Relevance of Rambam's philosophy nowadays

Relevance of Rambam's philosophy nowadays.

Much has been written about the relevance of Rambam's theology and philosophy to a contemporary Jew. One of the best is the article by Prof. Marvin Fox in his Interpreting Maimonides. The other is a letter Rav Kook wrote to the historian Zeev Yavetz printed in his monumental "Toldos Yisroel" vol. 12. The problem is that Rambam based his theology on the science of his days which was mainly Aristoteleian and Neo - Platonic - as interpreted by the medieval arab philosophers especially Al - Farabi. As that science has been discredited by empirical proof, one can argue that the whole structure and basis for Rambam's approach no longer has any validity. Mis-Nagid, B.Spinoza, at times GH and others have attacked my comments with that argument. In my mind it has to do with how we view what the Torah and Judaism are. The word Torah etymologically is similar to Hora'ah or guide. As a book of laws only it should have been called Chok, Mishpat or a similar word. By chosing the word Torah, it implies that in addition to being the law, it also is a guide that by being followed will get us to a place or a goal. It is a personal goal for each one of us but it also a national goal for Jews and even more a guide to help the whole of humanity reach a goal. Rambam in Hilchos Melochim 11:4 posits that Christianity and Islam are developments that bring the world closer to the goal of accepting the Unique God and to serve Him. The picture one gets from this comment is that the Torah is a system that has put a developmental process into place which may take many generations and thousands of years to effect its intended purpose. It is not a system which once accepted it automatically makes you perfect. There is no salvation, like some religions contend, but it is a process that one enters, does his best during his lifetime, passes the baton to the next generation and so on. As generations proceed, they develop a more and more sophisticated understanding of their surrounding, how it impacts on their apprehension of God through His actions, which is the universe we live in.

When one looks at the Torah from this perspective, the Torah is now in addition to a book of Laws, also a book that tells us how to look at our reality and interpret it ontologically. "If on the other hand you find a Law whose ordinances are due to attention being paid .... to the soundness of the circumsatnces pertaining to the body (in other words Bein odom lachaveiro) and also to the soundness of belief a Law that takes pains to inculcate correct opinions with regard to God...and that desires to make man wise, to give him understanding, and to awaken his attention, so that he should know the whole of that which exists in its true form...(Moreh 2:40). The torah in addition to setting societal and ethical laws also gives us laws that help us notice and question how the reality we live in came about, such as Shabbos. It furthermore tells us how to relate to, how and from where the universe came from, how humans, animals and plants evolved, how we should direct our thinking in answering these questions (Breishis).

It is therefore a system that has to go hand in hand with humanity's intellectual growth. As man gets a better understanding of his surroundings he turns to the guide (Torah) to try to understand ontologically what he has learned. As he does thatover time and generations, his understanding of God becomes more sophisticated. Aristoteleian philosophy was the science that man had developed up to Rambam's time. He showed us how we have to read and follow the Torah's guidance in assimilating it and understanding it ontologically. He did not hide behind the cop out used by our contemporary "Gedolim" that the Torah is divine and therefore knows more about science than us. He had his own questions about the science of his days. He was puzzled by the discrepancy between the Ptolmeic system of the heavens and Aristotles understanding of it. That did not lead him to reject everything. Rather he saw it as a way to better understand how theology fits in with science and are complementary to each other. We have to adopt Rambam's approach to our current understanding of science realizing that future scientific developments will require future generations to revisit the issue and adapt it to their time. Theology is a way of explaining science as it relates to God. It is the goal of the Torah and every believing Jew. God being transcendental, totally non physical, He should not be affected by any understanding of the physical world. That is the great lesson Ramabm taught us.