A Quick Follow Up and Look Ahead

Photo by AbsolutVision on Unsplash

I’ve got just a couple of updates for today.

First of all you’ll probably remember how, in my recent post on the Rambam and God’s (non) body, I asked about an apparent contradiction in the Torah’s usage of the word “תמונה". Well a friend advised me to see what the Rambam himself says about Bamidbar 12:8 in More Nevuchim.

So, given the Rambam’s use of כי לא ראיתם כל תמונה (Devarim 4:15) to exclude the possibility of a corporeal God, how would he understand an opposing use of the same word in ותמונת ה' יביט?

Based on More Nevuchim 1:3 (and Yesodai HaTorah 7:6) it turns out that it’s clear and obvious how the Rambam would respond to my question. The word תמונה is inherently ambiguous and can have any one of three possible interpretations. As Rav Kafach clarifies in his commentary to More Nevuchim, the only way to know which interpretation to use for a given passage is by examining the context.

Thus, while תמונה in Devarim 4:15 should be translated as the image perceived by your senses, by contrast, that same word in Bamidbar 12:8 must mean the perception of an object’s true, objective meaning. This isn’t the Rambam’s well known anthropomorphism model, but a contextualization of language.

It would seem to me that the Torah isn’t being used as a source of wisdom, but rather as a tool that can be applied to represent external wisdom. In the Rambam’s world, that external wisdom might be described as תורה שבעל פה - or perhaps as philosophical axioms.

I’m not sure how well I really understand this.

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B’chol D’rachecha Referrals

On a very different note, Substack recently introduced a referrals program. The idea is that if readers enjoy reading posts from a publication, they might be interested in inviting friends to join in, too. And I won’t lie: I’d love for these articles to reach a wider audience.

The twist with this particular program is that the publication (that’d be me) promises to reward unrelenting referrers (that’d be you) with valuable swag (that’d be stuff you could have just as easily received by asking nicely).

There’s also a built-in leaderboard link where you can opt-in to have your referrer score show up. (Don’t fall over each other signing up for that one.)

How to participate

1. Share B'chol D'rachecha. When you use the referral link below, or the “Share” button on any post, you'll get credit for any new subscribers. Simply send the link in a text, email, or share it on social media with friends.

2. Earn benefits. When more friends use your referral link to subscribe, you’ll receive special benefits.

• Suggest the topic for a new post for 2 referrals

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To learn more, check out Substack’s FAQ.

Thanks. And perhaps have a bit of fun with this!