The Rambam's Fifth Principle - Part 2

In part one of this series, I set out to demonstrate the differing opinions of the Rambam and Rav Sherira Gaon with respect to the permissibility of praying to מלאכים, or even just using them as intermediaries between ourselves and God. Rav Sherira Gaon maintains that מלאכים have free will, and as such, one may make certain requests of them. The Rambam vehemently disagrees, and considers one of the fundamental principles of Judaism that it is forbidden to address prayers to any being besides God. (The Rambam does ascribe some sort of free will to מלאכים, see מורה נבוכים חלק ב' פרק ד. Perhaps I will post about this in the future. Nevertheless, he maintains that it is forbidden to pray to them, the reasons of which will follow.)

As to why the Rambam considers this principle to be so important, I have already cited the view of R' Yitzchak Abarbanel (ראש אמנה פרק יב), that directing prayers to God alone, and not through the medium of מלאכים or other intermediaries, underscores three fundamental ideas:

• There is no comparison between God's existence and the existence of the celestial beings - the latter follow their inherent nature and do not have any personal free will (with regard to what exactly that means, see מורה נבוכים שם), whereas God is the Ultimate פועל המציאות, creating and destroying at will. 
• God is the בעל היכולת, of which there is no other like Him in the universe. The ability to answer prayers rests solely in the "hands of God", and it therefore only makes sense to pray directly to Him, and not via any intermediaries. (Lest you interject - but maybe we, as mere mortals, are not worthy of addressing God directly, and therefore we need to make use of מלאכים. I already explained this when I spoke at the Young Israel of Riverdale. If you were not there, you will need to wait until I get around to writing about נבואה.) 
• The divine providence granted to the Jewish nation differs greatly from that of the nations of the world. Each nation has been delegated a "שר הממונה עליהם" - a מלאך that is in charge of their affairs. The Jewish nation, on the other hand, is placed directly under the providence of God. 

According to Abarbanel, because of these fundamental ideas that are essentially encapsulated in the Rambam's fifth principle, it is fitting to be included in the 13 principles of faith. However, I believe that a reading of the Rambam's words in הלכות עבודה זרה will add to our understanding of the importance of the fifth principle.

רמב"ם פ"א מהל' עבודה זרה ה"א וז"ל בימי אנוש טעו בני האדם טעות גדולה, ונבערה עצת חכמי אותו הדור, ואנוש עצמו מן הטועים. וזו היתה טעותם. אמרו הואיל והאל ברא כוכבים אלו וגלגלים להנהיג את העולם ונתנם במרום וחלק להם כבוד, והם שמשים המשמשים לפניו, ראויים הם לשבחם ולפארם ולחלוק להם כבוד. וזהו רצון האל ברוך הוא לגדל ולכבד מי שגדלו וכבדו, כמו שהמלך רוצה לכבד עבדיו והעומדים לפניו וזה הוא כבודו של מלך. כיון שעלה דבר זה על לבם התחילו לבנות לכוכבים היכלות ולהקריב להם קרבנות ולשבחם ולפארם בדברים ולהשתחוות למולן כדי להשיג רצון הבורא בדעתם הרעה. וזה היה עיקר עבודה זרה כו' עכ"ל.

"In the days of Enosh the people had made a grave error... They said, 'because God created the stars and spheres in order to control the the universe, and he put them in the lofty [heavens] and accorded them honour, and they are like servants before Him, it is proper to praise and give honour to them... similar to a king who wishes to honour his servants... for this is the honour of the king.' Once these thoughts had entered their hearts, the people began to build sanctuaries for the stars, and to bring sacrifices before them... And this is the foundation of Avoda Zara"

The Rambam, in these words, has set down for us his impetus for counting the prohibition of directing prayers to מלאכים and the like as one of the fundamental principles of Judaism. Regardless of the good intentions of those who pray to מלאכים, ultimately, it bears credence to עבודה זרה. Or, to be more accurate, it is the essential foundation for all עבודה זרה. 

R' Yosef Albo, in the beginning of ספר העיקרים, is mystified - why did the Rambam count praying to מלאכים as an עיקר? Granted, he says, it is certainly included in לא יהיה לך אלהים אחרים, but why should it be considered one of the fundamental principles of faith? In light of these words of the Rambam, it is quite the opposite - we are not dealing with a מצות לא תעשה that was "mistakenly" counted as an עיקר - rather, the very לאו of לא יהיה לך is defined by the יסוד החמישי. Addressing prayers to מלאכים does not merely lead to עבודה זרה - it is עבודה זרה.

It was pointed out to me that the Rambam takes this one step further, when discussing the confrontation between אברהם אבינו and his opponents:

רמב"ם פ"א מהל' עבודה זרה ה"ג וז"ל שאין ראוי לעבוד אלא לאלוה העולם ולו ראוי להשתחוות ולהקריב ולנסך כדי שיכירוהו כל הברואים הבאים, וראוי לאבד ולשבר כל הצורות כדי שלא יטעו בהן כל העם כמו אלו שהם מדמים שאין שם אלוה אלא אלו עכ"ל.

"For it is only proper to serve the God of the universe. To Him it is proper to bow and sacrifice and pour [wine libations] in order for all the creations to recognize Him. And it is proper to destroy all of the forms [idols] in order that people should not err, like those who think there is no god but these [idols]"

Here we find two dimensions to the argument of אברהם אבינו. First, it is necessary to destroy all remnants of foreign gods, in order that people should not stray from the true path. However, besides for this, we are taught one more thing worth thinking about - the reason we serve Hashem, is to recognize Him. We don't offer sacrifices because God likes the way they smell and taste, and He doesn't care for our wine either. We serve God because the only way for man to connect to God is through serving Him. And that's why we are commanded to refrain from setting up intermediaries - because otherwise our connection to God would no longer be direct.

The Essence of Praise

In "The Rambam's Fifth Principle - Part 1", I explained the view of Rav Sherira Gaon, that it is, in fact, permissible to address certain prayers to angels, as the angels themselves have some sort of free will. The Rambam clearly rejects this view in his fifth principle. I already presented Abarbanel's explanation as to why the Rambam felt that this is one of the fundamental beliefs of Judaism, and in a future post, I plan on presenting one more reason, what I believe to be to underlying reason, based on the Rambam himself in the first chapter of הלכות עבודה זרע. Coming soon...
My next post was going to discuss יהושע bowing to the מלאך, followed by a post on מכניסי רחמים and other פיוטים that are apparently addressed to מלאכים, but my brother-in-law has sent me on a tangent: The Rambam himself attributes some sort of free will to מלאכים in מורה הנבוכים. It might take me a while to get through everything the Rambam says, and I may or may not have anything to say about it at the end of the day but for now I present some comments from what I have learned so far, albeit unrelated to the fifth principle.

After presenting Aristotle's perspective of the universe and celestial spheres, the Rambam begins to weigh Aristotle's opinion against the perspective of the Torah. The first idea he presents is that of the celestial spheres being בעלי הגיון. The Rambam cites numerous examples from תנ"ך and the חכמי התלמוד, the first being a פסוק in תהילים which we should be familiar with - השמים מספרים כבוד אל ומעשה ידיו מגיד הרקיע.

A common understanding (or at least how I understood it at first) is to intepret these words non-literally. The שמים and רקיע do not actually utter praise for God's handiwork. Rather, man, through his perception of the שמים and רקיע via the senses, comes to a greater appreciation of God's universe, and thus, he himself is inspired to sing God's praise. The Rambam apparently disagrees - and not only that - he maintains that only a fool or a stubborn person would understand the פסוק that way.

רמב"ם (מו"נ ח"ב פרק ה') וז"ל לענין שהגלגלים חיים בעלי הגיון, כלומר, משיגים, הרי זה אמת ונכון גם מצד התורה, ושהם אינם גופים מתים כאש וכארץ כמו שדמו הסכלים, אלא הם כמו שאמרו הפילוסופים, בעלי חיים, נשמעים לאלוהיהם, משבחים ומהללים אותו שבח מסויים והלל מסויים. אמר, השמים מספרים כבוד אל ומעשה ידיו מגיד הרקיע וגו'. וכמה רחוק מהשכיל את האמת מי שחשב כי זה בטוי המצב, והוא, כי לשון הגדה וספור אין הלשון העברי מניחם יחד כי אם על בעל דעה. והראיה הברורה שהוא מתאר מצבם בעצמם, כלומר מצב הגלגלים לא מצב למידות בני אדם בהם, אמרו אין אמר ואין דברים בלי נשמע קולם. הרי באר ופירש שהוא מתאר את עצמם שהם משבחים לה' ומספרים נפלאותיו בלי מלים של שפה ולשון, והוא הנכון כו' עכ"ל.

The Rambam is adamant that the פסוקים mean to say that the celestial spheres actually praise God and speak of His wonders, though without uttering any words. But that's not all. In the next few lines, the Rambam outlines a fundamental understanding of what praise really is.

וזה לשונו: והוא הנכון, כי המשבח במלים אינו אלא מודיע מה שהצטייר לו, ועצם אותו הציור הוא השבח האמיתי, אבל הבטוי בו הוא ללמד לזולת, או לברר לעצמו שהוא השיג, וכבר נאמר אמרו בלבבכם על משכבכם ודמו סלה, כמו שבארנו. וזו ראיה תוריית לא יכחישנה כי אם סכל או מתעקש כו' עכ"ל.

The essence of praise resides not in the words that we express, but in the intellect of the one uttering that praise. Our words are only an expression of that which we are thinking. So why do we express our praises with language? Either to share it with somebody else, or to confirm and solidify the praise in our mind. The celestial beings epitomize praise - according to the Rambam, they are intellectual beings, and even have some form of free will, but they do not have the power of speech. Hence, the praise of השמים מספרים כבוד אל is absolute, pure, unadulterated praise. They have no way of praising somebody for ulterior motives.

The ramifications of this Rambam can be astonishing. Suppose one were to offer words of praise to somebody for some accomplishment, while in his mind, he does not actually care, and perhaps does not even think that the accomplishment is praiseworthy. According to the Rambam, these words would not be words of praise - they would be a simple lie.

A similar idea can be found in the very first piece in חדושי רבנו חיים הלוי על הרמב"ם, in הלכות תפילה. Rav Chaim Soloveitchik famously explains the ruling of the Rambam, that if one is not cognizant of the fact that he is עומד לפני השם during any part of שמונה עשרה he has not fulfilled his obligation of תפילה, as follows: The essence of תפילה is to be עומד לפני השם. One who does not realize this, has not simply failed to fulfill his requirements of תפילה - he was never engaged in תפילה to begin with! Though with other מצוות we say מצוות אין צריכות כוונה, when it comes to תפילה, the entire essence of the מצוה is כוונה. Similarly, in our case, there is no such thing as insincere words of praise. If the words are insincere, they are essentially transformed from words of praise to words of deceit. You have not praised your friend - you have lied to him.

Now that we are no longer "stubborn fools" who insist on interpreting the פסוקים non-literally, perhaps we can feel a little better knowing that our original interpretation of השמים מספרים כבוד אל ומעשה ידיו מגיד הרקיע wasn't so far off after all. R' Yosef Kapach points out in his footnotes on the מורה that the Rambam is clearly arguing with Rav Saadya Gaon in אמונות ודעות מאמר ב' פרק י and in his פירוש על תהילים פרק יט. And a quick look in a מקראות גדולות edition of תהילים will add a few more big names to each side of the equation.