The Great Sources with Rabbi Shnayor Burton Rabbi Shnayor Burton

1:15 "הא לחמא עניא": our conversation centers around the meal; the 4 questions are all about food5:00 "עבדים היינו": the answer to the son's question; the son's question is that the events of the past are not current events, so why is the night of Pesach treated as a unique time10:00 The significance of the fact that it is the son who asks the question: the next generation doesn't understand why the past is relevant to it13:30 "ואילו לא הוציא הקב"ה את אבותינו ממצרים הרי אנו ובנינו ובני בנינו משעובדים היינו לפרעה": there are moments in life that have historic, cosmic import17:00 "ברוך המקום": the Torah talks about the sons in 4 places, corresponding to 4 kinds of children19:00 "אילו היה שם לא היה נגאל": the wicked son doesn't accept that there are significant, historic moments in life, and without realizing that, he wouldn't have seized the opportunity of redemption and would have stayed behind in Egypt21:30 והמבין יבין!22:40 "מתחילה עובדי עבודה זרה": a new narrative, according to which the servitude in Egypt is part of the solution, not part of the problem26:00 The recurring historic theme of Jewish suffering and redemption and its providential purpose; a second answer to the son's question about history30:00 והמבין יבין!33:10 The natural causes of Jewish suffering and persecution35:30 "צא ולמד": the recurring theme already happened with the forefathers; a segue into "ארמי אובד אבי"38:15 "רבן גמליאל היה אומר": a third answer to the son's question about history: it happened to us as well, in every generation40:15 The whole Haggadah revolves around the question about how the past bears on the present43:00 "חייב אדם לראות את עצמו כאילו הוא יצא ממצרים": meaning and how it's done44:30 "ואותנו הוציא משם": Aristotle on natural slaves; how freedom really depends on knowing Hashem; the most honest people would be slaves if they lacked knowledge of Hashem

"Exodus, Exile and Redemption" is a study of the profound significance of Judaism's history.
Written essays are published bi-weekly here:
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://shnayor.substack.com/s/from-exodus-to-exile-to-redemption
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Please subscribe!
This series is a project of the Jacob Lights Foundation. To support this and other ongoing projects of the foundation, please consider becoming a paid subscriber to the Substack newsletter or making a donation via Zelle to jacoblightsfoundation@gmail.com.

"Exodus, Exile and Redemption" is a study of the profound significance of Judaism's history.
Written essays are published bi-weekly here:
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://shnayor.substack.com/s/from-exodus-to-exile-to-redemption
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Please subscribe!
This series is a project of the Jacob Lights Foundation. To support this and other ongoing projects of the foundation, please consider becoming a paid subscriber to the Substack newsletter or making a donation via Zelle to jacoblightsfoundation@gmail.com.

This shiur was generously sponsored by Mr. Ari Schwartz. This series is a project of the Jacob Lights Foundation.

Highlights:
0:00 Abraham's project to strip away divinity from the universe and its association with Creation ex Nihilo

7:00 Divine bodies

11:00 Overview of the Guide 2:25

17:00 Maimonides' seven questions on the Torah

23:30 The middle question suggests that mitzvahs have no reason, contrary to Maimonides' opinion

29:00 That God has an unfathomable intent is the foundation of the Torah; Torah is irreducible to reason

34:00 If Aristotle's model of reality were to be proven, the Torah would be eventually abandoned, because if Torah is reducible to reason, it would be dispensable

45:30 The reasonableness of idolatry

49:15 Why is idolatry reasonable if it's based on the eternity of the universe?

51:00 The project of the Torah to uproot idolatry is the project of promoting the doctrine of Creation ex Nihilo and God's unfathomable intent in general
55:00 Abraham and Moses brought back God's intent into history

"Exodus, Exile and Redemption" is a study of the profound significance of Judaism's history.
Written essays are published bi-weekly here:
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://shnayor.substack.com/s/from-exodus-to-exile-to-redemption
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Please subscribe!
This series is a project of the Jacob Lights Foundation. To support this and other ongoing projects of the foundation, please consider becoming a paid subscriber to the Substack newsletter or making a donation via Zelle to jacoblightsfoundation@gmail.com.

This shiur was generously sponsored by Mr. Ari Schwartz. This series is a project of the Jacob Lights Foundation.


2:00 Passages in the Guide that indicate that Creation ex Nihilo is known through revelatory prophecy

8:15 How Abraham reached knowledge of God through contemplating the heavens

19:30 Was Abraham an Aristotelian philosopher?

25:00 Prophecy revealed the truth that Creation ex Nihilo is the proper belief, not that Creation ex Nihilo is a scientific, cosmological fact

44:45 Since we believe that Abraham and Moshe had divine revelation, their personal philosophical speculations don't concern us

48:30 Maimonides' story about how Abraham discovered God is a deliberate anachronism

52:30 The project of the Guide of the Perplexed and how the perplexity shifts dramatically when it comes to Creation