Mishpatim: Talmud study and mitzvot in Rambam's worldview

The chapters of Judaism Reclaimed which relate to parashat Mishpatim focus on the famous “na’aseh venishma” acceptance of the Torah by the Jewish people. We open with an observation from Rabbi Y. D. Soloveitchik in his Bet Halevi that the aggadic praise and angelic crowns merited by the nation was on account of them having said “We will study” AFTER “We will do”. This order is understood to signify that Torah study provides an inherent benefit which goes beyond simply learning how to perform the mitzvot.

We note that such an interpretation is highly consistent with Rambam’s broader approach to Judaism, which values intellectual comprehension of divine matters (at its peak, abstract theological ‘truths’) as the highest goal of Judaism, with the mitzvot representing essential stepping stones which condition and enable people to achieve such an understanding.

Harder to determine is the precise role and value which Rambam assigned to traditional Talmudic study. On the one hand, he clearly views it as a lower priority than gaining a comprehension of the esoteric passages of Ma’aseh Bereishit and Merkavah, which he understood to contain profound truths concerning both the physical world and its relationship to the metaphysical/spiritual realm. This is evident both from letters of guidance he wrote to his students as well as from his controversial palace parable, near the end of Moreh Nevuchim, in which philosophers are able to gain closer proximity to the King (representing God) than theologically-unschooled Talmudists. This lower standing awarded to Talmudists is sometimes combined with Rambam’s introduction to Mishneh Torah – which states that it was written to allow students to bypass Talmud – to point to the conclusion that Rambam saw little value in traditional Talmud study.

This conclusion however sits uncomfortably with other teachings of Rambam, such as his description of required Torah study in Hilchot Talmud Torah which focuses on the complexities of how halacha is derived logically and hermeneutically from its sources and how the Talmudic analyses of Abaye and Rava “settle the mind”. Furthermore, in his introduction to Mishneh Torah itself, Rambam also lauds the great wisdom and Talmud study of earlier sages, before writing that Gemara “requires wide knowledge, a wise mind and much time, and only after that can one know…Torah laws”.

Judaism Reclaimed examines Rambam’s approach to intellectual development and knowledge across several of his works, drawing upon thematic and linguistic patterns as well as notable Rabbinic and academic thinkers to propose a solution which reconciles these sources. Finally, this conclusion is employed to address a common criticism of Rambam’s explanations of the mitzvot in the third section of Moreh Nevuchim: The claim that Rambam’s reasons are overly-dismissive of halachic detail while their utility is often uninspiring and barely applicable in the modern era.

First posted to Facebook 20 February 2020, here.