Rambam Bekius

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (2/3/21 at YBT) we began Hilchos Yesodei ha'Torah Chapter 5. We were quite taken aback by the difference in his presentation when compared to the Sefer ha'Mitzvos. As usual, we made many observations raised many questions, and were even able to answer a few of them. We finished the overview today, and we'll co...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (2/2/21 at YBT, from Seattle) we reviewed what we learned yesterday in preparation for today's topic: chilul ha'Shem, as formulated by the Rambam in the Sefer ha'Mitzvos. Considering the Rambam's opening statement that this mitzvah is simply "the opposite of kidush ha'Shem," we were surpris...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Today was the first day of our spring semester, and our first day back after a two-week break! This afternoon (2/1/21 at YBT, from Seattle) we began with a brief interlude prompted by a friend's comment on a Facebook post of mine in which he said about the Rambam: "the dude liked making lists." That comment, even though it w...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (2/1/21 at YBT, from Seattle) we began learning the next pair of topics on our agenda: kidush ha'Shem and chilul ha'Shem. We started with the mitzvah of kidush ha'Shem as formulated by the Rambam in the Sefer ha'Mitzvos, which differs markedly from his presentation in the Mishneh Torah and also from the c...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (1/13/21 at YBT) we (re)learned the final halachos in Yesodei ha'Torah Chapter 4, thereby concluding the chapters about the topics referred to as "Pardes" (the "Orchard"). We then compared and contrasted the Rambam's descriptions of ahavas Hashem and Yiras Hashem here and in Chapter 2. We then r...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (1/11/21 at YBT) we went back to the difficult halachos we did last Thursday in an attempt to understand the Rambam's definition of the soul - or should I say definitions (plural) of souls (plural). This time around we got it much clearer, thanks in part to Mortimer J. Adler, Leon R. Kass, and the rest and recharging pr...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (1/7/21 at YBT) we continued in the Rambam's overview of Maaseh Bereishis. After a few halachos about the elements we arrived at what is, to me, one of the most vexing passages in the Mishneh Torah: the Rambam's explanation of the human soul. Every time I learn these halachos, I understand some things and fail to u...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (1/6/21 at YBT) we plunged headfirst into the Rambam's perek about Aristotelian astronomy - or, as one of my friends put it, neuroastrophysics. Some might be surprised by how much insight we were able to gain from this perek, despite it almost all being outdated. We started Chapter 4 and will HOPEFULLY get to the part w...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (1/5/21 at YBT) finished the Moreh ha'Nevuchim 1:34 on why a person shouldn't begin with metaphysics, raising additional questions along the way which we hope to revisit one day. We then began Hilchos Yesodei ha'Torah Chapter 3, which is an overview of Maaseh Bereishis in accordance with Aristotelian astronomy...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (12/31/20 at YBT) we began reading the Rambam's explanations/warnings in the Moreh ha'Nevuchim about metaphysics. We read through Book 1 Chapters 31-32 on the limitations of the human intellect, Chapter 33 on the danger of beginning with metaphysics, and we made it part way through Chapter 34 on the five reasons wh...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (12/30/20 at YBT) we finished the Rambam's commentary on Chagigah 2:1, in which he explained why the teaching and learning of Maaseh Merkavah (metaphysics) and Maaseh Bereishis (physics) are restricted. We then skipped ahead in the Mishneh Torah to Hilchos Yesodei ha'Torah 4:10-13, where he compares and contrasts M...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (12/29/20 at YBT) we went on a little side-quest in an attempt to answer a question we raised yesterday. The Rambam raised the question: How can angels be differentiated from each other if they aren't physical, since it would seem that non-physical things can only be differentiated based on corporeal qualities? He then...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (12/29/20 at YBT) we read the Rambam's remarks about maaseh merkavah (a.k.a. "the work of the chariot" a.k.a. "metaphysics") at the end of the 2nd chapter of the Mishneh Torah, then took a detour to the first source where he addresses this topic, which is his commentary on Chagigah 2:1. Tomorrow we w...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (12/28/20 at YBT) we learned through the first part of the Rambam's overview of "maaseh merkavah" (metaphysics) in the Mishneh Torah which focused primarily on angels and secondarily on Hashem's knowledge. Needless to say, there was a lot we didn't understand. By definition, these are the most esoter...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (12/24/20 at YBT) we set out to answer as many questions as we could on the Rambam's views of ahavas Hashem and yiras Hashem, and - with help from the Almighty - we succeeded in large measure! We managed to put together a comprehensive picture of the relationship between the Rambam's varied presentations of these t...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (12/22/20 at YBT) we continued trying to reconcile the differences and contradictions between the Rambam's presentations of ahavas Hashem and yiras Hashem in the Sefer ha'Mitzvos, in Hilchos Yesodei ha'Torah, and in Hilchos Teshuvah. We began with an unlikely source: the Rambam's commentary on Pirkei Avos...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (12/21/20 at YBT) our Rambam bekius chavurah took up the mitzvah of ahavas Hashem (love of God). We consulted three sources: the Rambam's initial presentation in the Sefer ha'Mitzvos: Aseh #3, his formal presentation of the laws in Hilchos Yesodei ha'Torah 2:1-2, and his description of the oved me'ahavah...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (12/17/20 at YBT), on the eve of the Eighth Night, we concluded our bekius learning of the Rambam's Hilchos Chanukah. Since this was the first time in our Rambam Bekius Chavurah that we reached the end of one of the 14 books of the Mishneh Torah, we spent some time discussing what the Rambam typically does at the end of...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (12/16/20 at YBT), after a Chanukah break, we resumed our bekius learning of the Rambam's Hilchos Chanukah. We read through the halachos of Hallel, which raised quite a few eyebrows - especially when we saw what the Rambam's Hallel looks like in the Rambam Siddur. We got about halfway through the halachos of Neiros...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Seeing as how it's Erev Chanukah, in today's Rambam Bekius chavurah (12/10/20 at YBT) we decided to learn the Chanukah portion of Hilchos Megilah v'Chanukah. We read the opening halachos about the establishment of Chanukah, raising questions and making observations as is our wont, and I briefly gave over my working theory as...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In today's Rambam Bekius chavurah (12/9/20 at YBT) we reviewed the halachos we learned yesterday with the goal of understanding each new point the Rambam was making, with all of its nuances. As we have found throughout our Rambam Bekius journey, a close-reading of the Rambam reveals far more questions and problems than a first, second...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In today's Rambam Bekius chavurah (12/8/20 at YBT) we read through the Rambam's detailed treatment of Hashem's incorporeality in the second half of Hilchos Yesodei ha'Torah Chapter 1. We had been through these halachos before, but we - well, at least I - had never really thought into each point. When we did, we realized...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Today's Rambam Bekius chavurah (12/7/20 at YBT) entailed more questions than answers, among them: What does the Rambam mean in Hilchos Yesodei ha'Torah 1:6 by "the great fundamental principle which everything else is dependent upon"? What is the relationship between this phrase here and the same phrase in Hilchos Krias...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In today's Rambam Bekius chavurah (12/3/20 at YBT) we addressed the classic "contradiction" between the Rambam's formulation of the first mitzvah in the Sefer ha'Mitzvos, which uses the Arabic term translated by ibn Tibbon as "emunah" (belief), and his formulation of that same mitzvah in the Mishneh Torah...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In today's Rambam Bekius chavurah (12/2/20 at YBT) we attempted to answer the questions we raised yesterday on the Rambam's Mishneh Torah: Sefer ha'Mada, Hilchos Yesodei ha'Torah 1:1-6. We got some answers and didn't get others, but we definitely achieved our goal of thinking into the halachos! We conluded by going...