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Unanswered Questions

146 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
10 votes
1 answer
432 views

Who authored the 13 Ani Maamin's?

The Rambam in his Hakdama to his Pirush on Perek Chelek in Mesechtas Sanhedrin mentions the points of belief a Jew must have. To the best of my knowledge these are the basis of the well-known ...
7 votes
0 answers
194 views

Finding a chiddush of the Brisker Rov

This question has a bit of an introduction to it. Rav Shlomo Lorincz wrote a biography of the Chazon Ish, the Brisker Rov and Rav Shach, called במחיצתם (translated by Yonason Rosenblum as “In Their ...
7 votes
1 answer
570 views

Eliyahu HaNavi's role in Moshiach's arrival according to the Rambam

The Rambam says in Hilchos Malachim 12:2: There are some Sages who say that Elijah's coming will precede the coming of the Mashiach. All these and similar matters cannot be definitely known by man ...
7 votes
0 answers
184 views

Why does Mishneh Torah have Shem uMalchut for Yishtabach?

I was looking into the Seder haTefillot as well as other siddurim based on it, and something always bothered me about Birkat Yishtabach, which as most of you know "closes" the Pesuqei deZimra section ...
5 votes
0 answers
81 views

What if one chos vishalom accidentally kills someone right before techias hameisim?

B"H The Rambam in Hilchos rotzeiach 7:9-12 discuss how one who accidentally kills someone and is exiled to a city of refuge never leaves, until the Kohen Gadol passes away. The question is, what ...
5 votes
0 answers
106 views

Capital Punishment and Kares simultaneously

I always understood that if a person does something that warrants capital punishment, and there are witnesses who warned them against the crime, that's all they are punished with. If it was done ...
5 votes
0 answers
78 views

Why is the format for referencing books sometimes backwards?

The Rambam is usually reference in the following way: פרק א׳ מהלכות ק״ש הלכה ט׳ - chapter 1 from from hilchos kerias shma, halacha 9. Why is it referenced this way? Why not the way many ...
5 votes
0 answers
182 views

Maimonides on the purpose of animals?

In the intro to his commentary to Mishnayot the Rambam writes אך על דרך כלל יש לדעת, שכל הנמצאים שתחת גלגל הירח נמצאו בשביל האדם לבדו. וכל מיני החיות, יש מהם למאכלו, כצאן ובקר וזולתם, ויש ...
5 votes
0 answers
291 views

Understanding the Zohar's Anthropomorphism of God

Unlike the Rambam's now-conventional ideas against anthropomorphizing God, there are kabbalistic texts studied today which seem to espouse completely antithetical ideas. I am familiar with the ...
5 votes
0 answers
176 views

Are there communities that follow the Rambam?

At one point, many Sefardic communities followed the Mishneh Torah. As time went on, it seems that the sefardim accepted the Beit Yosef. Besides for Yemenites, were there any communities that, until ...
4 votes
1 answer
95 views

Rambam’s source for crown of Priesthood

In Mishnei Torah Hilchot Talmud Torah chapter 3 Halacha 1 the Rambam writes: בִּשְׁלשָׁה כְּתָרִים נִכְתְּרוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל. כֶּתֶר תּוֹרָה וְכֶתֶר כְּהֻנָּה וְכֶתֶר מַלְכוּת. כֶּתֶר כְּהֻנָּה זָכָה ...
4 votes
0 answers
46 views

Why did the Rambam single out Ribui?

In Sefer HaMitzvos, Shoresh 2, the Rambam says that anything derived using Rabbi Yishmael's 13 principles of derivation, or a Ribui (extraneous wording which tells us to include new laws), does not ...
4 votes
0 answers
85 views

Did Rambam ever refer to the 13 Principles in his other works?

Rambam lists the 13 Principles as the beliefs which measure one's merits for the world to come, and he writes it as an elaboration of the Mishnaic statement: "All of the Jewish people, have a ...
4 votes
0 answers
224 views

Rambam's seemingly contradictory statements about one who denies the Oral Law

Rambam clearly and explicitly states on a number of occasions that one who denies the Oral Law is a heretic, and that this includes Tzadok and Baythus and their followers (Sadducees and Boethusians). ...
4 votes
0 answers
583 views

Mishneh Torah in english

To my knowledge, there are two English editions of the Mishneh Torah: the Yale Judaica edition and the Moznaim edition. Furthermore, there exist the Birnbaum (incomplete) and Frankel editions, perhaps ...

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