TheYeshiva.net - Rabbi YY Jacobson

Rambam Hilchos Avodas Kochavim Chapter 1

Friday, Aug 14, 11:00am EST

45 min

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Class Summary:

This class in Rambam the laws of Avodas Kochavim, chapter one, was presented on Friday Parshas Reah, 24 Av, 5780, August 14, 2020, streaming live from Rabbi Jacobson's home in Monsey, NY

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S
Shloime -4 years ago
What happened to all the people Avraham brought closer to HaShem? They seem to have gotten lost...
Based on your last point of Avraham's avoda being a manifestation of chesed and Yitchak's of gevura, one can understand what happened to all the souls Avraham brought closer to Hashem, ואת הנפש אשר עשו בחרן.

I once saw, in the sefer שיח שרפי קודש, a facsinting explanation from the Rebbe R' Heinich of Alexander.

After Avrohom's passing, Yitzchok became his successor. When his disciples saw how his derech in Avodas Hashem differed from that of his father, they felt that Yitzchok must be mistaken and left him. They didn't understand that everyone has his derech in avoda, and belived that Yitzchok was not serving Hashem in the correct way. Once they left him, and no longer had a Rebbe, they slipped away. They got lost. That is why there are no further mentions of these souls in the Torah.
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DHK
Dr. Heshie Klein -4 years ago
Question for Rabbi YY
Please see my comment - Hilchos Talmud Torah, Chapter 7 - The Mystery of the Missing Halacha Ches
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ZG
Z Ginsburg -4 years ago
Question for Rabbi YY
Re hilchos talmud torah, heter to teach wayward talmid, shulchan aruch harav, Q from sotah 47a The Gm there does not openly criticize Rybprachya, and if any criticism is hinted its his pushing yeshu away too much, not his refusal to teach him, yetzer tinok isha is a hint at yeshu mother see gitin 90a that papas ben yehuda locked her up and she rebelled But more fundamentally, you dont find a issur to teach waywarc jew like you find by teaching a goy, rather this halacha is a din in a talmid/ rebbi relationship, who has the leverage to change student for better But no issur to teach backsliding yid who lacks"din" of "talmid Yasher koach
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A
Anastasia -4 years ago
Question for Rabbi YY
I would like to appear live at this event
So, is astrology and everything that is connected to it is prohibited by Torah?
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DHK
Dr. Heshie Klein -4 years ago
Hilchos Talmud Torah, Chapter 7 - The Mystery of the Missing Halacha Ches
I believe that the second paragraph of Halacha 7 is actually a Moredicke halacha unto itself.

In paragraph 2 of halacha 7, the Rambam says, “v’yeish l’talmid l’hatir ha’nedui oh ha’chereim v’afilu bi’m’kom ha’rav’ – ‘A student may release a person from a ban of ostracism of excommunication even in the place of is teacher.”

We have all, most likely, heard the expression, “Put yourself in my place.” What does that mean?

“Try to see things from my perspective and see how you would feel.” It means “feel my pain and my suffering.”

Imagine what it feels like to be under a nidui or a cheirem, and to not be able to find someone who can remove it, release him from it . . . imagine that pain.

It is very easy to paskin by the book. It is much more difficult to also understand the issue behind the question.

A local Jew came to Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveichik with a strange question. "Is it permissible to use four cups of milk at the seder instead of four cups of wine?"

Understanding that this was an issue of finances (not health or any other reason), the Rabbi, without even responding, reached into his pocket and told the person "Take these twenty rubles and purchase wine."

After the Jew had left, a student asked the Rabbi, "Why did you have to give him twenty-five rubles? Five would be more than enough to purchase the required amount of wine."

Rabbi Soloveichik answered, "If he intended to use milk at the Seder, that means he also doesn't have money for meat [For Jewish law forbids having milk and meat at the same meal], and he probably also doesn't have money for the other items served at the Seder. I wanted to give him enough so that he could have a complete Seder." Rabbi Soleveichik understood the “soul” of the question.

If a woman loses a child, chas v’sholom, and while she is sitting shiva, people come and try to console her with many platitudes, such as, “think of the future”, or “It was his time” or “It’s Hashem’s will”, etc., none of which make her feel any better.

Then another woman enters, a woman who also lost her child. As soon as that woman enters the room, the mother who just lost her child begins to feel nechama, and this woman sits down next to aveila, and says nothing. The women cry together and the mother is consoled. This woman is called a “ben geelo,” or perhaps a “bas geelo”.

In each of these cases, one feels the pain and suffering of the other. Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveichik and the woman who also lost a child, were both empathetic.

“Immo Anochi B’Tzara” (Tehillim 91)

Besides meaning “in front of his Rav, I think the Rambam is saying something more powerful. Bi’m’kom haRav besides meaning in front of his Rav, bi’m’kom HaRav also means putting himself “IN THE PLACE” of his Rav, i.e – if the student is so close to his Rebbi that he can feel his Rebbi’s pain of being under a nidui or a cheirem, unable to find someone who can release him from it, who can remove it,

that he can be in his place, that he can be empathetic, and it becomes “Immo Anochi B’Tzara”, THEN the student can be mahtir the nidui or the cheirem, not just bi’m’kom haRav, in front of his Rav, rather bishvill haRav – on his rav’s behalf.

The Rambam is telling us that in order for a student to be able to be mahtir a nidui or a cheirem on his Rav, he has to be bi’m’kom haRav, he has to “be” in his Rav’s place, he has to feel the Rav’s pain, he has to be Immo Anochi B’tzora.

Afilu bi’m’kom haRav , means even in front of his Rav, but it also means that he can only be mahtir the nidui or the cheriem if he is bi’m’kom haRav, if he can put himself in the Rav’s place, if he can feel his Rav’s pain.

That being the case, it explains why there is no Halacha Ches, because the Rambam felt this was such a powerful and important point, that he actually wrote the second paragraph as a separate halacha, but somehow, someway, over time, the letter ches that that Rambam originally designated that paragraph as, somehow the “ches” got deleted, and halacha ches ended up looking like it was the second paragraph of halacha zayin (7).
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