Explanation of Maimonides' view in interpreting the Aggadot of the Talmud - Explicación de la opinión de Maimónides sobre la interpretación de las Aggadot del Talmud - ביאור דעת הרמב"ם בפירוש אגדות הש"ס

(1)Afterwards, he saw [fit] to suffice with the names of those that received [the tradition] of those close [in time] to him, [starting] from Shimon the Righteous. And his words in the Mishnah were terse words that included many matters. And it was all lucid to him, due to the sharpness of his intellect – though for someone less than him, the content is complex in his eyes – as the early sages would only write for themselves.

(2) Therefore, one of his students saw [fit] – and that is Rabbi Chiya – to compose a book and to follow after his teacher in it, and to explain what had become garbled in the words of his teacher. And that is the Tosefta, and its purpose is to elucidate the Mishnah. And it is possible to extrapolate the Tosefta's explanation from the Mishnah [itself] after great exertion, but he extrapolated them to teach us how to engender and bring out matters from the Mishnah. And so [too] did Rabbi Oshaya.

(3) And Rav composed the Bereita – and it is Sifra and Sifrei. And [also] many others [did the same]; like they said, "When Rabbi x came, he brought a teaching in his hand."

(4) And nonetheless, these [texts] were not smooth like the words of the Mishnah, and their matter was not as organized or terse in their words. And therefore it – I mean to say the Mishnah – was the main [text] and all of the [other] compositions go up after it and are secondary to it, and it is the most honored by all. And when they compared it to those compositions, 'the maidens saw her and acclaimed her.'

(5) And everyone that came after this honored composition only came to devote his attention and effort to reflecting upon the words of the Mishnah. And one generation after another did not cease from reflecting upon it, and investigating and explaining it – every sage according to his wisdom and his understanding.

(6) And they disagreed about the explanation of some laws in it, due to the many years [that intervened]. And there was no group [of sages] that did not reflect on the Mishnah and reveal novel understandings and make comparisons to other matters, until it came the time of Ravina and Rav Ashi, who were the last of the sages of the Talmud. And Rav Ashi secluded himself to compose the Talmud and saw [fit] for himself to do for all the words of those that came after our Holy Rabbi, what our Holy Rabbi had done for the words of all that came after Moshe.

(7) And he included all of the words of the speakers and the intellect of those that reflect and the explanations of the commentators, and collected them; and he compressed it all with his wisdom and with the straightforward soul and honor for wisdom that the Holy One, blessed be He, gave him, and he composed the Talmud.

(8) And his intention with it was four things:

(9) And the [first] was the explanation of the Mishnah and everything that came out of it, which encompasses many matters of disagreement among the commentators and the claim of each commentator against his fellow and the exhibition of the true claim; and that was the first of the intentions that he intended.

(10) And the second was [to establish] the legal decision with one of the two disputants that disagreed about the words of the Mishnah or its explanation or novel understandings that developed from it and became attached to it.

(11) And the third is regarding novel matters that the sages of each generation extrapolated from the Mishnah; and the exhibition of the essence and the proofs that the teachers of the Mishnah taught and relied upon in their words in the Mishnah, such that their words were Ordered as they were Ordered; and the ordinances and decrees made after the Holy Rabbi until this author.

(12) And the fourth is [the inclusion of] homilies (drashot) that are fitting according to the topic of each section that happens to have a homily.

(13) And [about] this fourth matter – I mean to say the homily that is found in the Talmud – it is not fitting to think its value to be little and its purpose to be lacking. Rather there is great understanding in it, as it contains amazing riddles and beautiful wonders.

(14) As when one observes these homilies with intellectual observation, [matters] of the true good – about which there is nothing higher – are understood from them. And from them are revealed theological matters and true things that the men of wisdom would keep away and did not want to reveal, and all that the philosophers attained over the generations. And if you glance at it according to its simple meaning, you will see matters about which nothing is farther from the intellect than them.

(15) And they did this thing for wondrous ends: One of them it to sharpen the ideas of their students and to draw their hearts.

(16) And also to blind the eyes of fools who will never illuminate their hearts. And if they had shown them the illumination of truths, they would have turned their faces [away] from them, according to the shortcomings of their natures. As it is stated about them and those similar to them, "We do not reveal the secret to them" – because their intellect is not complete in order to accept the truths with according clarity.

(17) And likewise, some of the sages did not want to reveal the secrets of wisdom to some [other sages]. And they already mentioned (Chagigah 13a) that an honored man of the sages initiated with men who were experts in the wisdom of the Story of Creation (maaseh bereishit) whereas he was an expert in the Story of the Chariot (maaseh merkavah): He said to them, "Teach me the Story of Creation and I will teach you the Story of the Chariot"; and they said to him, "The matter is good." And when they taught him the Story of Creation, he abstained from teaching them the Story of the Chariot.

(18) And God forbid that he did this because of an evil heart to prevent [them from] wisdom or to have an advantage over them; as these traits are ugly in one of the silly ones – all the more so, with these honored pious ones. Rather, he did this thing because he saw himself to be fitting to receive that which was with them and that they were not fitting to receive that which was with him.

(19) And he brought the words of Shlomo about this matter (Song of Songs 4:11), "honey and milk under your tongue." And they, peace be upon them, explained and said that the sweet wisdoms that a soul finds pleasant – just like the palate finds honey and milk pleasant – must be hidden; and they should not be spoken about and they should not be raised to the lips or tongue in any fashion. And this is [the meaning of] what he said, "under your tongue" – that these matters are not from what is fitting to teach and to analyze in the gatherings of wisdom.

(20) And nonetheless, they should hint hidden hints in writing. And when the Holy One, blessed be He, removes the mask of foolishness from the heart of the one that He wants – after he has exerted himself and accustomed himself to wisdoms – then he will understand [something] of them, according to his wisdom.

(21) And a person has no [access] to wisdom and its pursuit and its efforts, but rather [must] leave its realm to the Creator and pray to Him and supplicate that He make him understand it and teach him and reveal to him the hidden secrets of Scripture; as we found with David, peace be upon him, who did this when he said (Psalms 119:18), "Open my eyes, that I may perceive the wonders of Your Torah." And when the Holy One, blessed be He, opens the eyes of a person and shows him what He shows him, it is fitting for him to conceal it, as we have said.

(22) And if he hints to them, he should hint [only[ slightly to one who has a complete intellect and is known [as a man of] truth, as they elucidated and revealed in many episodes in the Talmud. And hence, it is not fitting for a wise man to reveal that which he has known from the secrets, except to someone who is greater than him or like him. As if he reveals it to a fool, even if [the latter] will not disdain it, it will not find favor in his eyes. And hence the sage said (Proverbs 23:9), "Do not speak to a fool, for he will disdain your sensible words."

(23) And also as teaching to the masses requires that it be by way of a riddle and a parable – so that it includes the women, the youths and the children before their intellects mature; and then they will reflect upon and comprehend the matters of these hints. And about this matter, Shlomo, peace be upon him, hinted when he said (Proverbs 1:6), "To understand a proverb and an expression, the words of the wise and their riddles."

(24) And on account of these causes, the sages, peace be upon them, arranged their words in homilies – in a manner that will push off the intellect of the fool, according to his thinking.

(25) And it is not fitting to attribute the lack to that homily, but rather one should think that the lack comes from his intellect. And when he sees one of their parables that is very hard to comprehend even its simple meaning, it is fitting for him to be very perturbed by his intellect that did not understand the matter – to the point that there would be a lack in matters of faith, that it be completely foreign in his eyes. As behold, minds have meliority – one over the other – according to the meliority of temperaments. And [just] like we find the temperament of one man to be more straight then another man, so [too], the intellect of one man is more complete than the intellect of another man.

(26) And there is no doubt that the intellect of one who knows an illustrious thing is not like the intellect of one is [trying to] comprehend that thing. As the one is called actual intellect and the [other] is called potential intellect. And because of this, there are things that are absolutely true and lucid in the eyes of some men; and for another man, they are foreign and impossible – in accordance with [their] level of wisdom.

(27) And behold, I will give you a lucid parable: For example, if we would ask one of the learned men of medicine and mathematics and music who is swift in natural science and wise and learned, but he is uninitiated and devoid of the wisdom of geometry and astronomy, and we would say to him, "What do you say about a man who claims that the mass of the sun that we see as if it is a small circle, and he says that it is the mass of a sphere and the size of that sphere is one hundred and sixty six and three eighths (166.375) times the size of the sphere of the earth; and that the sphere of the earth according to which we have made these measurements is a sphere the circumference of which is twenty-four thousand (Roman) miles"; and that in this way, he be able to come to know how many miles there are in the measurement of the size of the sphere of the sun,

(28) there is no doubt that this man of clear thought who is learned in all of the wisdoms that we said will not find it in himself to maintain such a belief, and all of this will be far-fetched in his eyes and unfathomable.

(29) And his learned question that will come to him at first thought is that this claim is null; as how is it possible for a man standing on one (small) measure of the earth to know the size of the mass of the sun and its circumference and the measure of its surface, until his mind encompasses it, [just] like it encompasses the measurement of a part of the earth?

(30) And he will also say, "How is this possible? And behold, the mass of the sun is extremely far, and even the correct sight of the mass of the sun is impossible for us; and we only perceive its radiance alone. And how can a man come to the level that he is able to measure it and be exact in its measurement to three eighths [of a Roman mile]? This thing is worthless like nothing else." And there will be no doubt in his heart that this claim is null and that it cannot be.

(31) But when he accustoms himself to the study of the books of measurements and the wisdoms of what is fit – spheres and the rest of values that are evaluated one against the other – and he goes from there to the organized book about this matter and that which is similar to it – I mean to say, the well-known book of the properties of the planets: the book of Almagest – then this claim will become clear to him and it will be considered a true claim that has no doubt and that has proof to it.

(32) And there will be no difference for him between the mass of the sun being this size and the sun existing. And his mind will accustom itself to believe the thing that if first strongly pushed off and he will [now] believe it with complete belief.

(33) Behold this can be. And we did not agree about this man to whom we asked this matter that he should be lacking from the other wisdoms, but [rather] that he be well learned and of a clear nature and wise; and that the question that we asked him be from the questions of scholastics, which is a [only] step through which to get to theology.

(34) All the more so will the matter be with one who has no wisdom at all and has not accustomed himself to any of the ways of scholastic wisdom, but [rather] 'has gone from the intellect of his mother to the intellect of his wife,' when we ask him one of the theological questions that are hidden in the homilies. There is no doubt that they [will be] far-fetched in his eyes, like the distance of the heavens from the earth, and his mind will be too small to understand any part of them.

(35) And therefore it is fitting that we judge these homilies favorably and that we investigate them well. And we should not hasten to distance any of their matters, but [rather] when one of their words is far-fetched in our eyes, we should train ourselves in the wisdoms until we can understand their content in that thing – if our hearts can encompass this great thing. As behold, the sages – even though they had a desire to learn and they were good in thought and effort, the company of pious and honored men and the distancing of everything that there is in the world – would attribute the lack to themselves, when they evaluated themselves according to [those who were] before them.

(36) And that is [the meaning of] what they said (Eruvin 53b), "The hearts of the early ones are like the opening of a hall, and of the later ones are [not] even like a needle for crevices."

(37) And all the more so, us; as wisdom has disappeared from us. And [it is] like the prophet informed us (Isaiah 29:14), "And the wisdom of its wise shall fail, and the understanding of its sage shall vanish" – the verse identified each one of us with four things: weakness of intellect; strengthening of desire; laziness in seeking wisdom and alacrity in benefit from the world – 'the four bad afflictions.' And how can we not attribute the lack to ourselves when we evaluate [ourselves in comparison] to them?

(38) And since they, peace be upon them, knew about this matter that all of their words were clear and immaculate and that there was no dross in them, they commanded about them and warned that a person should not mock them. And they said (Gittin 57b), "Anyone who mocks the words of the sage is judged in burning excrement, etc." – and you do not have any greater burning excrement than the foolishness that brought him to mock [them].

(39) And therefore, you will not ever find one who distances their words except for a man seeking desire and who gives precedence to tangible pleasures, who has not enlightened his heart with any of the bright lights.

(40) And since they knew the truth of their words, they spent all of their days in this occupation, and commanded to pore over it all of the night and part of the day, and considered it to be the end of wisdom. And so it is.

(41) And they said (Berakhot 8a), "The Holy One, blessed be He, only has in His world the four cubits of the law (halakha) alone." And put your heart to this thing – since if you examine it according to its simple meaning, you will find it very far from the truth; as if the four cubits of the law alone are the appropriate focus and the other wisdoms and traits are thrown behind His back. And at the time of Shem and Ever and after it, when there was no halakha, can we say the there is no share in the world to the Holy One, blessed be He, at all?

(42) But if you investigate this matter intellectually, you will see in it a wonderful thing from the wisdoms, and it will add a great principle about the disciplines. And I will elucidate them for you in order that it be an example for the rest of what comes to your hand. And hence, place your heart to it as is fit.