Q&A: Sacrifices According to Maimonides
Sacrifices According to Maimonides
Question
Hello Rabbi,
According to Maimonides’ view that the whole command to the children of Israel to offer sacrifices was only because all the nations worshiped idolatry, it would follow that in the future there will be no sacrifices. (Or perhaps there will even be a prohibition.)
Is there any point at all in studying the laws of sacrifices? If so, why?
And this question applies more generally as well to all kinds of areas of Jewish law that will not happen or did not happen. (For example, the stubborn and rebellious son.)
Answer
There are three answers to this.
- Who says Maimonides is right? His reasons for the commandments in the Guide are highly questionable.
- There is a contradiction between what he writes in the Guide and what he writes at the end of the Laws of Misuse of Sacred Property, where he says this is a decree of Scripture.
- We do not study only things that are meant for practical application. I’ve discussed this many times. See, for example, Column 479.
By the way, Maimonides himself laid out all the laws of sacrifices across two thick books, even though he lived long after the destruction of the Temple. Why did he do that? He did not even engage in in-depth Talmudic analysis of the sacrificial passages; he simply organized and wrote the practical laws.