PHILOSOPHY
The Rambam's Holy Guide To The Perplexed
In our days as well as in previous generations, since the controversy over the Rambam has died down and his light has spread its rays across the Jewish horizon, his Guide to the Perplexed is also to be considered a holy volume of Torah. And heaven forbid that we disparage it in any way. Our obligation today is not only to find some way of justifying the Rambam's words, but to delve into them and to see that the essence of his ways is that of the Torah.
In Torah law, there are various aspects and differences of opinion. And we apply the dictum, "Make your ears like a spout and listen to the words of those who declare something pure as well as those who declare it impure, those who declare someone innocent as well as those who declare such a person guilty, those who disqualify something as well as those who approve it-because all of these opinions come from one shepherd (Moses)" (Hagigah 3a). This is the case even though in practice, only one of these opinions is accepted.
The same concept applies to the laws of viewpoints and articles of faith that have been posited by the sages of Israel, who are the forefathers of faith, great and holy Torah leaders. Heaven forbid that we treat them disrespectfully and conclude that any of their opinions is drawn from the secular realm, which have no place within Judaism, and in particular we are forbidden to assume such an attitude about the viewpoints of the father of Israel, who has enlightened the eyes of all generations with his Torah teachings, wisdom and holiness-the Rambam.
Even when it comes to his opinions that many sages of various generations take exception to, we can only say that we must accept the viewpoints that the majority of Torah leaders tend to. But heaven forbid, heaven forbid, that anyone come to the conclusion that the viewpoints of the great Rambam are foreign to the Torah!
Since the Rambam, whose source of life was the Torah of God, found his heart (so faithful to God, His Torah and His people) in these viewpoints, this itself is proof that there is nothing in them that can raise doubts in anyone's heart or to drive anyone away from the holiness of the Torah and of Israel. What counts in this matter is a person's spiritual state and his grasp of spiritual imagery, for each individual has his own nature. And so [deciding what to study] must be dealt with on an individual basis.
Without a doubt, some people are affected positively by certain viewpoints, which connect their hearts to holiness and purity, faith and service of God, Torah and mitzvot. And there are others whose hearts are drawn to such holy and elevated matters by other viewpoints.
If the opinions expressed in the Guide were congenial to the holy spirit, mighty faith and holy, true service of clinging to God, possessed by the great and holy light, the Rambam, if they were congenial to his entire inner treasury of goodness, holiness, exactitude, vitality, sanctity and purity, the mighty fear of God and the love of God-all of which was a constant flame of holy fire in his pure heart-there can be no doubt that a great many Jews will be positively affected by these opinions and thus drawn to holiness.
On the other hand, many other people cannot forge a connection between their spirit and the opinions put forth in the Guide. They have the right to connect the thought of their hearts to the viewpoints expressed by Torah leaders who cleared a different path. But heaven forbid that we disparage the Rambam's viewpoints as being outside the realm of Torah, and worse, as Greek wisdom and alien to the Torah, for these viewpoints have been sanctified by the Rambam's holy spirit.
With his stature, the great Rambam truly imbued the light of science and ethics with all the attributes of holiness and purity of the holy Torah, which he studied day and night in order that, through them, he would cling to the One God. We cannot say that he had an internal conflict, leading him to write his Guide with one spirit and his other works with another-heaven forbid! The Rambam was a pure-hearted righteous person. Just as he was a genius in Torah and wisdom, so was he a genius of pure-heartedness and faith. And all of his words, including those of his great Guide to the Perplexed, will remain as an eternal light in the wisdom and Torah of Israel, like a generous sun with healing rays.
Likutei Harayah, pp. 365-67
Philosophical Understanding: A Bridge To Divine Wisdom
When your body is pure of the uncleanness of lusts and sins, you receive a great light and supernal joy from a philosophical, intellectual understanding of Divinity....
When your heart is whole in true fear of God, when your hands are pure and your heart is true, then you can taste the intellectual clarity of the pleasantness of God, which permeates the human intellect, and which gives a pleasure of a particular holiness....
This is because when you possess an inner holiness, then even human intellect arouses your life-spirit to draw forth from the well of holiness that resides within your very soul....
And this was the way of the Rambam and other great Torah leaders, supernal and holy, who drew their divine wisdom via the medium of human intellect.
Orot Hakodesh I pp. 92-93
