An interesting Rambam Mishneh Torah quotes [or paraphrases] a Braitto [apparently Sh'vuot 35A] re: the HOLY names that may not be erased and prefaces it with "There are Seven". See Yesodei Hattorah 6:2
Touger notes that while the list stems from a Braitto the Rambam's Preface "there are seven" is not in that Braitto at all
Rather it appears in the Zohar [Vol. III 272b]
The subtle implication is that Rambam got if from the Zohar. OTOH we can also say that since the Zohar was publicly PUBLISHED after the Mishneh Torah; therefore it's feasible that R Moshe de Leone borrowed that phrase from the Rambam - rather than Vice Versa
Problem:
The Rambam insists on waiting "about 6 hours" after meat in order to eat dairy.
However, the Zohar demands ONLY that meat and dairy not be consumes during the same hour or the same meal. [NB: "Same Hour" may really mean "Same TIME" in this context]
And so - if the Rambam saw the Zohar why is he so Machmir to go all the way to 6 hours?
Conversely, if the Zohar saw the Rambam - why is he so meiqil to NOT require 6 hours?
Of course this can be answered, but it does put a bit of "fly in the ointment" with regard to the relationship between the two.
Shana Tova
RRW
1 comment:
Some readers may need a word of clarification of the role of Rabbi Moshe de Leone in regard to the Zohar. While the secular world sees Rabbi de Leone as the very author of the Zohar, the tradition informs us that it was Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai who was the author. This difference in viewpoint should, though, not be perceived as simply black and white. Within these two poles, there is in fact a spectrum of possiblities that could yield some meshing of the roles of Rabbi de Leone and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in the present manifestation of the Zohar. It is within this spectrum that we actually find the general world of Orthodox Jewry although many do simply present the Zohar as the work of RSBY and do not mention any involvement of Rabbi de Leone. There is also a very small minority that see the work as solely the product of Rabbi de Leone although that view is generally perceived as reflecting a position outside the pale. The variant views that are found within acceptable Torah sources include the perspective that it was Rabbi de Leone who revealed the Zohar or that he edited it.
It is within this context that one should read this post.
Rabbi Ben Hecht
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