Avodah Mailing List

Volume 14 : Number 051

Sunday, January 2 2005

• Re: Machshava Classics - Drafting a 4 year Syllabus
• Midrash
• Why Are You Sleeping
• Re: Why Are You Sleeping
• Re: Why Are You Sleeping
• Re: Why Are You Sleeping
• Re:Torah and Allegory
• Re: Light, Apollo Dust, History
• Re: Light, Apollo Dust, History
• Re: Three angels real or a vision?
• Re: Machshava Classics - Drafting a 4 year Syllabus
• Re: Light, Apollo Dust, History
• Association of Positive Mitzvot with Days of Year?
• Re: Association of Positive Mitzvot with Days of Year?
• Re: Association of Positive Mitzvot with Days of Year?
• [none]
• Mezuzah during Shema
• Re: Torah and Science
• Re: Three angels real or a vision?
• Re: Association of Positive Mitzvot with Days of Year?
• Re: Association of Positive Mitzvot with Days of Year?
• RE: Torah and Science
• ad hayom hazeh
• RE: Torah and Allegory (Moreh Nevuchim on Science)

On Wed, Dec 29, 2004 at 07:50:12AM -0500, RYGB wrote:
:       In fact, a good machashavah curriculum for five years is one volume 
: of MME per year, as they get successively more profound.

In my experince the 2nd half of vol I and the first part of vol II are
of the more profound portions. You can tell -- they're the ones I found
most easy to mine for MmD material!

-mi

R. Yosef Deutsch's "Let My Nation Go" on p.108
reference number 53 quotes "Yalkut Bnei Yerushalayim"?
Where/what is this midrash?

Chaim
hgschild@yahoo.com

"Several weeks ago I publicized an essay concerning the great earthquake
that happened in our land.  In that essay I encouraged Kelal Yisrael to
do teshuva and that the earthquake was a warning to the entire world that
they should repent of their evil ways and believe in Hashem Who controls
all.  Not for naught did all these terrifying and frightening things of
this year come upon us.

And now, we hear new and terrifying information about the great flood
that took place in our land and the great earthquake that took place in
Russia in which were killed and injured thousands of men, women and
children and many livestock;  many of them were buried alive.  Even in
our land we experienced some tremors of this earthquakd.

Certainly any thinking person should be gripped by fear and trembling as
to what Hashem has done to us. The One who is good and does good to all
and is merciful on all of His creations, and does not even desire the
death of the wicked, as it says 'By My life, says Hashem, I do not desire
the death of the wicked one, but rather that he repent and live'
(Yechezkel 33).

The understanding person will realize that Hashem is urging us to do
teshuva and is showing us all that He has the power to as He pleases, and
none of His creations of above or below can tell Him what to do.  And it
is clear to me that if we had prophets sent from Hashem, they would
without doubt be standing guard to urge Jews to do teshuva to our Father
in heaven.

Because, with our evil deeds we have no prophets or divine messengers in
our times, He is urging us through other messengers to do teshuva, as it
says 'He makes winds-his messengers;  burning fire-his servants'"

Translated from a letter from the Chofetz Chaim, Erev Yom Kippur 1925,
reproduced on the front page of this week's Hamodia.

Gershon
gershon.dubin@juno.com

[Bounced from an Am Echad Resources submission, December 30, 2004. -mi]

TIDAL WAVES
Rabbi Avi Shafran

On September 1, 1923, one of the most powerful earthquakes in recorded
history hit the Kanto plain in Japan and laid waste to Tokyo, Yokohama
and surrounding cities and villages; well over 100,000 people perished.
Although it was before the advent of modern communications, news of
the disaster reached distant places. Even the Polish town of Radin,
the home of the "Chofetz Chaim."

His real name was Rabbi Yisroel Meir Kagan, but the sainted Jewish
scholar came to be know by that snippet of a Hebrew verse -- it means
"one who wants life" -- after the name of one of the 21 works he authored
on Jewish law, this one on the prohibition of improper speech like gossip
and tale-bearing. He was one of the (if not the) most important decisors
of Jewish law of the 20th century (he died in 1933 at the age of 95),
renowned world-wide not only for his scholarship but for his kindness,
righteousness and modesty. He and his wife subsisted as the proprietors
of a small grocery store, whose finances he carefully scrutinized,
on alert always for any possible overcharging of a customer.

When a student informed the elderly sage of the mass deaths in Japan,
he was visibly shaken, immediately undertook a partial fast and insisted
that the news should spur all Jews to repentance.

Japan could as well have been Neptune to any early 19th century Polish
Jew. It was a place that existed only on newspapers' pages and in
stories. And the inverse relationship between distance (cultural and
religious, as well as geographic) and empathy is a well -- recognized
part of human nature.

Yet the Chofetz Chaim's dismay and resolve were genuine. Although there
were not likely any Jews directly affected by the tragedy in Japan,
the 13th century Spanish Jewish luminary Rabbeinu Yonah of Gerundi, in
his commentary to Avot (3:2) describes how "the way of the righteous"
is to "... pray for the peace of the entire world and feel the suffering
of others."

But there is something more in the Jewish sources, something that might
surprise many contemporary Jews: the idea that catastrophes, even when
they do not affect Jews, are nevertheless messages for them, wake-up
calls to repentance. Insurers call such occurrences "Act of G-d"; for
Jews, that description is precise indeed, and demands a response.

It is, to be sure, a very particularist idea, placing Jews in a central
place within humankind. But, while Judaism considers all of humanity to
possess potential holiness and while its prophetic tradition foretells
the eventual movement of all of humanity to service of G-d, Judaism
does in fact cast the Jews as a chosen people. That election includes
the responsibility to perceive Divine messages in the trials of humankind.

And so that is an additional layer to the Chofetz Chaim's reaction, the
conviction that the distinctive nature of the Jew demanded a meaningful
Jewish response to the catastrophe that had occurred.

The impetus for recalling that event and those thoughts, of course, is the
recent horrific disaster in Southeast Asia. The death toll, astounding
even in the days immediately following the tsunami's devastation of
the coasts of several countries, has grown more shocking still with the
passage of the days.

Nations have responded with aid, and countless hearts, including
Jewish ones, have ached at the images and reports of parents seeking,
or mourning, children; of children seeking, or mourning, parents; of
lives altered radically and terribly; of others snuffed out in seconds.

But, at least from a truly Jewish perspective, there is a special reaction
to those events that Jews must feel and act upon. Mass destruction has
visited the world, and that cannot be something a Jew simply takes note
of before moving on.

A revered contemporary Jewish sage in Israel, Rabbi Aharon Leib Steinman,
was reported to have remarked shortly after the recent devastation
in Asia: "Everyone sits in his own home and feels good -- 'Where I am
everything is fine, it's over there that people are dying' --... we have
to learn [from such tragedies] the extent of what sin causes, and it is
up to us to analyze and learn... [so that we will] repent."

That repentance goes far beyond donations to relief agencies. What the
Jewish sources teach is that tragic events like the one we have just
witnessed must spur us to not only address global events but to focus
on the microcosm that is the self. To work, in other words, on our
interactions with those around us; on -- as the Chofetz Chaim taught --
our responsibility to use the power of speech carefully and properly;
on being more observant of the Sabbath and holidays, of kashrut and all
the laws of the Torah; on dedicating more time to its study.

That is the secret of how we can create a better world and vanquish evil
-- the source of all tragedy -- at its very roots.

For when we do such things, the seeming tiny quanta of our collective
merits can combine and swell, no less than drops of water that make
up an ocean, into a tidal wave of goodness, ushering in the day when,
as the prophet Isaiah (11:9) foretold, "the earth will be filled with
knowledge of G-d, like the water that covers the oceans."

(C) AM ECHAD RESOURCES
[Rabbi Avi Shafran is director of public affairs for Agudath Israel
of America]

On Thu, Dec 30, 2004 at 12:45:41PM -0500, RAviShafran wrote:
: It is, to be sure, a very particularist idea, placing Jews in a central
: place within humankind. But, while Judaism considers all of humanity to
: possess potential holiness and while its prophetic tradition foretells
: the eventual movement of all of humanity to service of G-d, Judaism
: does in fact cast the Jews as a chosen people. That election includes
: the responsibility to perceive Divine messages in the trials of humankind.

While R' Yonah makes this point, the CC seems to be giving a universal
message. I think RAS gives the misleading impression that the two were
in agreement.

To quote the relevent line from RGD's translation of the letter:
> Several weeks ago I publicized an essay concerning the great earthquake
> that happened in our land.  In that essay I encouraged Kelal Yisrael to
> do teshuva and that the earthquake was a warning to the entire world that
> they should repent of their evil ways and believe in Hashem Who controls
> all.  Not for naught did all these terrifying and frightening things of
> this year come upon us.

RYMK encourages his audience, kelal Yisrael. But he explicitly says the
message is for "the entire world that they should repent".

-mi

-- 
Micha Berger             The purely righteous do not complain about evil,
micha@aishdas.org        but add justice , don't complain about heresy,
http://www.aishdas.org   but add faith, don't complain about ignorance,
Fax: (270) 514-1507      but add wisdom.     - R AY Kook, Arpilei Tohar

On Thu, Dec 30, 2004 at 02:42:53PM -0500, I wrote:
: While R' Yonah makes this point, the CC seems to be giving a universal
: message. I think RAS gives the misleading impression that the two were
: in agreement.

I erred because RAS was discussing the previous speech the the CC was
referring to, not the letter itself. He said it was in response to the
earthquest, I should have deduced it. Still, in the letter he describes
his message as:
:> that happened in our land.  In that essay I encouraged Kelal Yisrael to
:> do teshuva and that the earthquake was a warning to the entire world that
:> they should repent of their evil ways and believe in Hashem Who controls
:> all....
So I think my point stands.

However, the gemara is particularist about it. But I wonder, what's the
gemara's message? That history revolves around Jews? Or that Hashem
uses tragedies to wake people up, but has had yi'ush that anyone but
the Jews would?

As already posted here repeatedly, I'm not a big one for finding
reason for tragedy. To paraphrase RYBS, any attempt to do so is either
intellectually dishonest or emotionally frigid.

We must make a very clear distinction, one we also see in the wording
the CC uses: We are to take lessons from tragedy. The error comes in
when we confuse a lesson with a reason.

-mi

-- 
Micha Berger             When you come to a place of darkness,
micha@aishdas.org        you don't chase out the darkness with a broom.
http://www.aishdas.org   You light a candle.
Fax: (270) 514-1507        - R' Yekusiel Halberstam of Klausenberg zt"l

> remember the first rashi - all of sefer breshit is, in some sense,
> superfluous to the ikkar hatora - although there are clear lessons to

WAR, one can quarrel with the above gloss placed on Rashi. Rashi clearly
states that Sefer Breishis is the basis of our claim to EY, one that is
a bedrock to Judaism, as opposed to being "superfluous."

Steve Brizel
Zeliglaw@aol.com

From: Micha Berger <micha@aishdas.org>
> Michael Frankel wrote:
>: if by "revised chronology" of exodus/Egypt you mean velikovskian
> : history...

> Acutally, he said he was referring to the word of Brad Aaronson and
> Lisa Liel. The version Brad Aasronson wrote for Jewish Action is on
> Lisa's web site at http://www.starways.net/lisa/essays/exodus.html>,and
> there are s...

clicked on your link.  this IS velikovskian.

Mechy Frankel
Michael.frankel@osd.mil
mfrankel@empc.org
michaeljfrankel@gmail.com

On Thu, Dec 30, 2004 at 03:34:25PM -0500, Michael Frankel wrote:
: clicked on your link.  this IS velikovskian.

No, it's a revisionist theory with many conculsions similar to
Velikovsky's. Their reasoning is based on far saner postulates than
things like his theory one Venus.

-mi

-- 
Micha Berger             The mind is a wonderful organ
micha@aishdas.org        for justifying decisions
http://www.aishdas.org   the heart already reached.
Fax: (270) 514-1507      

In  Avodah V14 #50 dated 12/30/2004  RMB writes:
>: Malachim may be  given temporary bodies for a particular mission (no
>: harder to accept, in  principle, than a neshama clothed in a body--which
>: is what human beings  are)...

RMB:
> It's not harder to accept, it simply violates his  definition of mal'akh.

Which only begs the question. Why did he define Mal'ach as [always,
necessarily] an incorporeal being? Or to rephrase what I said at first:
I have no problem defining "mal'ach" differently than the Rambam did.

 -Toby  Katz
=============

In  Avodah V14 #50 dated 12/30/2004 RRW writes:
> Semester 1(Tanach)
> Mishle or Iyyov.  {I would consider  Iyyov a more advanced text}  I have not 
> identified a definitive  peirush, but, so far Rashi or Malbim, or ???  

Consider using R' S.R. Hirsch on Mislei. He couldn't be your definitive
peirush, of course, but he's well worth reading.

 -Toby  Katz
=============

In  Avodah V14 #50 dated 12/30/2004 RMF writes:
> if by "revised chronology" of exodus/Egypt you mean velikovskian
> history, it is not different today than it's ever been,
> i.e. unacceptable. personally, I'm quite fond of velikovsky (a"h) and
> am very familiar with his body of work. I've also read every one of
> his published volumes -- including his historical series -- (ramses and
> his times, peoples of the sea, etc) and he is always entertaining --
> a much better writer than his critics. but he is(was), alas, a quack.
> michael.frankel@osd.mil mfrankel@empc.org

I never thought that R' Mechy and I would agree about anything, but we
agree about Velikovsky. He was a very good writer and a total quack.
In my teens I loved his stuff. I thought it was non-fiction. I've
always admired the people who write the National Enquirer and other
tabloids, because making up your own news, especially if you want it
to be lively and entertaining, is much harder than just reporting what
actually happened. I feel much the same way about Velikovsky.

 -Toby  Katz
=============

A friend recently mentioned having heard that the 365 positive mitzvot
were each linked to a specific day of the year.

Can anyone direct me to a source for this association? It was somewhat
surprising to me, because it would seem connected to the solar calendar,
rather than to the Jewish (lunar) calendar. That is, I would think the
Jewish calendar does not necessarily have 365 days in a year.

Any further information would be much appreciated.  Thanks!

Amirom Singer
msinger@alumni.uchicago.edu

In a message dated 12/31/04 6:18:32am EST, mike_a_singer@yahoo.com writes:
> Can anyone direct me to a source for this association? It was somewhat
> surprising to me, because it would seem connected to the solar calendar,
> rather than to the Jewish (lunar) calendar. That is, I would think the
> Jewish calendar does not necessarily have 365 days in a year.

See the end of the Hakdamas haRambam to Mishne Torah, "Siman Lohem Minyan
Yimei *Shnas Hachamah*"

Kol  Tuv,
Yitzchok Zirkind

On Fri, Dec 31, 2004 at 09:27:20AM -0500, Yzkd@aol.com wrote:
: In a message dated 12/31/04 6:18:32am EST, mike_a_singer@yahoo.com writes:
:> Can anyone direct me to a source for this association? It was somewhat
:> surprising to me, because it would seem connected to the solar calendar,
:> rather than to the Jewish (lunar) calendar. That is, I would think the
:> Jewish calendar does not necessarily have 365 days in a year.

: See the end of the Hakdamas haRambam to Mishne Torah, "Siman Lohem Minyan
: Yimei *Shnas Hachamah*"

I think it's less surprising when you realize that "shenas hachamh"
is an astronomical phenomenon, not a calendar. The Gregorian calendar
is based on an approximation of the solar year, the Julian calendar is
based on another one.

:-)BBii!
-mi

-- 
Micha Berger             One doesn't learn mussar to be a tzaddik,
micha@aishdas.org        but to become a tzaddik.
http://www.aishdas.org                         - Rav Yisrael Salanter
Fax: (270) 514-1507      

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Date: Fri, 31 Dec 2004 12:09:24 EST
Subject: Re: Association of Positive Mitzvot with Days of Year?
To: avodah@aishdas.org
CC: mike_a_singer@yahoo.com
MIME-Version: 1.0

In a message dated 12/31/04 6:18:32am EST, mike_a_singer@yahoo.com writes:
> A friend recently mentioned having heard that the 365 positive mitzvot
> were each linked to a specific day of the year.

You meant 365 Lo Sasei ?
 
Kol  Tuv,
Yitzchok Zirkind

I am looking for a reference about an old minhag(?) I vaguely recall
that during Shema, not only would the davener kiss tzitzis and touch his
tefillin but also kiss the mezuzah. This custom was suppressed (again
what I want is the source for this) due to an attack on being to literal.

Chaim
hgschild@yahoo.com

On Tue, Dec 28, 2004 at 07:53:35PM -0500, Shinnar, Meir wrote:
: I remember similar discussions - but my recollections is that those
: discussions focus on a different issue - is the navel merely a sign
: that one is born (and therefore its presence in adam superfluous and
: misleading) or a natural part of human physiognomy - regardless of its
: origin -and therefore adam, as a perfect physical specimen, had one.

: The notion of the world appearing older, rather than being created fully...

I disagree. It's an argument that "being created fully" is justification
for evidence of a history that never occured. Whether it's Adam's birth
or the universe as a whole. Pretty similar to RZS's argument.

However, the difference is that G-d made many humans, and therefore
there is a norm and ideal that one could ask if Adam conformed to. In the
case of the universe, "being created fully" is an arbitrary designation.
This is the same problem as the one I had with RZS's argument; you can't
call the universe's false history the product of an Artistic Realist,
as there is no other reality for Him to make our universe look like.
He could have made the universe look young, give it scientific
plausibility, and stayed away from misleading people about the age.

On Tue, Dec 28, 2004 at 03:29:04PM -0500, Shinnar, Meir wrote:
: Because the mesora itself ascribes normative value to zechirat yetziat
: mitzrayim - (mitzva of zechirat yetziat mitzraim) ...

I think I much better understand your position. The difference between
us (other than the difference in how we see the Rambam) is not in the
authority you give that you believe that mesorah doesn't address anything
beyond law and values (including Hil' Dei'os). Therefore you would take
the same approach as I would in cases where you see the statement is
truly mesorah, and not chazal's attempt to relate to mesorah, but that's
far fewewr cases than where I would apply it.

And that's why you understand the Rambam's second criterion for
allegorization, that it not run afoul of a major precept of our nevi'im
and chachamim, as being on this very point -- a "major precept" is one
required by halakhah.

Did I get it right?

And if so, do you have a source for saying that TSBP is of such limited
scope?

Batei Hillel veShamai can argue over whether it's better to be born or
not, and "nimnu vegamru", not "they're both conjecturing based on the
Torah, not Torah itself". Aggadita lacks rules of pesaq, but still has
concepts that are miSinai. And thus the divergence over which historical
points can't be declared allegory, as well as which aggadic points
thje Rambam considers significant.

Leshitahskha, how do you know which beliefs are mandated (eg a literal
exodus) and therefore actual TSBP and which were not (a literal week
commemorated by Shabbos)? What details of tezi'as Mitzrayim and matan
Torah are inviolate? If the critical naarative points must be accepted
as history, itwould seem that you just argued for RZL's position! As
we say in qiddush, and the Torah says repeatedly, "zeicher lema'aseh
bereishis". If a mitzvah of zechirah rules out allegorization, than
ma'aseh bereishis must be literal!


I wrote something about the medrash quoted in the first Rashi, but I see
now while moderating that RSB wrote a similar idea first. However, he only
addressed the value of Bereishis only in the terms of R' Yitzchaq's point,
our connection to Eretz Yisrael. However, as Rashi himself later states,
much of the value of bereishis is that it gives us examples of Divine
and human behavior to learn from. We see Hashem as Malbish aumim and
Rofei cholim,he is mevaqeir choleh and melaveh hameis, Avraham runs to
do chesed, etc... Rashi and the Ramban, as well as Chazal's explanation
for why it was called Seifer haEisanim, find the core of the book to be
about Hilkhos Dei'os. I would conclude from Bereishis' inclusion that
that too, not just black-letter din (and EY), is essential to yahadus.

:-)BBii!
-mi

-- 
Micha Berger             Man is equipped with such far-reaching vision,
micha@aishdas.org        yet the smallest coin can obstruct his view.
http://www.aishdas.org                         - Rav Yisrael Salanter
Fax: (270) 514-1507      

RYGB wrote:
>>Are you referring to a different quote?

> Firstly, he says that if it is true about a regular dream *kol she'kein"
> in a nevuah. But a nevuah is beyond a dream.

I still don't see it. R' Avraham b"haRambam's explanation of how Yaaqov
could be injured by getting hit in a nevu'ah (v. 26) seems to be quite
clearly contrasting them quantitatively, not qualitatively. He directly
denies the proposition, calling it "eino metzi'us". He says that instead
it is dimyon. Then he speaks of someone who "yir'eh bachalomo ke'ilu" and
calls its effects that of dimyon. "And if it's so for a *chalom haragil"
implying that a nevu'ah is a chalom that isn't ragil, not a different
beryah, and in fact uses the parallel turn of phrase as in the opening
"mar'eh nevu'ah".

Both are "mar'eh", both are the product of dimyon, a chalom is
distinguished from nevu'ah by the use of the word ragil and RAbhRMBM
opens by saying that nevu'ah "eino metzi'us". He never distinguishes them
in kind, only that one is a regular use of re'iyaho beko'ach hadimyon,
the other a more powerful use.

But moving on to your cite:
> Moreover, the quote I was actually referring to is the one in pasuk 30
> - that Yaakov perceived the mareh as "reality," and it was only upon
> "awakening" that he realized that his fiht had been in a prophecy.

Actually, RAbhRMBM speaks of the Yaaqov of the chazon not realizing it
-- "lo alah al libo *bechezyono*". As though it's not the real Yaaqov,
and in the super-dream of nevu'ah, the "I" of his dream didn't realize it.

But maybe you should just made your point slower and in greater detail,
so that I'm able to follow.

:-)BBii!
-mi

-- 
Micha Berger             You will never "find" time for anything.
micha@aishdas.org        If you want time, you must make it.
http://www.aishdas.org                     - Charles Buxton
Fax: (270) 514-1507

In a message dated 12/31/04 12:11:22pm EST,  micha@aishdas.org writes:
> I think  it's less surprising when you realize that "shenas hachamh"
> is an  astronomical phenomenon, not a calendar. The Gregorian calendar
> is based on  an approximation of the solar year, the Julian calendar is
> based on another  one.

Check Pitum Haktores, and continuation in Tanya Bar  Kapara " Achas Lshishim 
Oi Lshivi'im Shana Hoy'sa Va Shel Shirayim  Lachatzoin"

Kol  Tuv,
Yitzchok Zirkind

On Fri, Dec 31, 2004 at 12:45:38PM -0500, Yzkd@aol.com wrote:
:> I think  it's less surprising when you realize that "shenas hachamh"
:> is an  astronomical phenomenon, not a calendar. The Gregorian calendar
:> is based on  an approximation of the solar year, the Julian calendar is
:> based on another  one.

: Check Pitum Haktores, and continuation in Tanya Bar  Kapara " Achas Lshishim 
: Oi Lshivi'im Shana Hoy'sa Va Shel Shirayim  Lachatzoin"

What would you hope I'd conclude from that?

(BTW, I don't know what's included in parashas Ketores in Nusach Ari,
but I say that "tani bar Kaparah" every morning in Qorbanos.)

:-)BBii!
-mi

R' Meir Shinnar wrote:
> The notion of the world appearing older, rather than being created fully,
> doesn't appear (eg,no one claims that adam, even though created in the
> prime of life, had memories or mementoes of his childhood.....) in any
> classical source

Even if Adam was created as an adult, his lack of childhood memories
serves -- for him -- as evidence of that fact, and therefore he is not
being fooled. He remembers being the only human on earth, and he remembers
his failed search for a mate. His experiences of these things cannot be
compared to anyone else's situation, and so I don't see how his personal
experiences and memories might be used for either side of this argument.

That's why I phrased my post in terms of *Chava's* experiences:
> if HaShem would create Adam in such a fashion that would give Chava
> the impression that Adam had once been a child, then He might also have
> created the planet Earth in such a fashion that it would give us the
> impression that it too had once had a "childhood".

Akiva Miller

I came across a Rashi (Breishit 22:14) and Metzudat David (Yehoshua
4:9) that seem to say that this is always to be taken literally even in
our time. The gemora (yoma 54a) seems not that way.

Any insights
KT
Joel Rich

> On Sat, Dec 18, 2004 at 09:19:14PM -0500, Jonathan Ostroff wrote:
> : What I did say was that the "apparent absoluteness of nature is merely
> : a figment of the imagination". Do you disagree? [See below]

[RMB]
> Yes, I disagree that the Rambam believes that. He describes nature as an
> emanation from G-d in Yesodei haTorah peraqim 1 and 2 and MN II ch 49,
> as you cite. However, all of absolute reality short of G-d has this
> contingency -- it doesn't equate to being non-absolute.

The Rambam does not mention the word "emanation" in Hilchos Yesodei
Hatorah in the passages I quoted. To my knowledge, neo-platonic emanation
is a *necessary* overflow from the unmoved impersonal first mover,
and is not dependent on the free Will of the Creator (contra the Rambam).

Here are three things that the Rambam states as Torah facts -- facts
that the philosophers (Aristotle, Plato, Epicurus etc.) denied:

1. Nature was created by G-d.

2. Nature is not fixed, i.e. miracles can happen at any time. This is
because G-d continually sustains nature by His Will and His Wisdom.

3. Nature responds to our moral actions by G-d's Decree and Wisdom.

The Rambam clearly and unambiguously states that nature (which is
contingent) does not have the same reality and existence as G-d (who
has necessary existence).

"All existence depends upon Him and He, may He be blessed, does not depend
upon them. Therefore, His Reality is not like their reality. . He alone is
Real and nothing else has reality like His Reality. The same thought is
expressed by the Torah in the verse "There is nothing else besides Him."
That is, there is no being besides Him that is really like Him."

> In the Moreh that you cite (I ch 69) he shows that the G-d-as-Maker
> and G-d-as-Agent perspectives are identical. (He does this because of
> a weird accident. Averroes, who translated Aristotle to Arabic, thought
> that Plotinus's Enneads were by Aristotle. The Rambam therefore thought
> that Aristotle believed in both the First Cause and Emanationism. The
> latter is really neoPlatonism.)

There is no evidence, to my knowledge, that Averroes had any impact on
the Rambam on these issues.

KT . JSO

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