Maimonides between Philosophy and Halakhah: Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik’s Lectures on the Guide of the Perplexed 9789655242034

Citation preview

lVLAIMON ID ES BETWE EN

PH I Tu OSO PHY AN I:) H ALAK HAH

RABB I

J 0 sEpH B.

s0 L 0 v EI Tc H I KIs

LECTURES ON THE GUIDE OF THE PERPLE X ED

I 11 I I I 11 \\ I I 11

\ '-

I'- I f, h1;in1; ;"'LllOJ.chcd to God's continuing cognition," and in his

i5. Maimonides' claim, found here and repc.:itcd in Guide 1:68, that God is "the Knower .•. , the Known, and ..• Knowledge itself" is, as the Rav points out in his lcciures. taken from Aristorle. Sec Metaphysics XII 9:10748 33-35. "Therefore, it

32

H

"pantheism."

MAIMONIDES - BETWEEN PHILOSOPHY r\ND HALAKHAH

This last sentence - "For everything is attached to Him in its generation" - carries special significance for the Rav, and he cites it.five times in rhc course of his lectures, undcrstandmg it to mean that "m spite of

~~~~[ ~~~~ ~:.~~!.~t~:11~~~ ~~:st~\~h~:1 ~~ ~~~1t~~cc;x~~~lr~~~t~)·:11;~~~~~,i ~~~!~~~~~~~~~I:~{the Tor.1/J 7: 1 . Proph.;:,y dl•volws only upon ;1 wise m:m {bak/Jam) possessed of grL"3r wisdom. wlw Ls powaful with rcspL"l.'.t to lrcgubringl his mor;il qu:d1ti1.•s, whose inclination doe!'> not on~rpowcr him with respect ro .:inr m.urcr. bur r;uhcr, through his reason, he alwa}'s ov~rpmvcrs his indin;Hion - ;rnJ possessed of a most ample and sound intellect. \\!hen !'uch '' person. brimming with all these qualities and sound of bodr, l~ntc:rs rh e P.1rdes, becomes ;1bsorbed in irs greM and wondrous topii;s - h.n· ing ;ln imdlecr fir to understand and apprehend [rhi:mJprogressin! ly s:i nctifics himsdt and torsakes the- way of rhc multitude who w:llk in temporal d:ukness, ... bur his mmd is C\'Cr turned upwards. bomtd beneath the Jcdestialj throne in order ta discern rhosc holy :rnd pun: forms. and he reflects upon the full wisdom of rhe Holy One. lc,·ident in ever}Thin{!I from chi! flrsr Form to en rrh's ccmer. and comes ro know then:hy His gr1.·amess - srraighraway rhc Holy Spmr rests upon Him .~

B.

Maimonides' "Critical Merhod"

Maimomdes was more interested m the interest in the knowl edge of God than in the cdpacity for the knowledge of God. It is the "powe rful longing for speculative matters" (Guide, Epistle Dedicatory) that serves as the t.:riterion of the accessibility of the knowledge of those speculative matters for the individual. Kant's critical method in the Crttique of Pure Reason seeks to determine which di sciplines foll within the bounds of human theoretical reason. ls rhi: cognition of a certain discipline possible, and, if possible, then under what terms and conditions? This applies particularly to the knowledge of pure mathematics. S· IBa..c). But behind the angel God was hidden. Thus the Bible informs us that when God saw that Moses turned to see, "'God called to Moses in the midst of the bush" (Exod. 3:4). Ir was only later, in the Second Temple period, that angels are hy· pos rasized and become entities. However, in the Talmud che angel is neve r a mediator. It was only in the medieval period char the concept arose, both in the Kabbalah and Maimonides' philosophy, that we do not join with God directly, but only through the mediacion of an angel. Maimonides' view, however, is inconsistent. On the one hand he reiterates rime and again that we should pray only to God and not ta any being other chan God. Thus he rejects any idea of cultic mediation between man and God. Such cultic mediation is forbidd en insofar as it is likely to lead to worship of these intermediaries. But why should Maimonides accept intellectual mediation on the part of the angels and reject cultic mediation on their part? It should be either one or the other. Again, Maimonides is being inconsistent here. The Kabbalah in this regard was more consistent. In the Kabbalah we find prayers addsessed to angels, precisely because of this either·or conside ration we just raised. For if angels can serve as imellectual mediators berween man and God, they can serve as culric mediacors as well. 10

E.

Moses in the Cleft of the Rock

We saw earlier that in terms of substance there are two separate or· ders: (r) A fin ite order; and (2) an infinite order. But in terms of essence and existence, the world and God constitute one order. Thus our awareness of the world's existence is at the same time awareness of God's existence. Indeed, as we also saw earlier, for Maimoni des the only source of our knowledge of God is the universe.

e:ea::rd~~:

10. (Ar 1his point in R. Homnick's notes, we find tbecommem " Gabirol in Keter Malklmt h~s this." Jr is not dear exactly what R. SoloWtchik meant by this and what passage in Keter MQ/khut he might have had in mind.)

!\\,\l /\I ON IDF. S - BET\Vt:EN

1'1·111.0~0l'HY AND H1\LAl\HAH

~~~::~::~~: 2~i'.,"::~:~~::'Ej:~::.::~;:·~:~~. '.~~:~:~;:~~:~'.i:i~~~~ 1

prised in what exi sts cx..:'-:pr nnl} t-hm.' There 1s, nwn:over, no way to apprehend Him cxcqi r tbrnugh the thmgs He has m:idc. (Gwde 1 :J4) This le;Hls us J.im.:rly ro rhL· Gm1k 1:)4. whl'rL' Maimonides states that God cannot he undcrslO(>d by nu:.111s of His L'sscnrial attributes, _bur o nl \' bv mea ns of Hi s ;mribufl:s o f ;.t..:nons. w hich 3ttributes of acnons rd~r ~n,;cisdy to .. rhc mm lay of thl' [hi ngs He h:is rn.1dc." This ch;.1 ptcr n.:frrs co l\·tosi:s· request ro know .God. In the ~hapter l\·loscs first rcquests, ··Now rhcrdorc, it I ha ve found grace m Your sight, pray let me know Your ways" {Exod. 33:1 3 }. La ter he requests, "Pr.1r show me Your g lory" (Exod. l3:18). Rashi understands ~-lo ses' first request, "Pr.1y let me know You r w;.n-s." to mea n, '"what r1..'ward (sek/Jar) You give to th ose who have fo u.nd e,racc in Your sight," ;lnd his srcond rcq ul.!"st, " Pra y show me Your glory," to mean rhat "Moses saw chat ir w:is a [ime of (di vi nel fJrnr and ·his words wcr~ oc~cprcd, and he m ade an addi ti ona l request [chat God] show him Hi s glory." For Rashi, thus, there is no connection bem·een the two requests, both of which, in his view, God granted. jv1aimonides writes: Know chat the masrcr of those who know, Moses ou r master, made two requests, and rl'ccivcd an answer co bo ch of them. One request f " Pra ~· show me Your glory .. I consisted m hi s asking H im to lee him know His essence .:111d true rea lity. The second request !" Pra y let me know Your wa}·s·· 1. which he put first, was rhat He should let him knov. .· His attributes. The :mswer ro the two requests rhat He ... gave him consisted in Hi s prom ising him to let him know all His attributes, making it knO\vn ro him that they arc His actions, and teaching him that His essence cannot be grasped as it really is. For Ma imonides, chcn, Moses asked for t wo th ings:

He wished to know God's essence and true reality. That is, he wished to approach God directly, bypassing the world; he wished to know the rrnn si:cndent God who is unrel ated to the world. He wished to und erstand the universe in such a manner that from

On the Nature of Knowledge the universe he would be able to derive mecaph ysica l conclusions with regard to God. God ~cplied that man can know Him only via the un ive rse, o nly via the creation. God as isol~ted from the universe, God as t he Infinite Being who negates all else, 1s the Deus Absconditus and not known to man. . Moses' request "'Pray let m e know Your ways" was a request to discover God's trails manifested in His guiding the un iverse. It was a ~equcst to know God via the laws and principles o f being that God implan ted in the cosmos. It was a request to understa nd the relationshi p between the Creator and His creation. Maimonides goes on to scare: [Moscs'J saying ""Pray let me know Your ways that 1m3y know You"' indicates that God is known through His atmbutive qua lifications . . .. furthermore, his saying .. That I might find grace in You r sight" (bod. 33:13 ) indicates that he who knows God find s grace: in His sight.. . . Accordingly those who know H im arc those favored by Him and permmed to come near Him, whereas those who do not know Him are the objects of His wrath and are kept far away fro m Him. For Hi s favor and wrath, His ne:trness and remoteness, correspond to the extent of a man's knowledge or ignorance. Th e perfect man, for Maimonides, t hus, is the man who has attained this intellectual knowledge of God via knowledge of His attribures o f action. Such a man will find grace in God 's sight. He will know God, and God will, in turn , love him. Moreover, such a person will be close to God; for he who knows God is close to Him, while he who is ignorant of God is distant from Him.11 After Moses attained this incellectual knowledge of God via knowledge o f His attributes of action, he asked for direct knowledge of God. Th e answer was no. In sum, the requesr"Pray let me know Your ways" was a request on Moses' part to obtain a cosmic experience of God ; and God granted rh ac request, replying "I will make all My goodness pass before you" (Exod. 33:19 ), which, for Maimonides, "alludes to the display to him 11 . [Ct'. G11ide 1:1~. "For ne:irness to (God} consisrs in apprehending Him; :ind remoteness from Him 1s the lot ol him who does not know Him."J

165

~tAl~tO N IDE S

-

On the Nature of Knowledge

BETWEE N l'l-111.0 SOl'l-IY ANO 111\1.,\Ja-lt\l·l

of all existing things of which u is s.:lid, 'And G o d saw ev.:rything that He had madi:, and behold it w :l S very good' (Gen. 1:J1 ). The rc~uest ··Prav show mr.: Your glory." however. w.1s a request on Mos.cs part to obtain a crnnsct:ndent cxpcrire was never an>· doubt in the rabbis' minds that this was how rhcse phrases were to be interprcrc). The bdoved~ however, resists and refuses to open the door for her lover. ·· 1have taken off my robe, how can I don it aga in? I have bathed my feet, how can I soil them again? " (Song 5:3). After a moment the beloved leaps off her bed to open the door, her hands drippmg myrrh on the handles of the lock. But her lover has gone. "I rose to let in my beloved; ... but my beloved had turned and gone" (Song 5:5-6). Man searches for God, and God eludes him. The complete consummation of the ideal of uni on is non-existent. Th is motif permeates a ll of Jewish literature, from the prophets to the Halakhah and the Kabba lah. Jn the book of Psalms, ma n yearns for God, seeking to surrender himself ro Him. "God, You arc my God; I sea rch for You, my soul thirsts for You, my flesh yea rn s for You, in a wasteland, weary without water" (Ps. 63:2). Yet the love cannot be fully consummated and realized. For "God [is] greatly dreaded in the council of ho ly beings, held in awe by all around Hi m" (Ps. 89:8). And man, who but a moment before had sought to flee towa rds God, now see ks to flee from Him. "You hedge me before and beh ind; You lay your hand upon me. . Where can I escape fr om Your spirit? Where can I fl ee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I descend to Sheol, You a re there too" (Ps. 139:5, 7-8). Sefer Yetzirah, the Book of Creation, describes this process of transcendental dynamics as razo ve-shov, darting to and fro. "Ten sp heres of nothingness, thei r appea rance looks like lightening, and thei r end is without limit. His word is in rhem darting to and fro, and like a sto rm they pursue Your utterance and bow down before Your throne" ( ro6 ). The view of the medieval Jewis h philosophers regarding the rela tionship between the love and fear of God is nor uniform. For R. Bah ya, as we saw, fear of God precedes love of God and is overcome by it. 226

~di~~ fitting that Scripture mentions the fear of God before the love Him, smce•fcar is the ultimate goal of withdrawal from the world and it~ in tum, is the rank closest to the rank of the love of God. And there is no way for a person to reach it [the love of God] except by first acquiring the fear and awe of God. (Gate 1o!The Gate of the Love of God: Introduction) R. Bahya proceeds to elaborate:

Wh~t ~s ~e love of God? It is the soul's yearning for God and its besnr~mg ~rself so that it can cleave to His supernal light... . Then she ~111 withdraw from this world and its delights and disdain rhe phys1~~I body and its desires. Immediately her eyes will be opened and her v1s1on cleared of the cloud of ignorance of God and His Torah. She will distinguish truth from falsehood, and rhe truth of her Creator and Ruler will be revealed to her. And when she will recognize the grearness of His might and the sublimity of His greatness, she will bow down and prostrate herself before Him in fea r, awe, dread, and trembling on account of His greatness and sublimity.And she will nor cease from [being inJ this !stare of fear] until the Creator will reassure her and still her fear and awe. Then she will drink deeply out of the cup of the love of God and she will devote herself exclusively to loving God, trusting in Him, and yearning for Him. (Gare IO: Chapter r) Fear, then, is the medium to anain Jove and at the same time ts overcome by It.

R. Judah Halevi discusses the love and fear of God in the context of his fa mous contrast between the God of Abraham and the God of Aristotle.7 The Khazar said: The difference between Elohim and Y-H-V-H has become dear to me, and I have also understood che difference between the consciousness of ontic separation, that cancels it. Between these rwo ideals man moves back and forth, swinging like a pendulum. By maintaining the balance bcrween these two ideals Maimonides rehabilitated the Halakhah. One must differentiate between Maimonides' view regarding the mitwot ma'assiyot, the practical commandments, and his view regarding Talmud Torah, knowledge of the Torah, the theoretical Halakhah. Knowledge of the Torah, the theoretical Halakhah, is connected with experience of love, of ontic identification with God. Here the Halakhah becomes assimilated into and part of one's own personality. The prophet is the person who has identified his own self with rhe ethical norm. The mitzvot ma'assiyot, the practical commandments, chat is, the performance of the Halakhah on the practical level, however, arc connected with experience of fear, of onric separation from God. The performance of the Halakhah on the practical level, then, as the expression of my consciousness of onric separation, does not become assimilated into and part of my own personality. And precisely in this way is the performance of the Halakhah on this practical level rehabilitated.

If the identity of finitude

:1!~ei~~~ 1;;~~'1:1~v~ewa~~ained, the existe~nal law ~v~uld sup;::::~

1

the norm. Under such circumstances morality wou . eco~~ mirror o ne's personaliry, inasmuch as c~e human pcrsona;16 ~o~eans that and express the divine personality. But the fear o o . h God it is impossible to pursue to the en d the goal o f i:ne_rgcr wit . Conse uently, the role of the norm can i~cver be ~hminated. In t~e ex perience of the love of God, in the dnve tow~rds o~e~~ss with Him, the norm retre:its. However, the consum~ano_n o _u ~ . h God is neither desirable nor possible. Indeed, the 1dent1ficanon od ~~d and man is bbsphemy. The love of Gototle which he csreemed highly, only afrer he completed the Guide. ' KARL BARTH (1886-r9~8): Swiss Prores_tantrheologian,considercd by many robe the gr~atest rh:olog1an of the twentieth century. His main works include the cxpa~s1ve mul~-volurne Church Dogmatu:.s (a systematic rheolor;>') as well_ as his The EpJSt~e to the Romans. An opponent of the liberal rheology of his day, he also actively opposed the Nazis and their church sympathizers. JEREMY BENTHAM (1.?48-r832): British legal theorise, political acnvisc, soc1.1l reformer a.nd p?tlosopher who gr~atly mfluenc:cd John Stuart ~till, among a.then; . Hts ethical theory, as explicated m The Prmciples of Morals and Leg1slat1011, amounted to a form of utilitarianism, in which happiness was the gauge through which one judged ethical behavior.

A NH u 1 OF

AucuSTINE. (354 - 4 JO): Semin:t l Church forhe~ who served as_ the bi shop o_f Hippo Rcgi us (in pn.:scnt day Algena). A_ugusttnc's two best known b?oks, Con(essions rind Th e Cztv of God, :t_n~ h1~ many other works, great!)' influenced the thought of m;d1C\':tl Clmsnamty, a?d, m p:irticular, se.rv~d ~s a m:iior conduir for introducing much of Platonic thought into Chnsurinay.

~~s~i~1 ~~~n~~~s1 :t~h(/i:r~;~;)~ ~~~: 1~~;;~~~1~~~~~;~~:p~~,~ ~i~O:,~~n {~~;~~ include ·che Summa Tlieologica, the Summa contra Gcnttles, and import.:mr commentaries on Anscodc's works. Aquinas' famous five proofs for God's existence arc based m large measure on those found in the Guide 2: t. AR I STOTLE !4th century nc[): Together \~·ith Pbro, whose s~udenc he was, he w;is one of ch1.· fou nders of Western philosophy ~md to this day remains one of its do min:mt figures. His scientific and philosophu:al works - the two disciplines w(.•rc nor clc:trl y distinguished until modern times - became widespread :ind high ly influcmi;i l in the world of Western rhought,anracting

H ~NR J BERGSON (1859-1941): Nobel Prize winning French philosopher. His ch ief works, Mi11d and Matter and Cre.:ztin fa:o/11tion , address che qucsnons «:>f the relationship becween mind and body and the philosophica l underpinn ings of evolution respectively.

GEOltGE BERKELEY (1685-1753): Anglo-Irish bishop whose idealist philosophical teachings regarding rhe connection between reality and perception influenced suc·h luminaries as Immanuel Kant. Hts most signific:mt works are the Treatise Concemfrzg the Prmciples of Human K110wledge and the Three Dialogues between Hy/as and Philonous. BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX (1090-1I53): Great mystic: and French