Talking Torah and History 2.1 - Perfect Mis-understanding RE: the Rambam

In Part 2.0, I wrote, based upon my chat with the Historian:

«"Rambam takes ONE sugya as the controlling sugya. It might be Bavli or Yerushalmi or Tosefta etc. But the Rambam loyally sticks to his selected sugya without deviation.»
*****

«I found this point very enlightening. So Rambam can be a strict constructionist in the sense of staying in the box without straying. Yet Rambam is not at all confined JUST to Bavli. Rather he has a broad range of sources to select from.»

Here is a point of possible "Perfect Mis-understanding"

Here are 2 Premises or Presumptions re: Rambam. The first is based upon the previous post.

• 1 [as above] the Rambam is a strict constructionist re: Sugyot

• 2 That given multiple sources - that the Rambam bases himself upon the Bavli to the exclusion of other sources. IOW if say Bavli and Sifre have a conflict, Rambam invariably would choose the Bavli.

With this version #2 in mind, the Rambam comes off as in conflict with the simple read of the Bavli in numerous cases.

Illustrations:
• "Es haNochri Tigoss" - Is charging Ribbis for a loan to an eino Yehudi optional or required? [Sifre Vs. Bavli]

• Is Mishna Yadayim 1:1 discussing mayyim rishonim or sheniyyim
[Tosefta vs. Simple read of Mishna]

If one presumes #2 to be true, then one must eventually question #1. Because #2 would make the Rambam a liberal constructionist in many places.

So Let's instead substitute #2A

• The Rambam pasqens from selected* Sugyos - whether Bavli, Yerushalmi, Tosefta, etc.

Illustration:

Rambam follows straight read of Bavli re: women reading Megillas Esther. Viz. Women are equally obligated as are men.

[Tosafos, OTOH, throws a contradictory Tosefta into the mix and comes up with a proposed synthesis - women must listen but no need to read.]

The perfect misunderstanding is that the Rambam would hold that the Bavli ALWAYS supersedes Tosefta

The more correct understanding is:

• That once Rambam selects a sugya - be it Bavli, Sifre or otherwise - that Sugya supersedes all w/o conflating it with other sources.

So instead of
Perfect Mis-understanding:
The Bavli overrules Tosefta

Better Understanding:
The selected source [including Bavli] rules w/o compromise.

* The exact nature or criteria of the Rambam's "selection" process is subject to further research and debate - and is beyond the scope of this post.

Shalom
RRW