00:25 The essence of Rabbi Akiva's wisdom is that the Torah speaks in parables3:40 The sin that led to the death of Bar Kochba is the sin of taking the Torah literally 11:15 Balaam and the parables about the Messiah; the prophets themselves didn't know the meaning of their parables about the Messiah18:00 Balaam blessed Israel with kingship, which turned into a curse21:00 Inverting the meaning of the Torah and Balaam's endeavor24:00 The inversion of the Torah is its external, superficial meaning; Balaam as the anti-Moshe28:45 The function of a king is to craft a unified message; the connection between kings and parables33:45 The problem with kings, who occlude the kingship of Hashem43:00 How can there be a righteous king?44:15 The function of halacha and how it applies to establishing kings who stand as parables for Hashem55:00 The contradiction in Shemoneh Esreh whether Hashem alone will rule us or David will56:00 Solomon's failure revolved around thinking we know the reasons of mitzvahs fully59:30 The more progress we make in recognizing the limits of our reason, the more we can safely explore the reasons for the mitzvahs 1:05:30 The Guide is Gan Eden; the Tree of Life is the middle question in the middle chapter of the middle section of the Guide: "Why did he give these mitzvahs and these prohibitions?"1:11:30 Rabbi Akiva knew the reason of the Red Heifer, which is that paradoxes are appropriate1:13:00 Balaam as the anti-Moshe and his influence, together with Moshe, on all the prophets that come after Moshe1:15:00 Rabbi Meir, student of Rabbi Akiva, and his approach to parables

Conversation # 4 of the series

In this conversation, Zev and I analyze the first step of the prophetic path to Da’as Hashem – its logic, practice, and universal relevance.5:00 The four-step discipline of the prophets for reaching Da'as Hashem

13:00 The doctrine of Da'as Hashem is universally intelligible and meaningful even without accepting Torah or Judaism

16:45 The universality of Da'as Hashem as opposed to the particularism of the Torah

22:30 The secret society of Da'as Hashem

24:30 Live demonstration of the first step of the Path

43:25 Purifying the soul and serving Hashem circumvents the need for having a developed philosophy of morals

48:45 The connection between tefillah and Da'as Hashem

52:00 The Jewish national experience as the training ground for achieving Da'as Hashem

57:30 Why pure Da'as Hashem is impossible in exile

1:01:45 Why Rabbi Chiya never had kavanah during davening

1:06:30 Questions on the first step

1:14:15 The stark difference between those who know and those who don't: https://x.com/shnayor/status/1950646482291347817

00:00 The project of the Guide is the rectification of the challenges associated with prophecy

2:30 The need for the Torah to be unlocked

12:00 King Solomon was a Messianic figure who commenced the unlocking of the Torah, which was then completed by Rabbi Akiva

20:45 The innovation in the Torah which is itself rooted in the Torah: Rambam's rereading of the Torah's mission to uproot idolatry and his application of its teaching to God's incorporeality

36:30 The Oral Torah can undermine the surface-level meaning of the Written Torah

40:45 How Moshe both did and didn't wage war against the erroneous belief in the corporeality of God

44:00 It takes much knowledge to know that knowledge is limited

48:45 How Rabbi Akiva's new teaching about parables improved on King Solomon's teaching about parables

51:00 The endless sea and the infinitude of wisdom: The meaning of the parable of water is that we can’t know the true meaning of the parable of water

54:30 The purpose of parables is not to explain something but rather to make an abstract truth attractive to the body

1:01:15 Rabbi Akiva's teaching about the water that has no end; how he faced endless waves and how Rabbi Meir faced endless waves

1:12:30 Two kinds of parables

1:15:30 What will be treated of in the next lecture

"Exodus, Exile and Redemption" is a study of the profound significance of Judaism's history.

Written essays are published bi-weekly ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Please subscribe!

This series is made possible by the Jacob Lights Foundation. To support this and other ongoing foundation initiatives, please consider becoming a paid subscriber to the Substack newsletter or making a tax-deductible donation via Zelle to jacoblightsfoundation@gmail.com.

0:00 How does Rambam intend to extract us from exile?2:30 Rabbi Akiva as the great teacher whose Torah completes the Messianic teaching6:30 The need for the Torah to be clarified and for its meaning to be unlocked10:00 In what sense Rabbi Akiva is called a "prophet"18:30 The diminished significance of the Messiah as an individual man of great wisdom and prophetic power24:00 Allusions in the Guide to the role of Rabbi Akiva and his new teaching30:00 What is the "new teaching" predicted by the prophets and who will teach it? 31:00 The teaching of Rabbi Akiva about what makes a human perfect: Do not say, "Water, water"34:45 Moshe went beyond human capabilities; the rest of humanity requires a way to approach God without transcending human limits46:30 The meaning of the word "water"; equivocal terms and parables54:20 Why there is a need for a "new teaching" and what is wrong with the "old teaching"58:00 The failure of the "Nobles of the Children of Israel" in their vision of God points to the flaw with the old teaching and the problem inherent in every prophet lesser than Moshe1:05:00 The Guide is meant to rectify the problem inherent to non-Mosaic prophecy

0:00 Why are the Redemption and the Messiah not treated of in the Guide, considering that they comprise the 12th principle of faith?5:30 Chasam Sofer's dispute with Rambam regarding the 12th principle9:00 The redemption is a principle of faith since it involves the success of the Torah's overall project11:30 The entire Guide is the means for the Torah's project to succeed: Through this book, they will escape from exile18:30 The Messiah is the notion that kingship of Israel can and will be perfected25:00 The Torah, as opposed to the prophets, doesn't talk about the figure of the Messiah34:50 A contradiction within Mishneh Torah about whether the Messiah will be wiser than Solomon and achieve a level of prophecy close to Moses, or will be simply an effective king49:40 Rabbi Akiva's role in the Redemption; Rabbi Akiva as the Solomonic and Mosaic figure56:30 Rabbi Akiva as the figure bracketing the whole Mishneh Torah, who entered the Pardes in peace and exited in peace1:00:00 Halacha as the prerequisite for knowledge of Hashem1:02:00 The nature of Rabbi Akiva's perfection and the connection to his assumption that Bar Kochba was the Messiah1:05:30 The study of Mishneh Torah is required to be capable of recognizing that parables are not meant literally1:09:30 Who is the real king? Rabbi Akiva or Bar Kochba?

"Exodus, Exile and Redemption" is a study of the profound significance of Judaism's history.

Written essays are published bi-weekly ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Please subscribe!

This series is made possible by the Jacob Lights Foundation. To support this and other ongoing foundation initiatives, please consider becoming a paid subscriber to the Substack newsletter or making a tax-deductible donation via Zelle to jacoblightsfoundation@gmail.com.