Q&A: The First Root in Professor Faur’s Approach
The First Root in Professor Faur’s Approach
Question
Hello
In his book Studies in Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah, Professor Yosef Faur writes regarding the first root that Nachmanides correctly understood Maimonides’ approach, and that in fact the force of rabbinic commandments is Torah-level / of biblical origin. The fundamental difference between them, he says, is “do not add,” and in Maimonides’ words: “not to add to the words of the Torah nor subtract from them, and to establish the matter permanently as though it were from the Torah.”
He rejects the difficulty from a Torah commandment overriding a rabbinic commandment by citing opposite examples: someone who vows not to eat on Hanukkah and Purim, or the joy of a bridegroom overriding the mourning of the first day, and so on.
I do not recall this approach being brought in the holy book Yishlach Sharshav, and seemingly these ideas are similar to what was mentioned in volume 1 of that holy book, p. 138.
Answer
I did not understand his claim. In any case, in my opinion Nachmanides absolutely did not understand Maimonides correctly. Someone who eats poultry with milk does not violate a Torah prohibition, unless he denies in principle the authority of the Sages.
I also did not understand the objections or the rebuttals.