Q&A: Belief in the Principle of "Torah from Heaven"
Belief in the Principle of "Torah from Heaven"
Question
Hello Rabbi,
How does the Rabbi understand Maimonides' eighth principle?
Does the belief that certain verses were added to the Torah after Moses' death (something said by some of the medieval authorities on some verses) fall under "for he has despised the word of the Lord"?
Answer
A. It is possible that Maimonides thought so. But that does not mean that this is actually the case. In my humble opinion, it is very likely that there are verses that were added later. As is well known, a number of errors entered the text of the Bible, and there are disputes about it (after all, there is even a Jewish law that deals with such disputes, which rules that we follow the majority of textual witnesses). So it is entirely possible that there were also disruptions in the transmission process (of course, even broader ones than the places where we know that a dispute or corruption occurred). Not to mention later editing that the biblical text underwent (the stitching together and editing of documents), and the like.
B. Maimonides also writes that there was never any dispute about a law given to Moses at Sinai, and it is clear that this is not true (see Havot Ya'ir, sec. 192, at length, and much more). In several places, Maimonides' way is to subordinate the facts (= what is found in reality) to theory (= what ought to be). Those who understand this know that this is the main point of Nachmanides' critiques on the roots Maimonides sets out: Nachmanides is an empiricist—sticking to the Talmudic facts—while Maimonides is a rationalist—subordinating his interpretation of the passages to reasoning, to theory.
C. By the way, if one wants to speak well of Maimonides and judge him favorably, there is definitely room for two other interpretations:
1. This is a normative statement, not a historical one. That is, his intention is to say that one should relate to the entire Bible as though it was all given at Sinai. That is its normative status, but this is not a historical claim. This is how one should understand the saying, "its general principles and particulars are from Sinai," and some say: its particulars were given in the Tent of Meeting (Rabbi Ishmael and Rabbi Akiva). Likewise, "everything that an experienced student will one day innovate" is a normative statement, not a historical one. Replacing facts with norm is itself a common norm. Thus Tosafot say about a law written in the Talmud that one is liable to death, that it is actually a rabbinic law, but they wrote that one is liable to death in order to show its severity.
2. Perhaps Maimonides did not really think this, but thought it important to say and present things this way for the sake of the masses. He himself does the same move in his commentary on the Mishnah to Rosh Hashanah regarding Rav Saadia Gaon, who said something puzzling, and Maimonides writes that Rav Saadia certainly wrote it only as a response to the heretics and did not really think so.
And in general, Maimonides definitely supported esoteric writing, as explained in his introduction to The Guide of the Perplexed.
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Questioner:
Thank you for the answer.
The problem is that this is not only Maimonides. Maimonides relies on the Talmud in Sanhedrin.
Is it said there that these are aggadic statements and therefore not binding?
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The Rabbi:
First of all—yes. After all, even in Jewish law itself (for example regarding killing a louse on the Sabbath), errors entered the Talmud. I will add here briefly that there is no point at all in speaking about concepts of authority with respect to facts. If a fact is not true, then one cannot demand that I accept it because so-and-so has authority about it. And even if they demand this of me, I cannot comply, because at the end of the day I think the fact is untrue. This is unlike laws/norms, where one can demand that I observe something even if it is not true.
But in the Talmud it is also easier to explain that this is a normative statement and not a historical one. It says that one who violates the words of the sages is liable to death, and that whoever recites havdalah over a cup will have male children, and that because of the sin of vows a person's children die. All of these are statements meant to push a value-laden outlook, not factual statements about reality.
I will elaborate more on all these matters in my books on theology (I am currently writing a comprehensive trilogy on updated Jewish theology: vol. 21—philosophy, vol. 22—Jewish thought, vol. 23—Jewish law and meta-halakhah).
Discussion on Answer
First, even if it is explicit in the Talmud, if it is not true then it is not true.
Beyond that, the Talmud quite often uses expressions in a metaphorical sense. "Its general principles and its particulars are from Sinai," and "everything that an experienced student will one day innovate, the Holy One, blessed be He, already showed Moses at Sinai"—these are normative expressions, not historical ones. That is, we are obligated to relate to things as though they were given at Sinai (in terms of their halakhic status). But there is not necessarily a historical statement here. If so, the same applies here as well. And as is well known, Tosafot already noted that there are laws that the Talmud says are laws given to Moses at Sinai, but in fact they are rabbinic laws, where the point was to say that they are as severe as laws given to Moses at Sinai.
And as is also well known, already among the medieval authorities (Rabbi Judah the Pious and the Tziyoni, Abraham ibn Ezra, and hints in Nachmanides and others) there are comments to the effect that some verses were added later.
This is not Maimonides; it is the Talmud, Hullin 99a: "It was taught in another baraita: 'For he has despised the word of the Lord'—this refers to one who says the Torah is not from Heaven. Even if he says: the entire Torah is from Heaven except for this verse, which the Holy One, blessed be He, did not say, but rather Moses said on his own—this is 'for he has despised the word of the Lord.' And even if he says: the entire Torah is from Heaven except for this detail, this a fortiori inference, this verbal analogy—this is 'for he has despised the word of the Lord.'"