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Rambam controversy

the Rambam literally holds that demons don’t exist, which are talked about multiple times throughout tanach and Talmud, would that mean that the Rambam is a heretic c”v? No, there is no fundamental ...
Deuteronomy's user avatar
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7 votes

Sourcing a quote from the Rambam

I searched around and found it, in a collection of chidushim from ksav yad of the Rambam (which I did not know existed!) printed in the beginning of Maaseh Rokeach. You can see it for yourself here (...
Ester Lin's user avatar
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7 votes
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Rambam and R' Yehuda Halevi

The most concrete evidence that the Rambam knew of Yehuda Halevi is that Yonatan of Lunel, in a letter to him, listed the Kuzari as one of the books Yehuda Ibn Tibbon translated from Judeo-Arabic: ...
Aryeh's user avatar
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7 votes

Copy of Rambam's Mishna commentary in Arabic online

You can access it online at the Judeo-Arabic part of the Friedberg Jewish Manuscript Society website. Go to the main website here, where you can sign up for free. Then go to the Judeo-Arabic site (...
magicker72's user avatar
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4 votes
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Retroactive Kiddush Hachodesh according to Rambam

This question is asked by Ritva to Rosh HaShanah 25b, who writes that he doesn't know how to explain Rambam's words properly. One answer (which I do not fully understand) is presented by R. Chaim ...
Joel K's user avatar
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4 votes
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Mishanh Torah Sabath 11:14 writing rule with respect to left hand and elbow [Question]

The Torah prohibited labor done in a normal way. Violating that, someone would have to bring a sacrifice. (Thus, "liable.") If someone did it in an abnormal way, they are thus "exempt&...
Shalom's user avatar
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4 votes

Why does Rambam say "gentiles marriages' are not recognized" in Melachim uMilchamot, Chapter 8, verse 3?

The Lechem Mishneh explains that although it is generally forbidden to have relations with the wife of a gentile, nevertheless being that regarding a “Yefat To’ar” the Torah refers to her as a “...
User123's user avatar
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3 votes

Ein Mishpat in opposite direction

There are many works that give the sources for Rambam. The first and most similar to Ein Mishpat is Migdal Oz. That just gives you the chapter. Others are Maggid Mishneh and Kessef Mishnah, but they ...
N.T.'s user avatar
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3 votes
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Is G-d's 'mind' separate from Him?

In the Maimonidean paradigm, there is a spiritual chain of being that begins with God. God contemplates Godself, He is thought thinking itself, mind contemplating itself, God is knower, known and ...
Deuteronomy's user avatar
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3 votes
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Numbering of Halachot in Mishneh Thora

As far as I can tell, the first reference (i.e. 15:4) is following the numbering system used in Yemenite copies of Mishneh Torah (e.g. that used by Mechon Mamre). The reference in parentheses (so 15:2 ...
Joel K's user avatar
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3 votes

any groups that only follow Rambam?

I believe the closest you will find in recent history is the Dor Daim sect of the Yemenite community. They were an active community in the early 20th century, but currently don’t seem to have a ...
ASL's user avatar
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3 votes

Is the war to protect the State of Israel from attacks from terrrorists a Milchemes Mitzvah

R Shlomo Aviner rules this war is a milchemes mitzvah (Headlines Podcast #441 at 49:44). According to the Ramban, protecting the land is a mitzvah. According to the Rambam protecting is a mitzvah, ...
mbloch's user avatar
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2 votes

The Rambam's "Complete Repentence" + halachical logistics

I think this question is a mistake (notwithstanding the checked answer!) The Rambam doesn't say or mean that you are supposed to do this. He simply describes examples of two different kinds of ...
MichoelR's user avatar
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2 votes
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Why is the ger toshav only accepted during the times of the Jubilee?

The Gemara has the same question: Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says: The halakhot pertaining to a gentile who resides in Eretz Yisrael and observes the seven Noahide mitzvot [ger toshav] apply only during ...
user6781's user avatar
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2 votes

any groups that only follow Rambam?

There is a Beit Kenesseth Rambam in Jerusalem that adheres to the Rambam. I believe it was majority Yemenite and it was an eye opening experience the one time I went. The service begins shortly after ...
Aaron's user avatar
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2 votes

The Rambam Titling the Halachos of Pesach "״הלכות חמץ ומצה

He has "Laws of Korban Pesach" in his section on sacrifices. He needed a way to refer to everything else about this holiday. The Torah calls it "Chag HaMatzos" (and in fact, Pesach ...
Shalom's user avatar
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2 votes

Why does Maimonides list matzot as an unhealthy food?

The same may be asked of many of his health prescriptions in De'oth. That was the received wisdom in the medical field of his day. The writings of Galen (the Greek physician of the 2nd c. CE) were ...
Deuteronomy's user avatar
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2 votes

Chain of Transmission between Nachum and Rabbi Meyasha

A: The Rambam you quoted is not in order of when they lived. For example it has Reb Eliezer the son of Reb Yossi Hagleli and then around 30 names later Reb Yossi Hagleli. Clearly the list is not in ...
fulltimekollelguy's user avatar
2 votes
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Sefer HaMitzvot and Sefer HaChinuch: Which should I study?

The Sefer HaChinuch explains the 613 mitzvot, specifically it brings for each mitzva its source and a short explanation the purpose of the mitzva (some of it anyway) some of its laws with references ...
mbloch's user avatar
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2 votes

Two tefillin dispute: Rambam, Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam, what are we missing?

You asked: What is the strongest argument that you use for yourself as solid argument that we do really need second tefillin? I would suggest it's the Shulchan Aruch in סימן לד that says: ב יְרֵא ...
Danny Schoemann's user avatar
2 votes

Did the Rambam really say it's asur to believe foolish things?

Maimonides hated all superstition with a passion, but made allowances to set people's minds at ease. He wrote: A person bitten by a scorpion or serpent may whisper a charm over the wound even on the ...
Maurice Mizrahi's user avatar
2 votes

Did the Rambam really say it's asur to believe foolish things?

I think the first half of the Moreh's third section makes a stronger statement: According to the Rambam, all of halakhah is for the following three purposes: 1- To train someone away from foolishness ...
Micha Berger's user avatar
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1 vote

When was Adam restored to favor?

As per your comment: What happened in those 130 years (and why 130 years?) that meant that Adam was restored to favor. Refer to Eiruvin 18b which shows how he took steps to repent: מֵיתִיבִי, הָיָה ...
Dov's user avatar
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1 vote

When was Adam restored to favor?

Radak on Bereshit 5:3 states that he had done teshuva and became a perfectly righteous person after 130 years. He suggests that it was a form of intellectual pollution that he fixed through teshuva. ...
Rabbi Kaii's user avatar
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1 vote

Rambam controversy

While Rambam's opinion on demons and magic etc. is a minority view, nobody has said it makes him a heretic. In fact, the accepted definition of a heretic is one who disagrees with one or more of the ...
N.T.'s user avatar
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1 vote

Is G-d's 'mind' separate from Him?

For comparison with your image, the closest concept I am aware of in Jewish theology is the concept of mimale, sovev and Atzmus. There seem to be similarities, and differences, however I don't think ...
Rabbi Kaii's user avatar
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1 vote

Is there salvation from ignorance?

First the Rambam is in Hilchos Melachim 8:14 (or 8:11 according to a different edition?). Kesef Mishna there says that the need to do so because Moses commanded it, is the Rambam's own logic. To ...
msj121's user avatar
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1 vote
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Looking for quote from Maimonides on a widow wearing scarlet

This is from Nachmanides (not Maimonides) Ramban on Genesis 38:11:1: טעם שבי אלמנה בית אביך, שתנהגי אלמנותיך שם עד יגדל שלה, רמז לה התאבלי ולבשי בגדי אבל, ואל תסוכי שמן, כאשה חגורת שק על בעל נעוריה, ...
IsraelReader's user avatar
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1 vote

What are the minimum actions to become invalidated for kingship or priesthood by Rambam 's 4 professions?

I don't think it's as much about a profession associated action serving as a tipping point as much as it is about whether the action under scrutiny is characterized as one performed in a professional ...
Deuteronomy's user avatar
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