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Rambam Hilchos De'os Chapter 1 - Q & A

Cultivating the Right Temperament

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Class Summary:

This class, in Rambam the Laws of De'os, chapter one, was presented on Tuesday Parshas Va'eschanan, 7 Av, 5780, July 28, 2020, streaming live from Rabbi Jacobson's home in Monsey, NY

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Sara Metzger -4 years ago
Questions from Part 1
Chapter 1 Hilchos De’os Questions

Menachem Solomon

Question for Rabbi YY

If we know the famous statement of Derech Eretz Kodmah L'Torah, than why does the Rambam bring forth the Foundations of Torah, before presenting us the 'foundations' of Character traits?

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Moshe

Did Pinchus take

The middle path?

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Moshe

About being a "chosid" and going to more of a (good) extreme and not the midpath

Lehavdil, there are orders of monks who endure extreme types of torture, fasting, meditation, discipline of various sorts,fighting techniques etc whereby they become very very extreme in those aspects.

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Sholem

Question for Rabbi YY

Emulating Hashem is to be Butel to him not to use my Das it’s Hashems way I need to emulate not mine ???

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Sara

And isn't there a huge element of free choice in all of this?

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Sara

-Could it be about balance?

Maybe the middel could also include an element of keeping balanced. Not extreme about anything, but balanced. ??

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Moshe

Nature versus Nurture regarding alternate lifestyles

It's well known that there are frum people who have a tendency to alternate lifestyles. They know that this is forbidden but say that they cannot help it. The nature versus Nurture debate applies.

Very sad situation.

In Israel now there is fierce debate over a bill in the Knesset about therapy for this with the frum crowd adamant.

Of course no one can say that they have a predisposition to, say, shoplifting. A person predisposed to murder can be redirected to be a shochet.

Any advice al pi the Rambam or others about this?

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chaim akerman

Question for Rabbi YY

does those pathways in the brain bring you to feelings or feelings is different than your brain waves

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Anonymous

perhaps hilchos deos because derech eretz kadmah letorah after we have the foundations this is next

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Moshe

"We should strive for the middle path"

But the middle path for one is very different for one person compared to another.

Is there an objective standard for "the middle path"?

When asked how much to spend on a house, a chassuna, a car, etc., I believe the Rebbe said to spend the average of the community where he lives.

Then again one can choose to move to a wealthy area, e.g Short Hills NJ, Tenafly, etc or locate to a more modest area. So even taking the average of the locale varies widely.

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Anonymous

How many days to work on my middos? Halacha 7

The Noam Elimelech is reported as saying for 40 days if one improves a good middah or distances himself from a bad middah

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Anonymous

Example of using your middos in the right way

Rav Dessler zt”l gave up smoking, and he came up with a creative way to do so. He admitted to his students that he really wants to stop smoking, but it’s very hard for him to stop, because he’s addicted to it. As soon as he told his students, he stopped smoking -- cold turkey! How did he do this? He explained that he has a very big desire to smoke, but he has an even bigger desire: that he not lose the respect of his students, since he had told them that he is committed to giving up smoking. He replaced one desire for a bigger desire – the desire for respect. Since he knew that his respect was at stake if he doesn’t keep his word, it wasn’t worth it for him to smoke. It’s not that he didn’t have a desire to smoke. He had the desire, but he switched it for an even bigger desire. What he did was to use the innate power of pikchus (to be clever). That is what the Ramchal is really advising – to use your “cleverness” in order to internalize your knowledge.

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Anonymous

2 Rambams contradiction?

from rav dovid cohn

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Sara

cant see any of the images. is there another way to display them?

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Anonymous

-is this better?

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Sara

No, this is what I see.

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Sara

So are you putting images here from your email? If yes, they are not really available to anyone but you. This is the answer I received.

Maybe download the images you want to share and then insert them after they are downloaded - find them in your files and then send?

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Sara

I am contacting a person on staff who may have a solution. Will get back to you if I get an answer.

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Anonymous

Hating someone you are allowed to hate

Does one fufill the mitzvah of vehalachta bidrachav if he has middos of sinah to someone he is supposed to hate for example an apikores like the rambam says in perush mishnayos to sanhedrin at the end of the ikrim? As dovid hamelech said

הֲלֽוֹא־מְשַׂנְאֶ֖יךָיְהוָ֥ה׀אֶשְׂנָ֑אוּ֝בִתְקוֹמְמֶ֗יךָאֶתְקוֹטָֽט׃

תַּכְלִ֣ית שִׂנְאָ֣ה שְׂנֵאתִ֑יםלְ֝אוֹיְבִ֗יםהָ֣יוּלִֽי׃

or if he is angry when he is allowed to is that a kiyum of the itzvah because we find that hashem gets "angry"

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Anonymous

The Middle Path?

The Middle does not mean the middle:

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Moshe

your attached images do not open

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Anonymous

Why are these halachos not called hilchos middos- why are they called deos?

Amazing explanation from Rav Moshe Shapiro Zt'l (brought in hte sefer binas hamidos)

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Anonymous
1. Rambam is discussing hilchos middos what does that have to do with daas- Why call it Hilchos deos?
2. Halacha 3
ואיןראוילולאדם- later says it is a mitzvas aseh so what's ein rauy?

Is only to show on the face but not to be angry) Also says the reason not to get angry is because may come to get angry another time, if there is no need the it is prohibited?
5. How could one be obligated in going beyond the letter of the law. The Rambam implies everyone has to be a chasid like hashem is a chasid?
6. The Rambam in halacha 7 says
והיאשלמדאברהםאבינולבניושנאמרכיידעתיולמעןאשריצוהוגו'. וההולךבדרךזומביאטובהוברכהלעצמושנאמרלמעןהביאה' עלאברהםאתאשרדברעליו

This is a halacha sefer why is he bringing this?

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Moshe

Yesterday we learnt the laws of what makes a Novi kosher

As with all else the Rambam has distilled all the halachas (and organized them) from the cholent of the gemora. The gemora derives halachas from pesukim and Torah she'baal pen.

Specifically the laws about a kosher Novi are derived from pesukim.

Pesukim were written down by Moshe Rabbenu as a strong taking dictation from Hashem. Including the pesukim about a kosher Novi.

Wait a minute! Moshe came on the scene in Mitzrayim to take the yidden out BEFORE he wrote and Hashem dictated those pesukim.

By what criteria did the yidden accept Moshe as a Novi or as a leader BEFORE they had those pesukim and before seeing any miracles? Moreover, things got worse after he arrived!

Of course we have 20-20 retroprective vision now here in 2020 because we have the Rambam's critera for a kosher Novi, we have the gemora and the pesukim. But AT THAT TIME the yidden had none of that by which to test whether Moshe was the real redeemer they had been waiting for for hundreds of years! On fact skeptics could say that he was raised by Pharoah and was a fraud, a spy, a trickster set up by Pharaoh!

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Anonymous

Is this a continuation of what we have been learning daily with the Rabbi. Today we finished lesson 10. Thanks, Cynthia

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Admin

Yes, it's chapter 1 of the next section in the Rambam
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