Transcript

So apropos the Rambam at the beginning of Parshas Noach, we've been discussing the m'chayiv of sevara, of sechel, and we mentioned yesterday two nafka minas that when something is a chiyuv, it's in the Torah, but additionally it's also something which Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave us the intuition to recognize, so then ignorance can't be a defense. The fact that no one ever told me, no one ever taught me, is no defense. And then number two, we saw the Rambam in perek vav of Shemonah Perakim that when the mitzvah itself is intuitive, so then that means it should be a mitzvah that a person does naturally, mah she-ein kein if a mitzvah itself is not intuitive, so then the person doesn't do it naturally. There's nothing intuitive about basar b'chalav, so it's not that a person says I have this innate inclination not to eat basar b'chalav. No, my innate inclination would be to eat basar b'chalav the same way I eat every other food. But אבינו שבשמים גזר עלי. Sometimes, in certain mitzvos, we'll give just one example, you have an additional nafka mina of the fact that the m'chayiv is not only the pasuk in Chumash, but the m'chayiv is sevara also. The Rambam in Perek Beis of Yesodei HaTorah, halacha beis, if you have it take a look, beis beis. The Rambam famously writes, והיאך היא הדרך לאהבתו ויראתו? What inspires and gives substance to ahavah and yirah?

בשעה שיתבונן האדם במעשיו וברואיו הנפלאים הגדולים ויראה מהן חכמתו שאין לה ערך ולא קץ מיד הוא אוהב ומשבח ומפאר ומתאוה תאוה גדולה לדעת השם הגדול

k'mo she-amar David צמאה נפשי לאלהים לאל חי. Okay, the Rambam goes on to talk about yirah, but we're going to focus on the ahavah part. So what's the object of a person's hisbonenus which inspires the beginning of ahavas Hashem? And then the more the person is misbonen, the further along the path of ahavas Hashem he progresses, is מתבונן במעשיו וברואיו הנפלאים הגדולים, Hakadosh Baruch Hu's great wondrous handiwork and creations. Look into into the natural world. In Sefer Hamitzvos, in mitzvas asei gimmel, no excuse me, mitzvas asei gimmel, והמצוה השלישית היא שצונו לאהבו יתברך. V'zeh she-nisbonen, again the ahavah is something which is intellectually driven. It's not just some just purely emotional feeling. It's something intellectually based and driven.

וזה שנתבונן ונשכיל מצותיו ופעולותיו עד שנשיגהו ונתענג בהשגתו תכלית התענוג. וזאת היא האהבה המחוייבת.

And here the Rambam mentions that the object of one's hisbonenus is not only pe'ulosav, not only Hakadosh Baruch Hu's wondrous beriah, but the Torah as well. Through Talmud Torah, the chochmas Hakadosh Baruch Hu is reflected in the world, but it's obviously very much reflected in in His Torah as well. But he doesn't mention that in Yesodei HaTorah. Right? The pe'ulosav he repeats, but mitzvosav he doesn't. So it's an eight-hundred-year-old question. If you take a look in Perek Yud of Hilchos Teshuvah for a minute, if you have it rabosai. So in Halacha Aleph the Rambam says that a person shouldn't be content with avoda miyirah, he should aspire to avoda meahava. And then he explains in Halacha Beis what that means, what that entails.

פרק י הלכה ב. העובד מאהבה עוסק בתורה ובמצוות והולך בנתיבות החכמה לא מפני דבר בעולם ולא מפני יראת הרעה ולא כדי לירש הטובה אלא עושה האמת מפני שהוא אמת וסוף הטובה לבוא בכלל.

Again let's reread. Haoved meahava, a person who is oved Hashem meahava

עוסק בתורה ובמצוות והולך בנתיבות החכמה לא מפני דבר בעולם.

There's no, he has no worldly interests. לא מפני יראת הרעה ולא כדי לירש הטובה. He has no, no self-interest.

אלא עושה האמת מפני שהוא אמת וסוף הטובה לבוא בכלל.

Again prior to this in Halacha Aleph when the Rambam again sort of set the stage for this, so the Rambam writes in פרק י הלכה א, take a look Rabosai.

אל יאמר אדם הריני עושה מצוות התורה ועוסק בחכמתה כדי שאקבל הברכות הכתובות בה או כדי שאזכה לחיי העולם הבא ואפרוש מן העבירות שהזהירה תורה מהן כדי שאנצל מן הקללות הכתובות בתורה או כדי שלא אכרת מחיי העולם הבא אין ראוי לעבוד את השם על דרך זו שהעובד על דרך זו הוא עובד מיראה.

Then in Halacha Daled the Rambam sort of, so he's already told us the person shouldn't be motivated by s'char and the person should be oved meahava. Now in Halacha Daled the Rambam starts all over again.

אמרו חכמים הראשונים שמא תאמר הריני לומד תורה בשביל שאהיה עשיר בשביל שאקרא רבי בשביל שאקבל שכר לעולם הבא תלמוד לומר לאהבה את השם כל שאתם עושים לא תעשו אלא מאהבה.

Veod amru chachamim again

פרק י הלכה ד, במצוותיו חפץ מאוד במצוותיו ולא בשכר מצוותיו.

Halacha Hei.

כל העוסק בתורה כדי לקבל שכר או כדי שלא תגיע עליו פורענות הרי זה עוסק בה שלא לשמה וכל העוסק בה לא ליראה ולא לקבל שכר אלא מפני אהבת אדון כל הארץ שציווה בה הרי זה עוסק בה לשמה. ואמרו חכמים לעולם יעסוק אדם בתורה אפילו שלא לשמה שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה.

So there are a few things, just to mention two of them, which are very, very tamuah. Number one is that the Rambam seems to be starting all over again. He told us don't be oved miyirah or at least don't be content with that as the ultimate goal, rather be oved meahava. He tells us what it means to be oved meahava, and then he starts all over again in Halacha Daled. Don't be oved miyirah, don't be content with that as the ultimate goal, that's shelo lishma, be oved meahava, be oved lishma. So why the two go-arounds? But what's even more tamuah is that he gives a different definition of what it means to be oved meahava. The definition of what it means to be oved meahava in Halacha Hei, which is also what it means to be oved lishma, is not the same definition as he gave in Halacha Beis. כל העוסק בה לא ליראה ולא לקבל שכר. Okay, that's the same. אלא מפני אהבת אדון כל הארץ שציווה בה. That's what it means to be osek lishma, that's what it means to be oved meahava. As opposed to in Halacha Beis, again there too it was לא מפני יראת הרעה ולא כדי לירש הטובה, but the end of the sentence wasn't אלא מפני אהבת אדון כל הארץ שציווה בה, the end of the sentence in Halacha Beis is אלא עושה האמת מפני שהוא אמת. So that's on a scale of one to ten, that's a fifteen, that question. How does the Rambam give us a different definition of oved meahava? So ela mai... But it's klor l'chora that the peshat in the Rambam is like this. Ahavas Hashem like some other mitzvos is a mitzvah d'Oraisa, ואהבת את ה' אלקיך. Additionally, it's also a mitzvah again which is מוכח ומוכח מתוך הסברא. It's a mitzvah which svarah dictates. But the precise definition of the mitzvah differs. The paradigm of Ahavas Hashem is Avraham Avinu, the Rambam cites, the Rambam cites it as from the pasuk in Yeshayahu of Avraham ohavi. Avraham Avinu's path of Ahavas Hashem wasn't in response to אהבת אדון כל הארץ שציוהו, there was no tzivui and what's more, he began his path before he recognized Adon kol ha'aretz. Avraham Avinu was searching for emes. Avraham Avinu was searching for emes. When he discovered the emes, Hashem Elokim emes, when he discovered the emes, so then Avraham Avinu now knew that that bakashas ha'emes now that translates into into whatever the derech Hashem is.

כי ידעתיו למען אשר יצוה את בניו ואת ביתו אחריו ושמרו דרך ה' לעשות צדקה ומשפט.

So in halacha beis the Rambam is giving the definition of Ahavas Hashem which results from the natural mechayev, not the pasuk in the Torah. The natural mechayev of Ahavas Hashem. And puk chazi rabosai. In halacha aleph, the first time around, when the Rambam tells us, if you have, look inside, mamash mamash kedai to see this inside. When in halacha aleph when the Rambam says אל יאמר אדם הריני עושה מצות התורה ועוסק בחכמתה. He doesn't quote any ma'amar Chazal. He doesn't quote any drashos. He doesn't quote any psukim. He says it in svarah. The second time around, in his second go-around, there the Rambam reminds himself of all the ma'amarei Chazal. Then it's

תלמוד לומר לאהבה את ה' כל מה שאתם עושים לא תעשו אלא מאהבה ועוד אמרו חכמים במצותיו חפץ מאד במצותיו ולא בשכר מצותיו

and he remembers the mishna of Antignos Ish Socho. Hen hen hadvarim. In halacha aleph and beis, the Rambam is depicting, is presenting the mitzvah of Ahavas Hashem that emerges from a natural mechayev. So he's not, he's telling you in svarah. The way to be oved Hashem is not mi'yirah. Everything about Hakadosh Baruch Hu is true, is emes, is good. That's why a person is oved es Hashem. It shouldn't be out of self-interest, it shouldn't be out of ulterior considerations. A person is oved Hashem because a person should do what's right because it's right and Hashem Elokim emes. So what's right, what's good is what Hakadosh Baruch Hu says. And even before that mechayev sort of has sort of exists, even existed for Avraham Avinu even before he knew Hakadosh Baruch Hu to search for the emes. In halacha daled the Rambam is now setting the stage for presenting, again, the fact that he quotes v'ahavta at the end of halacha beis is not a stira. In halacha daled, the Rambam is now, the Rambam is now presenting the mechayev of the pasuk in Chumash. So the pasuk in Chumash, so it's also a tzivui in the Torah. B'mitzvosov, Ahavas Hashem,

כל מה שאתם עושים לא תעשו אלא מאהבה ובמצותיו ולא בשכר מצותיו.

Once once you're talking about the mechayev of a pasuk in Chumash, so the mechayev is מאהבת אדון כל הארץ שציוהו. So now, the the stira as to why the Rambam mentions nisbonen b'mitzvosov in Sefer Hamitzvos but not in Sefer Hatorah. Is like this. In Yesodei HaTorah, Rambam is saying היך היא הדרך לאהבתו ויראתו. He’s talking about the natural, again the same way in Perek Yud of Hilchos Teshuva, he begins talking about Ahavas Hashem and Yiras Hashem in terms of what it entails naturally. So that’s what he’s talking about in Yesodei HaTorah also. The Ahavas Hashem which is cultivated just in response to the mechayev of sevara doesn’t include Torah because it’s even even without the Torah you have that mechayev. But it wouldn’t be in Minyan HaMitzvos for that. You don’t put something in Minyan HaMitzvos in Sefer HaMitzvos because you know it in sevara. Something is only in Minyan HaMitzvos in Sefer HaMitzvos because it’s a pasuk in Chumash, because it’s a tzivui. Oh! So in Sefer HaMitzvos you’re talking exclusively, again, it would be enough that you’re talking also, but the emes is that you’re talking exclusively about the mechayev of the pasuk. So then Ahavas Hashem in terms of the mechayev of the pasuk, so the hisbonenus is not only b'maaseh u'bruav haniflaim, the hisbonenus is in Torah for to develop the Ahavas Hashem. So here again it’s there’s an additional nafka mina. It’s it’s not only again that as the Ramban says there’s no defense of ignorance because a person doesn’t need to be taught and it’s not only sort of that a person should do it naturally but sort of what the Ahavas Hashem is, whether the emphasis is on אמת מפני שהוא אמת or whether the emphasis is אהבת אדון כשציווה בו. It’s both because you have the two mechayevim. Okay, so we’ll stop.