Nothing but Truth - .Risk and Reward.

Rambam got involved in a major controversy when he permitted the travel on Shabbat on boats that ply the Nile. His ruling contravened an earlier ruling of the Geonim including Rav Hay Gaon regarding traveling Shabbat on the Euphrates, the river that crosses Baghdad, where the yeshiva in Bavel was. Rabbi Shmuel Ben Eli[1], the Rosh Yeshiva at the time, took great umbrage at the Rambam’s ruling and a major Machloket broke out. Besides the Halachik issues, there was much political undertones to the fight because the RY, who was considered the leader of Jewry in the Middle East, felt under attack, his authority being undermined by the Great Eagle in Cairo. The controversy is recorded in History by exchanges of letters between Rambam and RSBE on the subject. I will not go into the Halachik considerations as I want to focus on a side comment Rambam makes, that is an eye opener on his thought process. It also contrasts the way the contemporary “defenders of the faith” think and the way the great thinker did.

Rambam first wrote a letter laying out his position on the issue of river travel. RSBE answered back attacking Rambam’s arguments. Rambam then replied[2] answering all the questions posed by RSBE and that letter’s introduction is the focus here.[3]

שו"ת הרמב"ם סימן שי

ואמנם מה שהקדים מן ההתנצלות משיב עלינו והארכתו במוסר ובשבחנו יגמלנו השם טובות על כל זה וירבה בחסידים ובבעלי מוסר כמותו. וזהו הראוי לבעלי המעלות הגדולות בחכמה ובדת. ואין ספק אצלי שנדמה לו יצ"ו שאנחנו כרוב בני אדם שיקשה להם כשיסתור אדם דבריהם או ישיב עליהם דבר. וכבר הצילנו השם מזה ובורא עולם יודע כי אפי' השיב עלינו הקטן שבתלמידיו או חבר או מתקומם היינו שמחים בזה אם השיב תשובה אמתית ונשמח במה שיעוררנו עליו במה שנתעלם ממנו. ואם אנחנו רואים גם כן שזה המשיב טועה לא נשנא אותו ולא נרחיקהו חלילה וחס לא נתפוס עליו היותו משיב עלינו במה שלא נתישב בתשובתו עלינו לפי שהאדם מאמת דעת מיוחדת או מבטלה כפי מה שיראה לו בעיונו בין היה אותו עיון אמת או שקר. הלא תראה שכל החכמים ז"ל בכל עיוניהם התלמודיים היו מקשים בקושיות אינן אמיתיות על דברים אמיתיים אין בזה חסרון בחוק מי שישיב בלתי הסתכלות שלם.


(Paraphrased translation)

Regarding your apology for disagreeing with me, your self criticism and the praises you bestowed on me, God shall reward you for this and give us many more, sage and ethical people, like you. Yours is the preferred behavior of those who are at the top echelons of knowledge and religion. I have no doubts that you think that I am like most people who get upset when someone disagrees with them or shows that they erred. God has protected me from this trait. The Creator knows that even if the youngest of the students, a peer or an opponent will disagree with me I would happy if their argument was true and I would rejoice if I were shown something that I missed. If I find that the interlocutor is mistaken I will not hate him or distance him God forbid. I will not criticize him for attacking me with something that does not stand up to scrutiny for a person accepts an idea or discards it based on his personal understanding whether it is ultimately true or false. See how our sages in all their Talmudic discourse asked incorrect questions on true statements. One cannot always blame someone for asking without having thought things through completely.

There are two very striking points made in this excerpt. It is not enough that Rambam would appreciate if someone showed him to be wrong and corrected him. He would find it acceptable if someone tried to contradict him with an incorrect argument. The fact that the person who disagreed thought his argument to be true is enough. Even more astounding is the understanding that Tannaim and Amoraim would ask questions without thinking them through all the way. Rambam understood that like him the Rabbis were interested in the truth and would go to any length to find it. But along the way, in the process of searching mistakes can be made. Without taking that risk the truth will never be found.


[1] Professor Simcha Assaf Z”L published RSBE letters in 1970. The introduction has a short biography of RSBE.
[2] There is an undertone of frustration and condescension in the letter. One gets a clear impression that Rambam did not consider RSBE his intellectual equal.
[3] This Teshuvah is copied from the Spertus version of the Bar Ilan Responsa. The numbering is based on the Blau edition of SHUT Harambam.