Rambam Bekius

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (10/24/22), in our Rambam Bekius mini-shiur, we learned another beautiful idea from The Kuntress on the Rambam's view of mashiv ha'ruach u'morid ha'geshem. Not only is the idea beautiful, but it also helps mitigate the pain of repeating shemoneh esrei if you forget and say the wrong thing. ----- מקורות: ל...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This morning (10/4/22), in a special Erev Yom ha'Kippurim shiur, we went through around half of a shiur from The Kuntress on Karapah and Teshuvah. Although we didn't get a chance to answer all the questions, we did succeed in getting to the main idea, which was a theory of kaparah. Towards the end we discussed at least one approa...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (10/3/22), in our last Rambam Bekius mini-shiur before the break, we reviewed the major questions from last week and then offered a new answer - one which gets to the heart of what deios are, and why we are commanded in ve'halachta bi'drachav. ----- מקורות: רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר המדע, הלכות תשובה ז:ג רמב&quot...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (9/29/22), in our Rambam Bekius mini-shiur, we reviewed the major questions from yesterday, then offered an answer based on my limited understanding of what my Rosh ha'Yeshiva said when we asked him right before maariv last night. On Monday (בג"ה) I'll share my own answer. ----- מקורות: רמב"ם - משנה תורה:...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (9/28/22), in our Rambam Bekius mini-shiur, we raised a number of thorny questions on the seventh chapter of Hilchos Teshuvah, the biggest of which is about the difference between the teshuvah described by the Rambam in 7:3 and the entire mitzvah of ve'Halachta bi'Drachav described in Hilchos Deios. ----- מקורות: ר...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (9/22/22), in our Rambam Bekius mini-shiur, we refined yesterday's approach and attempted to explain what is added by the pasuk in Mishlei. We didn't manage to develop a complete approach, but we did come up with a few insights. ----- מקורות: רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר המדע, הלכות תשובה ב:ג רלב"ג - משלי כח:יג...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (9/21/22), in our Rambam Bekius mini-shiur, we reviewed yesterday's two approaches, refined them, and attempted to unify them. We then raised two more questions: one about the other way of learning the Gemara about tovel v'sheretz b'yado, and another about the pasuk in Mishlei. We'll attempt to answer the...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (9/20/22), in our Rambam Bekius mini-shiur, we began by reviewing the five questions we raised yesterday, then started two approaches to answering them: one based on a sound methodological principle in the Mishneh Torah, and the other based on the Rambam's explanation of vidui in the Moreh ha'Nevuchim, combined wit...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (9/19/22), in our Rambam Bekius mini-shiur, we moved on to the next halacha in the Rambam which posed several difficulties. We learned through the facts and set up all the questions, and we'll attempt to answer them tomorrow. ----- מקורות: רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר המדע, הלכות תשובה ב:ג רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר טהר...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (9/15/22), in our Rambam Bekius mini-shiur, we attempted to answer two of the many questions we raised this week: (1) Why does nechamah (regret) come AFTER teshuvah instead of at the outset? (2) Why does the Rambam define teshuvah gemurah BEFORE defining teshuvah? ----- מקורות: רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר המדע, הלכות תשובה ב...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (9/14/22), in our Rambam Bekius mini-shiur, we answered one of the questions we left off with yesterday: How is it possible to require The One Who Knows Hidden Things (i.e. God) to testify about you that you will never return to your sin? That seems to be an impossibly high standard! David Fischbein, a friend of mine, gave a...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (9/13/22), in our Rambam Bekius mini-shiur, we read through the Rambam's definition of regular teshuvah (as opposed to yesterday's teshuvah gemurah) and attempted to get pshat. We ended with a few questions, which will be added to our list of questions from yesterday. The plan tomorrow is to read the pesukim cited...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (9/12/22), in our Rambam Bekius mini-shiur, we read through the Rambam's definition of teshuvah gemurah and started raising questions ... questions which we hope to answer over the course of this week. ----- מקורות: רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר המדע, הלכות תשובה ב:א-ב ----- The Torah content for the first two weeks of ye...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (9/8/22), in our Rambam Bekius mini-shiur, we began by reviewing what we covered yesterday, then finished reading the Yad Peshutah's heuristic principles for understanding the Rambam's mitzvah formulations in the Sefer ha'Mitzvos and the Minyan ha'Mitzvos. REALLY useful stuff! It makes me want to go back...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (9/7/22), in our inaugural Rambam Bekius mini-shiur, we reviewed the Rambam's four formulations of the mitzvah of teshuvah and vidui, noting their similarities and difference. Then we found a HUGE methodological principal, as revealed by Rav Nachum Rabinovitch in his Yad Peshutah commentary, which not only helped us wit...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (9/6/22), in our inaugural Rambam Bekius mini-shiur, we took a cold plunge into Hilchos Teshuvah, noting some of the "classic questions" on the Rambam's initial formulations of this mitzvah. Next time we will aim to answer some of them and/or move on to the Rambam's definition of teshuvah, which is the to...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 1-page article I wrote entitled, On Reading the Rambam's Mishneh Torah Like a Love Letter , which is part PSA and part rant regarding the widespread practice to favor the standard printed editions of the Mishneh Torah over the critical editions. ---------- This week's Torah content has b...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (6/16/22), in our last Rambam Bekius chavurah of the season, we continued reading Halbertal's analysis of the intended purpose and role of the Mishneh Torah, weighing in with our own views and supplementing his sources with sources of our own. The conclusion he reached was quite fitting for a final Rambam  Bekius chavur...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! NOTE: I forgot to read a CRITICAL source!! The Rambam's Hakdamah אות ל-לג. I intend to begin tomorrow's shiur with this. This afternoon (6/15/22), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we returned to the topic we took up on Monday: what was the Rambam thinking when he declared that a person can paskin straight from the Mishneh Torah? Af...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (6/14/22), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we decided to do a follow-up to yesterday's shiur: a sort of "demo" of the difference between the Rambam's and the Aruch ha'Shulchan's halachic treatment of the same topic. I chose the topic of Shnayim Mikra because of its size, given the fact that we on...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (6/13/22), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we took up a topic that I've wanted to address for a very long time: what the Rambam intended to accomplish with his Mishneh Torah, and what other Rishonim thought. Specifically, the Rambam clearly held that people could and should paskin straight out of the Mishneh Torah, where...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (6/9/22), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we began by reviewing some of what we did yesterday, after which we learned what the procedure for Birkas Kohanim was in Mikdash. We encountered more questions than answers, but still found everything to be quite interesting. We'll continue next week (בג"ה). ---------- מקורו...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (6/8/22), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we began learning a new and exciting topic: Birkas Kohanim, chosen in part because it's featured in this week's parashah. Today, after a brief intro about Qafih's Taryag poem, we learned through the introductory sources in the Rambam about Birkas Kohanim, followed by th...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (6/2/22), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we began learning through the halachos pertaining to Chag ha'Shavuos (a.k.a. Atzeres) in the Beis ha'Mikdash. We got through most of the halachos in a mostly bekius fashion, delving into more in-depth points here and there. We didn't finish the perek, but we at least go...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (6/1/22), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we took up a one-day topic which (unfortunately) was very practical for me this week. The good news is that my recent experience with these halachos gave me new insight into several things that I wouldn't have otherwise seen. Miraculously, we actually did "bekius" today...