Maimonides

1. Maimonides Freewill

2. Sephardi Chief Rabbi Criticizes Pope's Remarks • By: Yair Ettinger and Yoav Stern • The Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel on Sunday sent a letter criticizing the pope for his remarks on Islam to a leading Sunni Islamic legal scholar in Qatar.In the letter, Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar wrote to Sheikh Yusef Kardawi, "our way is to honor every religion and every nation according to their paths, as it is written in the book of prophets: 'because every nation will go in the name of its lord.'""Even when there is a struggle between nations" Amar added, "it cannot be turned into a war of religions."The letter, written in Arabic, was delivered to Kardawi by a leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Sheikh Abdullah Naimar Darwish. Amar sent the letter first to Rabbi Menachem Froman, chief rabbi of the West Bank settlement of Tekoa, who is known as a champion of inter-religious reconciliation.In his introduction to the letter, Froman added to Amar's remarks, saying "every Jew who learns the writings of the great sages - who, at the head of them all stands Maimonides - knows that our great thinkers wrote in the Arabic language, lived in Islamic states and participated with the great Muslim thinkers in the effort to explain the words of God, according to the paths of the sages and amidst the difficult bloody battles that we have had since the beginning of Zionism with the Muslims."We know... that the war between the Jews and the Muslims is the work of the cursed devil. We know that Islam is named after peace," wrote Froman. • From Haaretz, September 18, 2006

3. Teshubah 5:1 • בראשית פרק ג פסוק כב • וַיֹּאמֶר יְ-הֹוָה אֱ-לֹהִים הֵן הָאָדָם הָיָה כְּאַחַד מִמֶּנּוּ לָדַעַת טוֹב וָרָע • וְעַתָּה פֶּן יִשְׁלַח יָדוֹ וְלָקַח גַּם מֵעֵץ הַחַיִּים וְאָכַל וָחַי לְעֹלָם:

4. Teshubah 5:1 • מכילתא דרבי ישמעאל בשלח - מס' דויהי פרשה ו ד"ה ובני ישראל • דרש ר' פפוס הן האדם היה כאחד ממנו (בראשית ג כב) כאחד ממלאכי השרת • אמר ר' עקיבא דייך פפוס • אמר ליה פפוס ומה אתה מקיים הן האדם היה כאחד ממנו • א"ל הקב"ה נותן לפניו שני דרכים אחד של מות ואחד של חיים ובחר לו דרך המות.

5. Teshubah 5:2 • איכה פרק ג • (לח) מִפִּי עֶלְיוֹן לֹא תֵצֵא הָרָעוֹת וְהַטּוֹב: • (לט) מַה יִּתְאוֹנֵן אָדָם חָי גֶּבֶר עַל חֲטָאָיו: • (מ) נַחְפְּשָׂה דְרָכֵינוּ וְנַחְקֹרָה וְנָשׁוּבָה עַד יְ-הֹוָה:

6. Teshubah 6:3 • ישעיהו ו:י • הַשְׁמֵן לֵב הָעָם הַזֶּה וְאָזְנָיו הַכְבֵּד וְעֵינָיו הָשַׁע פֶּן יִרְאֶה בְעֵינָיו וּבְאָזְנָיו יִשְׁמָע וּלְבָבוֹ יָבִין וָשָׁב וְרָפָא לוֹ: • Dull that people’s [Bne Yisrael] mind, stop its ears, and seal its eyes – lest, seeing with its eyes and hearing with its ears, it also grasp with its mind, and repent and save itself.

7. Free Will vs. Predestination “The Talmud Contains Everything and Its Opposite.”

8. תלמוד בבלי מסכת נדה דף טז עמוד ב • דדריש ר' חנינא בר פפא: אותו מלאך הממונה על ההריון לילה שמו, ונוטל טפה ומעמידה לפני הקב"ה, ואומר לפניו: רבש"ע, טפה זו מה תהא עליה? גבור או חלש, חכם או טיפש, עשיר או עני? ואילו רשע או צדיק - לא קאמר, כדר' חנינא; דא"ר חנינא: הכל בידי שמים - חוץ מיראת שמים, שנאמר (דברים י') ועתה ישראל מה ה' אלהיך שואל מעמך כי אם ליראה וגו'. • R. Hanina b. Papa made the following exposition: The name of the angel who is in charge of conception is ‘Night’, and he takes up a drop and places it in the presence of the Holy One, blessed be He, saying, ‘Sovereign of the universe, what shall be the fate of this drop? Shall it produce a strong man or a weak man, a wise man or a fool, a rich man or a poor man?’ Whereas ‘wicked man’ or ‘righteous one’ he does not mention, in agreement with the view of R. Hanina. For R. Hanina stated: Everything is in the hands of heaven except the fear of God, as it is said, And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear etc.

9. בראשית רבה פרשה סג • ויתרוצצו הבנים בקרבה ויתרצו בקרבה, עוברת על בתי עבודה זרה ועשו מפרכס לצאת הה"ד זורו רשעים מרחם וגו' (תהלים נח:ד), עוברת על בתי כניסיות ובתי מדרשות ויעקב מפרכס לצאת הה"ד בטרם אצרך בבטן ידעתיך וגו' (ירמיה א ה). • AND THE CHILDREN STRUGGLED TOGETHER WITH IN HER. They sought to run within her.8 When she stood near synagogues or schools,9 Jacob struggled to come out; hence it is written, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee (Jer. I, 5). While when she passed idolatrous temples, Esau eagerly struggled to come out; hence it is written, ’ The wicked are estranged from the womb’ (Ps. LVIII, 4).

10. תלמוד בבלי מסכת יומא דף לח עמוד א • אמר בן עזאי: בשמך יקראוך, ובמקומך יושיבוך, ומשלך יתנו לך. אין אדם נוגע במוכן לחבירו, אין מלכות נוגעת בחברתה אפילו כמלא נימא. • Referring to this Ben ‘Azzai said: By your name you will be called, to your place you will be restored and from what belongs to you will you be given. No man can touch what is prepared for his fellow and ‘One kingdom does not interfere with the other even to the extent of one hair's breadth’.

11. תלמוד בבלי מסכת חולין דף ז עמוד ב • ואמר ר' חנינא: אין אדם נוקף אצבעו מלמטה אלא א"כ מכריזין עליו מלמעלה, שנאמר: (תהלים ל"ז:כג) מה' מצעדי גבר כוננו, (משלי כ':כד) ואדם מה יבין דרכו. • R. Hanina further said: No man bruises his finger here on earth unless it was so decreed against him in heaven, for it is written: It is of the Lord that a man's goings are established. How then can man look to his way?

12. קהלת רבה (וילנא) פרשה י ד"ה א [י"א] • אם ישך הנחש בלוא לחש, אמר ר' אבא בר כהנא לעולם אין הנחש נושך אלא א"כ נלחש לו מלעיל, ואין הארי טורף אלא א"כ נלחש לו מלמעלה, ואין המלכות מתגרה בבני אדם אלא אם כן נלחש לה מלעיל • IF THE SERPENT BITE BEFORE IT IS CHARMED (X, 11)1: R. Abba b. Kahana said: Never does a serpent bite unless it has been incited from Above, nor does a lion rend [its prey] unless it has been incited from Above, nor does a government interfere with men unless it has been incited from Above.

13. תלמוד בבלי מסכת סוטה דף ב עמוד א • אמר רב יהודה אמר רב: ארבעים יום קודם יצירת הולד, בת קול יוצאת ואומרת: בת פלוני לפלוני בית פלוני לפלוני שדה פלוני לפלוני! • Rab Judah has said in the name of Rab: Forty days before the creation of a child, a Bath Kol issues forth and proclaims, The daughter of A is for B; the house of C is for D; the field of E is for F!

14. תלמוד בבלי נדרים דף לט עמוד ב • אמר רבי אחא בר חנינא: כל המבקר חולה - נוטל אחד מששים בצערו. אמרי ליה: אם כן, ליעלון שיתין ולוקמוה! אמר ליה: כעישורייתא דבי רבי, ובבן גילו; • ר"ן מסכת נדרים דף לט עמוד ב • ובבן גילו - שנולד המבקר במזלו של חולה. • R. Abba son of R. Hanina said: He who visits an invalid takes away a sixtieth of his pain. Said they to him: If so, let sixty people visit him and restore him to health? — He replied: The sixtieth is as the tenth spoken of in the school of Rabbi, and [providing further that] he [the visitor] is of his affinity.

15. תלמוד בבלי מועד קטן דף כח עמוד א • אמר רבא: חיי, בני ומזוני, לא בזכותא תליא מילתא, אלא במזלא תליא מילתא. דהא רבה ורב חסדא תרוייהו רבנן צדיקי הוו, מר מצלי ואתי מיטרא, ומר מצלי ואתי מיטרא. רב חסדא חיה תשעין ותרתין שנין - רבה חיה ארבעין, בי רב חסדא - שיתין הלולי, בי רבה - שיתין תיכלי. בי רב חסדא - סמידא לכלבי ולא מתבעי, בי רבה - נהמא דשערי לאינשי, ולא משתכח. • Raba said: [Length of] life, children and sustenance depend not on merit but [rather on] mazzal. For [take] Rabbah and R. Hisda. Both were saintly Rabbis; one master prayed for rain and it came, the other master prayed for rain and it came. R. Hisda lived to the age of ninety-two, Rabbah [only] lived to the age of forty. In R. Hisda's house there were held sixty marriage feasts, at Rabbah's house there were sixty bereavements. At R. Hisda's house there was the purest wheaten bread for dogs, and it went to waste; at Rabbah's house there was barley bread for human beings and that not to be had.

16. תלמוד בבלי מסכת שבת דף קנו עמוד א • It was recorded in R. Joshua b. Levi's notebook: He who [is born] on the first day of the week [Sunday] shall be a man without one [thing] in him — What does ‘without one [thing] in him’ mean? Shall we say, without one virtue? Surely R. Ashi said: I was born on the first day of the week! Hence it must surely mean, one vice. But Surely R. Ashi said: I and Dimi b. Kakuzta were born on the first day of the week: I am a king (head of the academy) and he is the captain of thieves! — Rather it means either completely virtuous or completely wicked. [What is the reason? Because light and darkness were created on that day.] He who is born on the second day of the week will be bad-tempered — What is the reason? Because the waters were divided thereon. He who is born on the third day of the week will be wealthy and unchaste. What is the reason? Because herbs were created thereon. He who is born on the fourth day of the week will be wise and of a retentive memory. What is the reason? Because the luminaries were suspended [thereon] — He who is born on the fifth day of the week will practise benevolence. What is the reason? Because the fishes and birds were created thereon. He who is born on the eve of the Sabbath will be a seeker. R. Nahman b. Isaac commented: A seeker after good deeds. He who is born on the Sabbath will die on the Sabbath, because the great day of the Sabbath was desecrated on his account. Raba son of R. Shila observed: And he shall be called a great and holy man.

17. R. Hanina said to then, [his disciples]: Go out and tell the son of Levi, Not the constellation of the day but that of the hour is the determining influence. He who is born under the constellation of the sun will be a distinguished man: he will eat and drink of his own and his secrets will lie uncovered; if a thief, he will have no success. He who is born under Venus will be wealthy and unchaste [immoral]. What is the reason? Because fire was created therein. He who is born under Mercury will be of a retentive memory and wise. What is the reason? Because it [Mercury] is the sun's scribe. He who is born under the Moon will be a man to suffer evil, building and demolishing, demolishing and building. eating and drinking that which is not his and his secrets will remain hidden: if a thief, he will be successful. He who is born under Saturn will be a man whose plans will be frustrated. Others say: All [nefarious] designs against him will be frustrated. He who is born under Zedek [Jupiter] will be a right-doing man [zadkan] R. Nahman b. Isaac observed: Right-doing in good deeds. ‘He who is born under Mars will be a shedder of blood. R. Ashi observed: Either a surgeon, a thief, a slaughterer, or a circumciser. Rabbah said: I was born under Mars. Abaye retorted: You too inflict punishment and kill.

18. It was stated. R. Hanina said: The planetary influence gives wisdom, the planetary influence gives wealth, and Israel stands under planetary influence. R. Johanan maintained: Israel is immune from planetary influence. Now, R. Johanan is consistent with his view, for R. Johanan said: How do we know that Israel is immune from planetary influence? Because it is said, Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the nations, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the nations are dismayed at them: they are dismayed but not Israel. Rab too holds that Israel is immune from planetary influence. For Rab Judah said in Rab's name: How do we know that Israel is immune from planetary influence? Because it is said, and he brought him forth from abroad. Abraham pleaded before the Holy One, blessed be He, ‘Sovereign of the Universe! one born in mine house is mine heir.’ ‘Not so,’ He replied, ‘but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels.’ ‘Sovereign of the Universe!’ cried he, ‘I have looked at my constellation and find that I am not fated to beget child.’ ‘Go forth from [i.e., cease] thy planet [gazing], for Israel is free from planetary influence. What is thy calculation?Because Zedek [Jupiter]1 stands in the West? I will turn it back and place it in the East.’ And thus it is written, Who hath raised up Zedek from the east? He hath summoned it for his sake.