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Week 3: Response from
Rabbi Larry Bach |
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Maimonides, following the mishnah on which these halakhot are based, distinguishes between sins that are "between you and God," and those that are "between you and other people" (in Hebrew, bein adam lamakom and bein adam lachaveiro). In our language, this distinction roughly corresponds to "ritual" versus "ethics."
I believe we do ourselves a disservice if we make too much of this distinction. We use it best when it prompts us to recognize the simple fact that when we wrong another, we are in fact wronging the Holy One in whose image that other is created.
The same can be said of the additional categories added below the Rambam's text by our Elul Project teachers. "Nature" and "Self," along with "God" and "Other" are useful and necessary ideas that help us make sense of our world. In truth, they are One. When we sin against one, we sin against all.
Davar Acher:
Maimonides tells us that he wrote his Mishneh Torah in order to compile various matters which are explained in many books, telling what is permitted and what is forbidden, what is impure and what is pure, along with the rest of the rules of the Torah, without contradiction or controversy, with no "this one says," and "that one says," but rather with clear simple, precise words -- (from the Introduction).
He perceived a need for such a book to teach those who could not swim in the sea of Talmud, and as a ready reference even for learned men like himself. We are indebted to him for his clarity and brevity.
Having said that, it can be very fruitful and enjoyable to dive into the more complex Talmudic passages that sit beneath the Rambam's codification. In the case of the halakhot we've been discussing, the relevant sugya ("unit of discussion") is found in the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Yoma, page 85. Those who want to go even further and read an extensive treatment of the passages by one of the giants of twentieth-century philosophy might enjoy the first chapter of Emmanuel Levinas's Nine Talmudic Readings.
Temple Mount Sinai -- El Paso, Texas
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