So we'll understand bezrat hashem to try to learn through the Rambam's Shemonah Perakim. It's not necessarily an easy limud, especially in the beginning some of what he speaks about is sort of different different type of categories than we're used to and not immediately apparent what the significance is, but hopefully bezrat hashem not necessarily immediately hopefully we'll come to some understanding and some appreciation. Rambam writes in his hakdamah to Shemonah Perakim that כבר הבטחנו כמה פעמים במשך קודם החיבור הזה שנדבר במסכתא הזאת בעניינים מועילים ושנאריך בהם מקצת אריכות כי אף על פי שהיא ברורה וקלה להבנה כפי הפשט.
Even though Pirkei Avos on the one hand is really quite straightforward on the simplest level, אין עשיית כל הכלול בה קלה לכל בני אדם. First of all, just how to implement is not necessarily easy. וכן לא כל ענייניה מובנים מבלי פירוש כראוי. And what's more, not everything is clear and understood without proper commentary. מלבד היותם מביאי לידי שלמות גדולה ואושר אמיתי ועל כן ראיתי להרחיב בה דברים.
And in addition to the fact that as the Rambam is about to quote on the Gemara in Bava Kamma, Pirkei Avos is so instrumental in bringing a person to shlemus, so the Rambam says I need to elaborate a little bit. כבר אמרו עליהם השלום האי מאן דבעי למהוי חסידא לקיים מילי דאבות.
If a person wants to be a chasid, he should be medakdek in Pirkei Avos. ואין אצלנו מעלה מעל החסידות אלא הנבואה והיא המביאה אליה.
The only higher madrega than chasidus in the ברייתא דרבי פנחס בן יאיר is nevu'ah. And what's more, chasidus is the stepping stone to nevu'ah, כמו שאמרו חסידות מביאה לידי רוח הקודש. הרי נתבאר מדבריהם שהתנהגות על פי מוסרי המסכתא הזאת מביאה לידי נבואה. וראיתי להקדים לפני שאתחיל לפרש פרקים מועילים וישיג האדם מהם הקדמות.
Be certain basic foundational ideas שיהיו גם כן כמפתח למה שאני עתיד לפרש. It gives a person again a foundation, a framework for what will ensue. ודע כי הדברים שאומר בפרקים אלו ובמה שיבוא מן הפירוש אינם עניינים שחיברתי אותם מעצמי.
These are not my chidushim. What I'm going to present to you, they're not my chidushim. אלא הם עניינים מלוקטים מדברי חכמים במדרשות ובתלמוד וזולתם מחיבוריהם וכן מדברי הפילוסופים הקדמונים והחדשים ומחיבורי הרבה בני אדם.
I was melaket, I was melaket from Divrei Chazal, I was melaket from works of the philosophers. קבל האמת ממי שאמרו. And it's the content which determines the acceptability, the legitimacy of what's said, not who says it. ופעמים אפשר שאביא מאמר שלם שהוא לשון ספר מפורסם ואין בכל זה רוע.
And at times I'll cite extensively. ואיני אומר בשמי מה שאמר מי שקדמני. I'm not looking. going to take credit for whatever others have said before me, שהרי כבר הודעתי על כך. That's the point of this, of this acknowledgement. אף על פי שאיני מזכיר אמר פלוני אמר פלוני, Rambam says, but even though I am being melaqet, I'm not going to identify each of my sources. Now the Rambam gives a fascinating explanation for why he doesn't. He says number one, he says, הוא וזו אריכות שאין תועלת בו. This is quite, quite remarkable. The very same rationale that the Rambam shares again later in the Hakdama le-Sefer ha-Mitzvot. The Rambam in his Hakdama le-Sefer ha-Mitzvot is already talking about what he in, chronologically, the Rambam in terms of the, his, the major work, so first is Perush ha-Mishnayot, then Sefer ha-Mitzvot, then the Yad ha-Hazaka, Mishneh Torah, and, and finally the, the Moreh. So when the Rambam wrote Sefer ha-Mitzvot, so he really, he tells us, he really wrote Sefer ha-Mitzvot as a, sort of companion volume to Mishneh Torah. He already has Mishneh Torah planned out in his head, ad kedei kakh that he knows how many peraqim he's going to have in Hilkhot Tefillin. Everything was organized in his head. And he tells you here, and in Sefer ha-Mitzvot, the original impetus for Sefer ha-Mitzvot was to have a checklist to make sure that he didn't omit discussion of any of the mitzvot in the Yad. But then the Rambam says, once I'm giving you a list of the Taryag Mitzvot, and my list of Taryag Mitzvot differs from my predecessors who compiled such lists, so I'm going to tell you, I'm going to give you the yud dalet shorashim, my fourteen principles of what should guide you in what you enumerate, what you don't enumerate, and it mushrooms into a whole Sefer ha-Mitzvot. But he tells us what he's planning on doing in Mishneh Torah. So he writes as follows. He says, קדם לנו החיבור המפורסם אשר כללנו בו פירוש כל המשנה.
He says, we already, we already finished writing Perush ha-Mishnayot. והייתה כוונתנו בחיבור ההוא לקצר ביאור עניין הלכה והלכה מן המשנה.
I tried to give a be'ur tamtziti, a terse, compressed explanation of the Mishna. Again, the Rambam's stress on avoiding unnecessary arikhut. He says, ולא הייתה בכוונתנו להשלים דין כל מצווה. It wasn't intended as a Sefer Halakha, I wasn't looking to flesh things out and tell you everything that you need to know, והביא כל מה שיצטרך אליו מאיסור והיתר וחיוב ופטור כמו שיתבאר למי שיסתכל באותו חיבור.
You look at Perush ha-Mishnayot, you see it wasn't intended to serve as a Kitzur Shulchan Aruch. So because of that, ראיתי גם כן שאחבר חיבור יכלול כל דיני התורה ומשפטיה עד שלא יהא דבר חסר ממנו, ושאעשה בו מה שהוא מנהגי לעשותו לעזוב זכרון המחלוקת והמאמרים הנידחים.
So first of all, I'm not going to quote machloketim, I'm just going to tell you what the halakha is. And what's more, והיה הנאות אצלי להפיל ממנו האריכות והסמיכות בזכרון בעל הקבלה.
And again, in order to avoid arikhut, I'm not going to mention, this is a, this is a meimra of Abaye, this is a psak of Rav Saadia Gaon, this is the view of Rabbi Yehuda in the Mishna. Since היה הנאות אצלי להפיל ממנו האריכות והסמיכות בזכרון בעל הקבלה עד שלא אומר דברי רבי פלוני ולא רבי פלוני אמר כך וכך בכל מאמר ומאמר.
What I'll do, as he did, is in the Hakdama to the Yad, I'm going to, I'll mention the chakhamim when I trace the Shalshelet ha-Kabbala. כל זה לבקשת הקיצור. So what do you see? You see a couple of extraordinary things here. How much of an arichus is it? And when we think of arichus, I don't know, so we think of, I don't know if you hear someone speak and I don't know you hear them speak ich vays for thirty minutes and you think he said five minutes' worth, so we think of that as an arichus. The Rambam measures arichus by words. He measures arichus by words to ich vays to quote a din that יש לו מידת להביא אש and then say comma Abaye is an arichus. Arichus. Knowing that it's Abaye doesn't enhance one's understanding of יש לו מידת להביא אש. So one, it's true obviously that it's one times as many halachos as you have, so it's true we're not talking about one. But אף על פי כן, when you see that even within Shmona Perakim where the Rambam is articulating the same consideration, so there he's not quoting as many sources and the arichus is not going to snowball by saying well if you... The Rambam mentions arichus by individual words. משל למה הדבר דומה is like this. Let's say you have someone who be-teva is can't spend money or she can't let go of a penny, can't let go of a penny. So every penny by him is a very big deal, very big deal. Hein mitzad the zman, hein mitzad the mental energy. The mental energy which the Rambam would cause his readers to expend, the time he would cause them to devote by citing his source is too precious for the Rambam to allow for that. Just think about that for a sec. It's mamash extraordinary. You know, there are stories about the contemporary Gedolim. It's hard to relate to how their minds functioned and how they were able to exercise such control. About how Chacham Ovadia didn't remember phone numbers and the... So if every ounce of mental energy is so precious because it can be utilized to learn and try to remember and retain another din, another yediyah, another insight, so then it can't be just liberally, indiscriminately spent and used. Hein mitzad the mental energy, hein mitzad the zman. It's measured in, again, in units of words, in units of seconds. Extraordinary. There is a famous Tshuva where the Rambam writes that he had charata later in life not having written down the... Then the Rambam says the second reason that that he doesn't cite his sources by name besides the the the concern for arichus, he says וגם אפשר שאכניס בזה בלב מי שאין מקובלת עליו שם אותו האיש שהמאמר ההוא נפסד ותמונה בו איזו רעה שאינה ידועה לו ולפיכך ראיתי שלא להזכיר שם האומר הוא ומטרתי שתופק תועלת לקורא ולבאר לו אותם עניינים הטמונים במסכת הזאת.
Second reason the Rambam says for presenting things with this veil of anonymity is so as not that no one should be prejudiced against the substance of what's being said by hearing who the who the source is. Again and and that's what he had anticipated earlier when he said Kabalas ha'emes mi'she'amaro, a correct insight, a true idea is is just that regardless of of who the the source of that correct insight of that true idea is. Now obviously who who says something the principle of Kabalas ha'emes mi'she'amaro notwithstanding is very relevant in the following sense. I mean once you have the Rambam's once the Rambam filtered things for us so then it's takeh irrelevant for us. We don't need to we don't need to necessarily know who was the source for this idea or who was the source for that idea because the Rambam already weighed and is only quoting what's correct and what's true and has filtered things for us. If if we're the ones engaged in that process so then it's very relevant to know who's saying something. It's very relevant to know whether this is whether this is someone who's so great in Torah learning that maybe even if it doesn't make any sense to me I should be mevatail my da'as to him. Maybe it's someone who's great enough in Torah learning that even if I and it certainly will will motivate a person to work harder and longer to to try to understand and there's an entire spectrum with the other end of the spectrum being that if it's someone who's justly suspect of of saying things which are wrong so then yeah Kabalas ha'emes mi'she'amaro but a person has to be very much on guard in terms of identifying whether what he's hearing, reading, seeing, etc. is emes or otherwise and and we're not not everyone and is always qualified to make that judgment. So so given that fact so it it is very relevant when when it hasn't been pre-screened for us by by the Rambam or or someone with with impeccable Torah credentials. Who's saying something is very relevant in terms of how how careful a person has to be in terms of weighing and identifying, you know, how much of it is true, whether it is true, vechulu. The the gemara in Bava Kama that the Rambam quotes that האי מאן דבעי למהוי חסידא לקיים מילי דאבות the lashon chasidus always I think the Rambam comments on it in Perush Hamishnayos maybe takeh here in Avos amongst other places but I think kemidumeh in more than one place the lashon chasidus implies something which is lifnim mishuras hadin and a chasid is someone who goes lifnim mishuras hadin beyond what what's required the Rav used to quote from the Ibn Ezra and and the Rambam that they say that's what the truth is that's what the semantics of the word chesed are that the word chesed doesn't I mean we generally use it in a context where it denotes kindness but what the word really means is haflaga it it really means something which is not necessarily with with its negative connotation something with excess or something excessive again without its negative connotation the middas chasidus is something which represents excess because it represents more than than than is required and that's what the lashon chesed really really denotes is haflaga the Ibn Ezra says it that the Torah says that in Parshas Arayos that a brother marries a sister chesed hu so so what do you mean a brother marries a sister that's a chesed how is that a chesed so Rashi quotes from Chazal that Hakadosh Baruch Hu in order to allow the world to get started so as a chesed Hakadosh Baruch Hu once made an exception to this issur because Kayin and Hevel married married their sisters but al derech peshat so the Ibn Ezra says the word chesed means is that chesed really is has is a neutral term again it means extreme something can be extreme letova something can be extreme lera and and what the Torah is saying is that this erva it's something it's it's depraved it represents an an extreme in terms of on on that level and he's metzayen the pasuk in in Sefer Yona we just just read it on Yom Kippur that Yona says about the people on the boat he says משמרים הבלי שוא חסדם יעזבו so it's a machlokes in meforshim what that pasuk means משמרים הבלי שוא חסדם יעזבו so according to some according to some pshatim in the meforshim so so Yona is telling Hakadosh Baruch Hu he says I know that that the people on the boat that all their pious proclamations while the storm was raging notwithstanding those people who are משמרים הבלי שוא חסדם יעזבו all those kind wonderful noble things that they promised they were going to do they're not going to do any of that chasdam yaazovu and some say the pasuk means the exact opposite that Yona says no they were takeh transformed by what happened those people who were formerly meshamrim havlei shav chasdam yaazovu chesed represents the avodah zarah that that their whole avodah zarah belief and culture they're going to abandon that and and he gives that as another example of where you find the lashon chesed meaning meaning extreme the Rambam also defines the word the word chesed that way that's why you find and you don't with this you can understand a what seems to be a tautology in in Chazal when the Gemara in Berachos quotes the pasuk בחסד ואמת יכופר עון so the Gemara says that חסד זה גמילות חסדים and emes zeh Torah so what's the parshanus there that chesed is gemilus chasadim so you're you're taytching a pasuk chesed means chesed so so it's not it's not too too enlightening an explanation no the Gemara says that's not what chesed doesn't always mean gemilus chasadim chesed again heyos that when a person does a chesed so again so that's a type of excess it's a type of extreme lifnim mishuras hadin I don't have to lend you my pen lifnim mishuras hadin I don't have to I don't have to pass the salt get up and get the salt yourself what what do I have to pass you the salt for so a chesed to varying degrees represents a chesed in its literal etymological sense well really the Gemara is saying pshat when the Gemara in Berachos says that חסד זה גמילות חסדים that it's not it's not circular it's not a tautology. So when Chazal say that הי מאן דבעי למהוי חסידא לקיים מילי דאבות so it's quite clear that at least some of Perkei Avos represents lifnim mishuras hadin. That's not everything in Perkei Avos is is is simply din and and and halacha pesuka because otherwise you wouldn't really single out, pashtus is that that you wouldn't single out and the Rambam also he says, you know, chasidus means that that you're now one rung short of the top of the ladder of Ruach Hakodesh of nevua, so it's quite clear that that there are again statements or or or dimensions of statements which are not shuras hadin but represent the lifnim mishuras hadin. And that's why takeh when you look at the Rambam where the Rambam quotes different dinim from Hilchos Deos, so he doesn't quote them all in in the context of what would be halacha pesuka. Some of them the Rambam quotes in Perek Hey of Hilchos Deos which the the Rambam introduces by saying that כשם שהחכם ניכר בחכמתו ובדעותיו והוא מובדל בהן משאר העם כך צריך שיהיה ניכר במעשיו.
So meaning that the chacham is held to to a higher standard and it's in this context he quotes some of the things in Perkei Avos again because he's getting his cue from Chazal that that Perkei Avos, not everything in Perkei Avos is just telling us what's necessary m'ikar hadin, lifnim mishuras hadin, because otherwise that wouldn't catapult a person to to to chasidus. And then once you recognize that, so just on on on other occasions we've we've commented on this also what it it becomes very significant when there's something in Perkei Avos that the Rambam does quote as halacha for everyone and doesn't quote in a context of middas chasidus or a context of lifnim mishuras hadin. There's something very telling about that because that option was there, right? And you have a mishna in Perkei Avos, so you know the option is there whenever you learn a mishna in Perkei Avos, so then so so this is this is for the person who's going to be a chasid or no, this is for me also, this is this is m'ikar hadin also. And specifically what's perhaps most remarkable once once you have this this context is when the Rambam in Perek Gimmel of Hilchos Deos he's talking about B'chol drachecha da'ehu, talking about gearing, orienting, calibrating everything a person does לדעת את השם ברוך הוא. צריך אדם שיכוין כל מעשיו כולם כדי לדעת את השם ברוך הוא בלבד ויהיה שבתו וקומו ודיבורו הכל לעומת זה הדבר.
And everything a person does again should be calibrated, should be geared, should be oriented, should be directed towards that goal of yedias Hashem. He gives some examples: כיצד כשישא ויתן או יעשה מלאכה ליטול שכר לא יהיה בלבו קיבוץ ממון בלבד אלא יעשה דברים האלו כדי שימצא דברים שהגוף צריך להן מאכילה ושתייה וישיבת בית ונשיאת אשה.
And all of that again ultimately is to to be able to live the lifestyle which which allows one lada'as es Hashem. And then the Rambam says that ועל עניין זה ציוו חכמים ואמרו וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים.
So וכל מעשיך לשם שמים, and obviously we recognize that from Perkei Avos. So so the Rambam had the option, and and he does it with with again you look in Perek Hey of Hilchos Deos, there are other mishnayos in Avos that only appear there, the Rambam has the option of telling us that וכל מעשיך לשם שמים, that's that's a if there's anything in Perkei Avos which is a middas chasidus, mistama it's that, right? And that certainly belongs in Perek Hey for the chacham who's nikar b'chochmaso u-v'de'osav. Rambam says no, Rambam says no, no, that I'm quoting in Perek Gimmel and it's a ועל עניין זה ציוו חכמים, not himlitzu chachamim, not not hisiyu eitzah tovah, ועל עניין זה ציוו חכמים. So apparently within Torah, every one of us within his own way, within his own unique blend of kochos hanefesh can and therefore should be aspiring to living up to that challenge of וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים. It’s quite remarkable. Okay, maybe we’ll just begin the first perek and again it’s I don’t think we’re going to get beyond the surface abstractness and abstruseness and we’re not going to get to today, you know, why is this discussion so important and what is its significance but this is the beginning of it. So the Rambam writes in the perek harishon benefesh ha'adam vekochosseha. The how to translate the word nefesh? So usually the translation we always opt for is soul. I don’t, depending upon what one’s associations with that word are, I’m not sure that it’s really the best translation. I mean certainly whatever associations we have with nefesh, the Torah describes, you know, animals as being nefesh chaya also and all our affection for Lassie notwithstanding we don’t usually conjure up the image of a soul when in that context. So think of nefesh perhaps as life force, as a life force, as that which animates. Right? Because the Torah only talks about, again, this distinction is one that we relate to, it’s one we use right? We divide, we divide the creation sort of into animate and inanimate life, and the lashon of nefesh is associated with animate life. We don’t talk about the nefesh of a stone, but we do talk about the nefesh of animals, and I don’t think that’s the way we use the term soul. So think of it as sort of the animating life force. Maybe that will be our definition of the word. Benefesh ha'adam vekochosseha. Da, says the Rambam, כי נפש האדם היא נפש אחת ולא פעולות רבות משתנות.
That there is a single, again, animating life force. Right? The difference between between a person just being rachmana litzlan after yetzias neshama, so a person is k'even domeim. The body is k'even domeim. And the nefesh, and the same is true for an animal, an animal is also after it dies is also k'even domeim, and for that matter when you something which is tzomei'ach, something which grows from the ground, when you detach it from its source of chayus, it also becomes a no longer grows, it also becomes k'even domeim. So the animating life force. So the Rambam says you should know that in a person there is a single, single animating life force, despite the fact that it expresses itself in many different ways. But and again this is sort of one of the goals to understand why this yedia is so important, why the Rambam stresses that we have to have this yedia. It’s not one that all the Rishonim agreed with. The newest translation of the Peirush Hamishnayos has very good footnotes with lots of mareh mekomos. So the Rambam says פעמים נקראו קצת אותן פעולות נפשות. Again, the pe'ulos the Rambam is referring to is again that the nefesh animates, it animates a growth, it animates that that we take in oxygen. So that's one type of, that's one type of pe'ulah. It animates that we're able to move around, that's another type of pe'ulah. It animates that we're able to think, etc. Later in the perek the Rambam is going to enumerate five basic areas but the Rambam says don't be misled into thinking that each of these has its own nefesh, its own animating life force. It's not true, it's נפש אחת ולה פעולות רבות. He says the fact that it has pe'ulos rabos, nitan lachshov שיש לאדם נפשות רבות כמו שחושבים הרופאים, as in fact, in the Rambam's opinion, people, and again that they did think so, is not just the Rambam's opinion, but in the Rambam's opinion as people erroneously thought, עד שפתח הגדול שבהם וכתב שהנפשות הן שלוש, that a person really has three distinct nefashos, tivis, chiyunis, ve'nafshis. Where did they get the idea that a person would have three nefashos? Because again, if you think that when we sort of classify what exists, so we distinguish between animate and inanimate, and then within animate, within animate, so then we subdivide into tzome'ach, chai, u'medaber. So there are certain things that we have in common just with with vegetation. Again, taking in nutrients, growth. Then then there are things that we have in common with with the animal kingdom, with ba'alei chayim, and and then there are things which are uniquely human. So you could have thought again that since you have these sort of three areas of animation as it were within within a person that maybe he has three distinct nefashos. And the Rambam again says that that's a mistake. In terms of the Rishonim, so the emes is you do find the the view that the Rambam is is rejecting, so you do find you do find it in the Rishonim as well. The here they quote the Ibn Ezra quotes it from Rav Saadia Gaon like that this idea of gimmel nefashos. They also cite there was a Ramban in in Parshas Bereishis, the Ramban comments on the pasuk, it's Beis Zayin, ויצר ה' אלהים את האדם עפר מן האדמה ויפח באפיו נשמת חיים ויהי האדם לנפש חיה.
So I'm just going to read you a little bit of the Ramban here. U'da, says the Ramban, כי המתחכמים במחקר נחלקו באדם, chelku, they they disagreed. מהם יאמרו כי באדם שלוש נפשות, right, again, which we just mentioned, nefesh hagadel ketzome'ach ובו עוד נפש התנועה, motion, again which distinguishes the animal from plant life, ve'hashlishis hanefesh hamaskeles, and the nefesh of of thought, of of understanding, consciousness, which distinguishes human beings. U'mehem yomru, and this is the Rambam's opinion, כי זאת הנפש אשר באדם מפי עליון בה ימצאו שלוש הכוחות האלה ורק היא יחידה,
that that this is the view of the Rambam that that we're looking at now in Shmonah Perakim, that it's a single nefesh that has these that's responsible for all these things within within a person. So the Rambam says the pshat, lich'ora the Ramban says, he says I think the pshuto shel mikra in this pasuk is like the Rambam. הכתוב הזה כפי משמעו יורה כן, why, because how does how do you how do you understand the pasuk? He says the Ramban, שיצר ה' את האדם עפר מן האדמה והיה מוטל גולם.
He shaped Adam afar min ha'adamah. He shaped him. Only after ויפח באפיו נשמת חיים, after Hakadosh Baruch Hu then Hakadosh Baruch Hu נפח באפיו נשמת חיים and then ve'az chazar ha'adam, then everything in Adam came to life. So that's what the Ramban says. The pshuto shel mikra he thinks is like the Ramban. The pshuto shel mikra is like the Ramban that vayitzer means Hakadosh Baruch Hu formed, Hakadosh Baruch Hu shaped Adam, but he was afar min ha'adamah. Then vayipach, in other words, he was ke'even domem, not even, not even like tzomeach. Then ויפח באפיו נשמת חיים and then everything about Adam came to life with this single nefesh. וזה טעם לנפש חיה ששב האדם להיות נפש בו חיים.
Aval Onkelos amar, maybe the most famous Targum Onkelos in all of Chumash. Aval Onkelos amar והות באדם לרוח ממללא. So he says נראה שדעתו כדברי האומרים שהם בו נפשות שונות. Vezot hanefesh hamaskeles, meaning the Ramban understands Onkelos to be saying that when ויפח באפיו נשמת חיים, so then Adam was promoted, then Adam graduated lenefesh chayah, leruach memallela. And the Ramban says according to this pshat the teitch vayitzer is not he shaped or he molded, lashon tzurah, but vayitzer means he created. He created, so Adam was created. He wasn't a clay model. He was created. But he didn't have the nefesh hamaskeles yet, meaning the Ramban here is interpreting Onkelos in an in-between view that there were two nefashot. So there's one nefesh, there's one animating life force in a person that's responsible for all those capacities, senses, etc. that you find in amongst tzomeach and chai. And then there's a nefesh hamaskeles which is responsible for what's uniquely human. And according to this, the pshat is ויצר השם אלקים את האדם עפר מן האדמה. He created Adam, not he shaped him. Not that he had this lifeless clay form, but he created Adam. Then ויפח באפיו נשמת חיים, then in addition to the nefesh chayah which he shares with the animal, so then Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave the nefesh hamaskeles which is capable of thought, which is capable of emunah, etc. ויהי האדם לנפש חיה and now Adam was transformed into a higher and greater being. Again, why is this so important that there's milchamto shel Torah being waged over that? That's something that we need to try as we proceed bli neder bezrat Hashem, try to understand a little bit. We'll stop here for today.