likkutei Sichot, Vol. 20).