Picture of the author

Rambam Hilchos Yesodei Hatorah Chapter 1

The Foundation of Foundations & the Pillar of Wisdom

40 min

Class Summary:

This class, in the Rambam's Mishneh Torah, the Laws of Yesodei HaTorah, chapter one, was presented on Thursday Parshas Matos-Masei, 24 Tammuz, 5780, July 16, 2020, live from Rabbi YY Jacobson's House in Monsey, NY

Please leave your comment below!

  • Anonymous -3 years ago

    Is there a Friday shiur 

    Reply to this comment.Flag this comment.

  • JW

    Jake W -3 years ago

    Does HKBH have Feelings

    After listening to this first shiur, the thought occurred to me "Does Hashem have Feelings"?
    We say in Hallel that "Difficult for Hashem is the suffering of the Righteous".  How do we understand this? Is this a symbolic use of the words difficult to put it in perspective for us? Or is this actually difficult for Hashem?

    Reply to this comment.Flag this comment.

  • YG

    Yochanan Gordon -3 years ago

    Question for Rabbi YY

    When the Rambam writes there is one God he adds there isn’t two or more than two. The. Question initially occurred to me why he needed to add not more than two; if there isn’t two there certainly isn’t more than two. Perhaps it’s a rebuttal to the trinity. Whereby the notion may exist that there isn’t two in the sense of duality but that three is the core of unity. The Rambam is telling us that God is one.

    Reply to this comment.Flag this comment.

  • N

    Nunya -3 years ago

    Question for Rabbi YY

    what does Tzarchei Gavoah mean? Hashem "need" our avoda? or if he is infinite he doesn't need anything... but isn't that also a limitation; i.e., can't Hashem create a situation that he indeed "needs" our avoda? please explain

    Reply to this comment.Flag this comment.

  • YG

    Yochanan Gordon -3 years ago

    Question for Rabbi YY

    Towards the beginning the Rambam uses a term אלוה העולם however in the Torah about Avraham Avinu it says; ויקרא שם בשם ה’ אל עולם and חסידות is מדייק, אל עולם ולא אל העולם.’it should behoove the Rambam in a perek dedicated to the oneness of Gd to express it in the most unified fashion.

    Reply to this comment.Flag this comment.

  • YG

    Yochanan Gordon -3 years ago

    Question for Rabbi YY

    Why in the introduction to these laws does the Rambam write לא יעלה על המחשבה and thereafter only לא יעלה על הדעת.

    Reply to this comment.Flag this comment.

  • M

    Moshe -3 years ago

    Hashem doesn't change?

    But didn't  He change His mind after the prayers and  pleas of various tzaddikim? 

    Reply to this comment.Flag this comment.

  • L

    Lazar -3 years ago

    Question for Rabbi YY

    What was the reason of including the commentary of the ראבד if he was so harsh some times was this a common practice do we find with other ראשונים thanks for this amazing new class

    Reply to this comment.Flag this comment.

  • M

    Moshe -3 years ago

    Question for Rabbi YY

    Are only physical things separate from each other?Aren't the various spiritual worlds, the.angels, etc also separate from each other and yet are not physical?

    Reply to this comment.Flag this comment.

  • M

    Moshe -3 years ago

    Question for Rabbi YY

    The Rambam said that we need Hashem for our existence but He doesn't need us for His existence. Ok. Hashem doesn't need us for His existence but we know from Chassidus that indeed He does need us for a dwelling place down below, to be partners in creation, to have a reciprocal relationship, etc.

    Reply to this comment.Flag this comment.

  • Y

    Yehudis -3 years ago

    Question for Rabbi YY

    How can we know Hashem? How can our physical brain know a spiritual reality?

    Reply to this comment.Flag this comment.

  • M

    Moshe -3 years ago

    Rashi lived a century before Rambam

    In the days before printing and widespread easy dissemination of any pirush, including Rashi's, do we know whether the Rambam had access to  Rashi on chumash or  gemora? 

     If not  it's that much more amazing  

    Reply to this comment.Flag this comment.

  • AH

    Alizah Hochstead -3 years ago

    Question for Rabbi YY

    Besides the PDF also available in Chayenu

    Reply to this comment.Flag this comment.

  • Anonymous -3 years ago

    DId the Rambam have a reason for his ordering in the ordering of the mitzvos that he made?

    Reply to this comment.Flag this comment.

  • SM

    Sara Metzger -3 years ago

    For those who don't have a Mishneh Torah ...

    Of course it’s probably  preferred to have the actual books, either in Hebrew or English translation, whatever works for you, but if right now you don’t have access to one, and ofc besides the pdf source sheets that Rabbi YY provides, here is a link to The Mishneh Torah from Chabad.org. It’s in Hebrew with an English translation. Can be printed out or viewed on line.  https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/901656/jewish/Introduction-to-Mishneh-Torah.htm

    Reply to this comment.Flag this comment.

  • M

    Moshe -3 years ago

    The Rambam said: "with the Chumash and my Mishneh Torah, you don't need anything else" !

    As was said there are scores of seforim of pirushim on the Rambam, Hashem's sense of  humor.

     I had said that Joseph Karo, the  Choferz Chaim,  the Alter Rebbe  and  others must have disagreed.

      I was referring not to the fact that tho there were many pirushim on the Rambam, but that these three (and perhaps others) that  were dafka  subsequent Shulchan Aruchs. This shows the Rambam's statement to be somewhat overreaching (tho his is the only one to codify laws no longer or not yet applicable). 

    .

    Reply to this comment.Flag this comment.

    • Z

      Zalman -3 years ago

      1. Just a clarification: The statement "with the Chumash and my Mishneh Torah, you don't need anything else" should likely read "with the Tanach and my Mishneh Torah, you don't need anything else" as Rambam writes that  לְפִי שֶׁאָדָם קוֹרֶא תּוֹרָה שֶׁבִּכְתָב תְּחִלָּה, וְאַחַר כָּךְ קוֹרֶא בְּזֶה, וְיוֹדֵעַ מִמֶּנּוּ תּוֹרָה שֶׁבְּעַל פֶּה כֻּלָּהּ, and Torah shbiksav likely encompases Neviim and Kesuvim. 

      2. The Rambam called his compilation "Mishna Torah" for it covers ALL of the Oral Torah — via the explanation of all the laws associated with ALL 613 Mitzvos.

      The Mechaber called his compilation "Shulchan Aruch" — A set table — specifically only including the  laws and customs relavant and applicable in his time and region. 

      Therefore, the statement that one need only learn Torah Shebiksav and Rambam, and with that one has fulfiled the obligation to learn Kol haTorah kula, is still true and has not been supplanted by any other compilation. (See Hilchos Talmud Torah of the Alter Rebbe.)

      3. As an aside, there has always been layers of commentary to any primary Torah text and Rambam is no different. In terms of those particulars that you mentioned. The Mechaber and the Alter Rebbe were the only two that authored "shulchan Aruch's" while all the other halachic works are either commentaries or selected halachos. (this includes the Shach & Taz, Magen Avrahom etc. and also the Mishna Berurah.) 

      Reply to this comment.Flag this comment.

      • M

        Moshe -3 years ago

        Ty Zalman. My point was that the Rambam intimated that his digest of laws, the first and still most comprehensive, was "it". And with the Tanach (I stand corrected by it is a picayune  difference without a  distinction); that's all one needs.  Ever. 

          Yet later we see that there later  additional digests of laws, albeit not as comprehensive, (and the title given is irrelevant, they are organized systemic digests of laws) that were written highlighting the Rambam's statement as being, in my humble opinion, a bit overreaching.  

        Reply to this comment.Flag this comment.

Rambam Mishneh Torah

Rabbi YY Jacobson

  • July 16, 2020
  • |
  • 24 Tamuz 5780
  • |
  • 2195 views

Dedicated by Franki Cohen, for the Refuah Sheleima of Ezriel ben Mina

Related Classes

Please help us continue our work
Sign up to receive latest content by Rabbi YY

Join our WhatsApp Community

Ways to get content by Rabbi YY Jacobson
Connect now
Picture of the authorPicture of the author