📋 Shiur Overview
Summary of the Shiur: Hilkhot Yesodei HaTorah, Chapter 8
Structure of the Chapter – Introduction
The Rambam’s approach in Chapter 8: The previous chapter (7) dealt with the topic of how a prophet (navi) functions, and at the end there was the commandment (mitzvah) to obey a prophet when he brings a sign and wonder (ot u’mofet). Chapter 8 doesn’t really contain new laws (halakhot), rather it is an elaboration of an important detail in the law of believing in a prophet: even with a wonder, if the prophet says something contrary to the prophecy of Moshe, we do not believe him. In order to understand this, the Rambam must first explain the fact that our faith (emunah) in the prophecy of Moshe is fundamentally different from faith in an ordinary prophet.
Novel point in the structure: In Chapter 7, the Rambam explained the substantive difference between the prophecy of Moshe and other prophets (how Moshe’s prophecy was constituted). Here in Chapter 8, he goes on to explain the difference for us – how we believe in an ordinary prophet as opposed to how we believe in Moshe Rabbeinu, which is on a different level.
[Note:] The Rambam did not include the commandment of “lo tosifu v’lo tigre’u” (not to add or subtract commandments) in Hilkhot Yesodei HaTorah, even though it could have fit very well into this chapter.
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Halakhah 1 – The Faith in Moshe Rabbeinu Is Not Based on Signs
The Rambam’s words:
“Moshe Rabbeinu — Israel did not believe in him because of the signs he performed” – Israel did not believe in Moshe Rabbeinu on account of the signs that he performed. “For one who believes on the basis of signs has a defect in his heart, since it is possible that the sign was performed through sorcery and trickery.” – One who believes based on signs, in his heart something gnaws at him, because perhaps the sign was produced through sorcery or a trick.
Plain meaning:
The Rambam establishes that the foundation of faith in Moshe Rabbeinu is not the signs and wonders, in contrast to an ordinary prophet whom one believes through a sign and wonder combined with his worthiness.
Novel points and explanations:
1) A question on the Rambam – the signs in Parshat Shemot:
The whole concept of signs and wonders begins with Moshe himself! In Parshat Shemot, God gave Moshe signs (the staff turns into a snake, etc.) so that the Jews would believe him. How can the Rambam say that Israel did not believe in Moshe because of signs?
Answer: When the Rambam says “Israel believed in him,” he means the legal obligation of faith that began at the Giving of the Torah (Matan Torah), not the belief that he was an emissary to take the Jews out of Egypt. In Egypt there was not yet any legal obligation to believe – it was before Matan Torah. The signs in Egypt served as a practical mission, not as a foundation for faith in Moshe’s prophecy. (The Rishonim already debated the Rambam extensively on this point.)
2) Explanation of “there is a defect in his heart” – the weakness of faith based on signs:
The Rambam anticipates the question and answers: One who believes based on signs and wonders, “there is a defect in his heart” – in his heart something gnaws at him, whether it’s true or not. Why? Because “it is possible that the sign was performed through sorcery and trickery” – perhaps the sign was produced through sorcery or a trick.
Explanation of the word “lat”: “Lat” is connected to “b’lahateihem” which appears in the Torah regarding sorcery. “Lat” means quiet/hidden – a trick that one doesn’t see. Earlier in Chapter 7, the Rambam only said “devarim b’go” (something is behind it), and here he specifies: it could be sorcery or trickery.
3) Faith through signs is like testimony – not one hundred percent:
Even when Jews do believe based on a sign and wonder, it is not a one-hundred-percent truth for them. They do it because the Torah obligates them – just as one believes two witnesses even though one knows that witnesses can lie. This is the law of testimony (edut): one knows it could be otherwise, but the Torah commanded us to accept it this way.
[Digression – analogy to life:] Our entire lives we do things not based on one hundred percent certainty. When a person marries off a child, he is not one hundred percent sure this is the right match (shiddukh) – one goes with the way of the world, it makes sense, it looks right. That’s how ordinary faith in a prophet works. But faith in Moshe Rabbeinu is much more than that.
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Halakhah 1 (continued) – Why then did Moshe Rabbeinu perform signs?
The Rambam’s words:
“And all the signs that Moshe performed in the wilderness, he performed them as needed, not to bring proof of his prophecy.” – All the signs that Moshe performed in the wilderness he performed as needed, not to bring proofs of his prophecy. “He needed to drown the Egyptians – he split the sea… They needed water – he brought down water from the rock for them… the earth swallowed them… and so with all the other signs.”
Plain meaning:
Moshe’s wonders served practical purposes – he was the leader of the Jewish people (Klal Yisrael) and took care of their needs.
Novel points and explanations:
1) Why does the Rambam say “in the wilderness” and not “in Egypt”?
The Rambam first counts the signs in the wilderness, not in Egypt. Egypt had a different reason: to break Pharaoh, to create a sanctification of God’s Name (kiddush Hashem). But shortly afterward he includes Egypt as well.
2) Examples of “as needed”:
– The splitting of the Sea of Reeds (Kriat Yam Suf) – “He needed to drown the Egyptians” – the Egyptians needed to be drowned, to end the long saga of Egypt.
– Water from the rock – “He brought down water from the rock” – the Jews were thirsty, water was needed.
– Korach – “The earth swallowed them” – Moshe needed to remove the problem of Korach, to exact retribution.
3) An interesting contradiction regarding Korach:
The Rambam in his introduction specifically brings a proof for Moshe’s prophecy from the verse in Parshat Korach. But here in the laws he says that “the earth swallowed them” was merely a practical need – to punish Korach – not to prove Moshe’s prophecy. The verses don’t entirely align with this passage.
4) The Ten Plagues – also as needed:
“And so with all the other signs” – all the other signs, including the Ten Plagues, were for a certain need: “So that you may tell in the ears of your son and your son’s son” – to demonstrate God’s providence (hashgachah) to the Jews, to create a kiddush Hashem. Not in order to prove to the Jews that Moshe Rabbeinu’s prophecy is true.
5) The Rambam argues against another approach:
One can hear another approach: that all the miracles and wonders of Egypt and the wilderness were a “build-up,” a preparation for the Revelation at Sinai (Ma’amad Har Sinai) – that Moshe performed so many wonders in front of all the Jews so that they would later believe him at the Revelation at Sinai. The Rambam does not say this. According to the Rambam, all those signs were because that’s what was needed at the time – each wonder on its own had a practical reason.
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Halakhah 1 (continued) – On what basis did they believe in him? The Revelation at Sinai
The Rambam’s words:
“And on what basis did they believe in him? At the Revelation at Sinai, where our eyes saw and not a stranger’s, and our ears heard and not another’s – the fire and the sounds and the torches, and he approached the thick cloud, and the Voice spoke to him and we heard: ‘Moshe, Moshe, go tell them such and such.'” The Rambam brings the verse: “Face to face God spoke with you.”
Plain meaning:
The faith in Moshe Rabbeinu is based on the Revelation at Sinai, where all the Jews saw with their own eyes and heard with their own ears – not through an emissary, not through someone else.
Novel points and explanations:
1) The main emphasis – “our eyes and not a stranger’s, our ears and not another’s”:
The main point is not what exactly they saw (fire, sounds, torches), but rather that they saw it themselves. This is the fundamental difference: with an ordinary prophet we are passive listeners – we have nothing to do with the prophecy itself, we merely accept it. At the Revelation at Sinai, the Jews were a certain kind of partner – they themselves participated in the event. When one has seen it oneself, one doesn’t need to believe anyone – it is not a presumption (chazakah), not testimony (edut), but personal knowledge.
2) What did the Jews hear? – “And the Voice spoke to him and we heard”:
The Rambam does not say that the Jews heard from God Himself directly. He says that they heard how God spoke to Moshe Rabbeinu: “Moshe, Moshe, go tell them such and such” – go tell them this and that. This means: the Jews heard with their own ears that God was sending Moshe as an emissary.
3) Disagreement with the Zohar:
The Zohar states that the Jews themselves heard “Anokhi” (the first of the Ten Commandments directly from God). The Rambam’s position here appears to be different – he emphasizes that what they heard was how God spoke to Moshe, not directly to them. (This is “another topic altogether.”)
4) The verse “Face to face God spoke with you”:
The Rambam brings this verse as proof. In Chapter 7, the Rambam interpreted “face to face” as a characteristic of Moshe’s prophecy – “according to the capacity of the emissary.” Does the verse here mean that all the Jews had for a moment something similar to Moshe’s prophecy? No – that is not what it says. What “face to face” conveys here is the “not through an intermediary” aspect – that it was a direct encounter, not through a middleman.
📝 Full Transcript
Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah Chapter 8 – The Prophecy of Moshe Rabbeinu
Introduction: The Structure of the Chapter and Its Connection to the Previous Chapter
So, we are learning Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah, Chapter 8. Continuing on the topic of a prophet (navi), a specific matter regarding a prophet — the prophecy of Moshe (nevuas Moshe).
In an interesting way, as we have learned, the Rambam has a method of beginning by writing a fact, and afterward he states the commandment (mitzvah). The entire previous chapter was the factual discussion of how a prophet works, and at the end there was the one mitzvah of obeying a prophet when he brings a sign (os). The law (halachah) is: when he brings a wonder (mofes), then one obeys him.
Now there is going to be another entire chapter, and if I look here, there is no fact in it in a certain sense — meaning, there are no actual halachos in it. But one can say that it is an elaboration of another detail in the law of believing in a prophet when he brings a sign and wonder (os u’mofes).
> [Novel insight] That is to say, let me explain: the law is that when a prophet comes and brings a wonder, one must believe him. But the Rambam is going to say that within this law there are details. One of the important details is that even with a wonder, if the prophet says something against the prophecy of Moshe, we do not believe him. Now, generally, why? We will see. But generally, in order to explain this law, the Rambam explains the fact that it is already established in the prophecy of Moshe, and they also go on to explain a fact about how we believe in the prophecy of Moshe — what our relationship is to the prophecy of Moshe. After one understands this fact, one will simply understand why when someone who performs wonders comes against the prophecy of Moshe, we do not believe him. This is my novel insight.
The Distinction Between Chapter 7 and Chapter 8
In the previous chapter, the Rambam explained the straightforward distinction between the prophecy of Moshe and other prophets. Here he is going to tell us the distinction for us — how we believe in an ordinary prophet, and why we believe differently in Moshe Rabbeinu, on a different level.
Note: “Lo Sosifu v’Lo Sigre’u” (Do Not Add and Do Not Subtract)
> [Note] What I find somewhat interesting is that the Rambam did not hold that the mitzvah of “lo sosifu v’lo sigre’u” — which according to the Rambam means adding or removing mitzvos — is not placed in Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah. It could very well have been included in this chapter.
True, that’s one way. But in another way, one can say that what was stated at the end of the previous chapter — that when one believes an ordinary prophet, it is only based on the legal presumption of testimony (b’din chazakah b’edus) — is not accurate for the prophecy of Moshe. And for that very reason, the prophecy of Moshe is stronger than that of other prophets, because it is not a presumption (chazakah). Since it is a clearer matter, it should have been a topic, it should have begun.
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Halachah 1: Moshe Rabbeinu — Israel Did Not Believe in Him Because of the Signs
The Foundation: Belief in Moshe Is Not Based on Signs
The Rambam says: “Moshe Rabbeinu — Israel did not believe in him because of the signs he performed.”
The Rambam has just finished explaining that an ordinary prophet — we believe him for two reasons: we believe because we know he is a righteous person (tzaddik), and therefore he is someone who is fit for prophecy, he does not say fabricated things, he is wise, and all the things he lists that a prophet must be — he is fit to be a prophet. And after he performs a sign and wonder, the Torah gives us the obligation to believe, that since he is fit for prophecy and there was a sign and wonder, it becomes like testimony, and therefore we should accept his prophecy.
Moshe Rabbeinu — the Jewish people did not believe in him because of the signs he performed.
Question: The Signs in Parshas Shemos
This is indeed a good question. The whole thing begins with Moshe! The concept that the Almighty gives a sign and wonder so that the Jewish people should believe — He took it from Parshas Shemos. You ask a good question, but the Rambam is going to answer it. I just want to explain the question.
But no — apparently, when he speaks here about “Israel believed in him,” he means it began at the Giving of the Torah (Matan Torah), not “believed” that he is an emissary to take the Jewish people out of Egypt. That — being an emissary to take the Jewish people out of Egypt — certainly yes, that was because of the signs that the Almighty gave him. But he is speaking about when there is a legal obligation (din). There was no legal obligation for the Jewish people to believe while in Egypt, because it was still before the Giving of the Torah. The Jewish people did not believe in Moshe regarding any particular legal obligation.
That is what you mean — a bit of a question on the Rambam. There were already Rishonim (early authorities) who argued very strongly against the Rambam regarding these types of proofs.
“One Who Believes Based on Signs Has a Deficiency in His Heart”
But the Rambam himself addressed this. In the next section, he is going to say: what about the wonders that Moshe did perform? Why?
“One who believes based on signs — there is a deficiency in his heart (yesh b’libo dofi)” — someone who believes based on signs and wonders, there is a deficiency in his heart. It means to say, in his heart it gnaws at him — is it true or not?
Why? Because the Rambam explains: sometimes there is some reason, something “behind the scenes.” You do see some wonder, but when a person unfortunately believes in a wonder, he thinks the whole time: maybe I’m not so clever, maybe it’s a trick, some kind of optical illusion (achizas einayim).
The Rambam says: “Perhaps the sign was performed through ‘lat’ and sorcery (kishuf).” It says here “lat.” I don’t know — “b’lahateihem” it says in the Torah regarding sorcery — does it mean the same word? I think “lat” means quietly, some kind of… It’s interesting, earlier it just said “things going on behind the scenes” (devarim b’go), and here he specifies: it could be sorcery or “b’lat.”
Well, when a person does a trick, he has someone under the curtains. You don’t see? He tells him something quietly over there. There is some trick underneath it.
Belief Through Signs — Like Testimony, Not One Hundred Percent
Even when Jews do believe based on a sign and wonder — they believe, as the Rambam said — when they believe it, it is also not for them a one hundred percent truth. They do it because the Torah obligates them. There remains some inclination of uncertainty…
Just as when two witnesses come — and we know, it could be the witnesses are lying, there are many people who lie — but the Torah commanded us to believe this way, so we believe.
Our entire lives we don’t do things based on one hundred percent certainty. When a person marries off a child, he is not one hundred percent sure this is the right match (shidduch), but he is happy because one goes with the way of the world — it makes a lot of sense, it looks that way, perhaps there are better chances, so one goes with it.
That is how ordinary belief in a prophet works. But the belief in Moshe Rabbeinu — the Jewish people believed far more than that.
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Why Then Did Moshe Rabbeinu Perform Signs?
Shortly he is going to say why the Jewish people did believe in Moshe. But he pauses here for a moment: but if so, what is the meaning of all those signs and wonders? The first several parshiyos, the encounters before Moshe Rabbeinu, we see that there is a great deal of signs and wonders. A person might think that this is the foundation of Moshe, that this is why we believe in Moshe — because of the Ten Plagues and all those things.
“He Performed Them According to the Need, Not to Bring Proof of Prophecy”
Rather, that was not what was important. So what then — why did Moshe Rabbeinu perform so many wonders?
“And all the signs that Moshe performed in the wilderness, he performed them according to the need” — all the signs that Moshe Rabbeinu performed in the wilderness… It’s interesting that he does not count the signs and wonders in Egypt — and Egypt had a different reason: to break Pharaoh, to create a sanctification of God’s Name (kiddush Hashem).
What does “according to the need” mean? Look, he is going to count Egypt too. Why does he say “in the wilderness”? The signs that Moshe Rabbeinu performed in the wilderness, he performed them according to the need. He did them according to the need, whatever the particular need was — “not to bring proof of prophecy.” The reason Moshe Rabbeinu did them was not to bring proofs of the prophet, but to do what he does as the leader of the Jewish people (Klal Yisrael). Moshe Rabbeinu, besides being a prophet, is also the leader, and he takes care of the Jewish people’s needs.
Examples of “According to the Need”
So therefore:
– “There was a need to drown the Egyptians” — it was necessary to drown the Egyptians in the sea, to end the long saga of Egypt — the Splitting of the Sea (Krias Yam Suf), and He saved them through it, and he caused the miracle, the wonder, that the Egyptians should be drowned there.
– “We needed food — He brought down the manna (man) for us” — we Jews needed to have food.
– “They were thirsty — He split the rock for them” — they were thirsty.
– “The congregation of Korach rebelled against him — the earth swallowed them” — he simply needed to take vengeance, he needed to remove the problem of Korach.
He uses language attributing everything directly to Moshe — he says that he made the signs, he asked the Almighty. “And so with all the rest of the signs.” The point is that the Almighty did it, but the point is that it is not proof of his prophecy, rather he did it because it was needed.
Note: Contradiction Regarding Korach
> [Note] The earth swallowing them — it does say that, yes. It’s very interesting. The Rambam — I recall that the Rambam in the introduction brings the proof of Moshe’s prophecy from the verse in Parshas Korach. You see that the earth swallowing them, the Rambam did not bring as proof. That was only, as you say, that Korach should be swallowed by the earth, but not in order to prove anything. The verses don’t entirely align with this section.
The Ten Plagues — Also According to the Need
The Rambam says “and so with all the rest of the signs” — all other signs were also for a particular need. For example, all the Ten Plagues were simply for the need, as it says so many times “so that you shall tell in the ears of your son and your son’s son” — to show God’s providence (hashgachas Hashem) to the Jewish people, to create a sanctification of God’s Name. Not in order to prove to the Jewish people that Moshe Rabbeinu’s prophecy is true.
The Rambam Against the Approach of “Build-Up”
> [Novel insight] Apparently, the Rambam is arguing against a different approach. A different approach would have been — I can hear it this way — that all these things are preparation for the Standing at Mount Sinai (Ma’amad Har Sinai). That Moshe Rabbeinu is a build-up, that he performs so many miracles and wonders in front of all the Jewish people, so that the Jewish people should see and later they would believe him at the Standing at Mount Sinai. Perhaps there are others who say this, but the Rambam does not say this. All those signs were because they were needed at that time.
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Halachah 2: On What Basis Did They Believe in Him? — The Standing at Mount Sinai
The Question: On What Basis Did They Believe in Him?
And if so — on what basis did they believe in him? What was indeed the reason why the Jewish people believed in Moshe Rabbeinu? Basically, as you say — why do we believe in Moshe Rabbeinu?
Yes, if a non-Jew asks you: why do you believe in Moshe Rabbeinu? You would not have told him because Moshe split the sea? He split the sea because they needed to pass through. Why should you believe in him for any other reason?
Perhaps the question means not only on what basis did they believe in him at the Standing at Mount Sinai? When was it necessary, or why? Because there was the Standing at Mount Sinai.
“Our Eyes Saw and Not a Stranger’s, Our Ears Heard and Not Another’s”
What was the Standing at Mount Sinai? The Rambam says as follows: the Standing at Mount Sinai was a time when all the Jewish people saw — “our eyes saw and not a stranger’s (she’eineinu ra’u v’lo zar)” — our own eyes saw, not a stranger, not a prophet told us. “And our ears heard and not another’s (v’ozneinu sham’u v’lo acher)” — our own ears heard, not someone else told us.
What did we see? We saw “the fire and the sounds and the torches (ha’eish v’hakolos v’halapidim).”
The Main Emphasis: Seeing for Oneself, Not Through an Emissary
> [Novel insight] I want to stop for a second here. It was correct that he is going to say what was seen, but I feel that the main emphasis one must make here is on this: what exactly was seen — the Rambam is going to lay out what was seen, but one can perhaps even read in a different interpretation of what was seen or what was understood. The main emphasis here is that this is not like what Rashi says — “I am not testifying to you through words, nor through an emissary (lo bidvarim ani me’id lachem v’lo al yedei shaliach)” — not that someone told us and we must believe because since he performed a wonder it must be true. We saw it ourselves.
When one saw it oneself, there is no… Usually when a prophet says something, we have nothing to do with the prophecy, we are only recipients, we are the passive listeners. Here there is something — the Jewish people were in this matter a certain kind of partner, the Jewish people took something, participated in the event. Whatever it is — what we believe about the Standing at Mount Sinai are things that we saw ourselves. One does not need to believe anyone for this.
“And He Approached the Thick Cloud, and the Voice Spoke to Him and We Heard”
The Rambam says, what did we see? “The fire and the sounds and the torches, and he approached the thick cloud (arafel), and the Voice spoke to him and we heard.” What did we hear? The Voice speaks to Moshe Rabbeinu and we hear, because the Voice says to him: “Moshe, Moshe, go tell them such and such.” They heard the Voice as the Almighty spoke to Moshe Rabbeinu.
He does not say here that the Jewish people heard from the Almighty Himself — he says that they heard how the Almighty tells Moshe: “Go tell them such and such.”
Discussion: Did the Jewish People Themselves Hear “Anochi”?
It’s remarkable — in the Zohar it says this way, that they heard the “Anochi” (I am). Yes, but that is another topic. What we are saying here is… But that’s what I’m saying, the details are already how the Rambam envisions exactly what was heard — I don’t know if it is essential. I think the main essential point here is that the Jewish people heard — “our eyes saw and not a stranger’s.” He should bring the verse.
The Verse “Face to Face God Spoke with You”
“And so it says: ‘Face to face (panim b’fanim) God spoke with you'” — in front of you…
No — “face to face,” I recall that the Rambam interpreted a minute ago regarding the prophecy of Moshe, and one says “face to face” (panim el panim). “Face to face” — he interprets there that “face to face” means according to the capacity of the emissary.
“Face to face” — to say that all the Jewish people had for a moment something similar to the prophecy of Moshe? That is not stated. That is what you yourself are reading into it now.
“Face to face” is a characteristic of the prophecy of Moshe. Yes, but what does it yield there? It doesn’t yield too many things regarding the prophecy of Moshe. What it does yield is the “not through an emissary” point.