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This afternoon (2/15/21 at YBT) in our Rambam Bekius chavurah we took up a side-quest: to defend the Rambam against a charge leveled by the Riaz (R' Yeshaya Acharon di'Trani). The Rambam famously held that one who believes that Hashem has a body or an appearance qualifies as a "min" (heretic). The Riaz, like the Raavad, disagreed with the Rambam's psak and explains his reasoning. Our defense was drawn from the best Rambam defender of them all: the Rambam himself! The Rambam reveals the mistaken premise on which the Riaz's conclusion is based. Since today is Presidents Day, we then read an excerpt from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson on the topic of Jewish morality in which he relies on an "expert" historian of philosophy who commits the same error as the Riaz. Lastly, we read an excerpt from Rabbi Dr. Joshua Berman's book, "Ani Maamin: Biblical Criticism, Historical Truth, and the Thirteen Principles of Faith," which frames the errors of both men as an example of fallacious anachronistic thinking.
IMPORTANT NOTE: All references to the Rid (רי"ד) in this shiur are really supposed to be references to the Riaz (ריא"ז). At the beginning of shiur I noted that there are two Rishonim named R' Isaiah di'Trani. I mistakenly thought that they were only differentiated by their titles "the Older" and "the Younger" and that the acronyms of רי"ד and ריא"ז were used for both. Turns out that they are really two different people! My sincerest apologies to the רי"ד for misrepresenting his views.
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מקורות:
ריא"ז - קונטרס הראיות סנהדרין דף פח עמוד ב - צ עמוד א
רמב"ם - פירוש המשניות, מנחות ד:א
Letter from Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (10/12/1813)
Rabbi Dr. Joshua Berman - "Ani Maamin: Biblical Criticism, Historical Truth, and the Thirteen Principles of Faith," pp.191-193
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Bekius Disclaimer:
Note that this is a bekius chavurah - as opposed to an iyun shiur. Each session consists of us reading through the Rambam's writings together without much preparation on my part, and without going into depth by consulting commentaries or primary sources. For all these reasons, there are bound to be inaccuracies, errors, and other types of shortcomings which would not be acceptable in a prepared shiur, but are quite typical of a bekius chavurah. Please bear this in mind, and know what you're signing up for when you listen!
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