Hi,
"Each general mitzvah must have a cause, and it is
commanded for a particular benefit. However, its components are just commands.
For example, regarding killing a living thing for good food, the benefit is as
we will clarify, but the fact that it is performed via shechitah rather
than nechirah, and severing the esophagus and windpipe in a particular
spot, these and similar actions are to refine the creations...
"The mitzvah of bringing a korban provides great benefit,
as I will explain, but having one korban as a lamb and one as a ram, and having
designated numbers for each, one cannot present a cause for it at all. Anyone
who would burden himself to give an explanation for these components would be,
in my eyes, entering a lengthy lunacy, and would not remove the inscrutability
but increase it. One who imagines that there is a reason is far from truth,
like one who imagines that the entire mitzvah has no benefit."
(Rambam, Moreh haNevuchim 3:26)
Have a great day,
Mordechai
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"Anyone who would burden himself to give an explanation for these components would be, in my eyes, entering a lengthy lunacy, and would not remove the inscrutability but increase it."
ReplyDeleteHoreb provides an existence proof that the Rambam erred. As does the Maharal in the many instances he explains those details, although the Rambam might have actually rejected his mysticism in the terms given here.