Q&A: A Question About Maimonides
A Question About Maimonides
Question
Hello,
Maimonides writes in the introduction to the Mishneh Torah: "…in short, so that a person should not need any other work in the world regarding the law from among the laws of Israel."
Did he really and sincerely think that his rulings were 100% correct, and that in essence one should study only him, and no one would ever come along and refute his rulings?
And also—to write such a thing, you would have to be 100% sure that you have *all* the relevant books of the Oral Torah. How could anyone be sure of such a thing in the 12th century?
And if he didn’t think that, why did he write that sentence?
Thank you very much
Answer
First, there is no complete certainty about anything. Second, it is enough to think that his rulings are reasonable and can be relied upon in order to say that. He is saying: save yourselves the time of studying Jewish law and doing Talmudic analysis just to know what to do. You can rely on my rulings. With the time you save, you can engage in philosophy.