Day #338–Rambam DAILY Sefer HaMitzvos

it is day number 338 of our daily study of RZ and in the three chapters today study track of mish We are continuing the laws of kings and their Wars chapters 78 and n and just a heads up this is the second to last class in the entire cycle tomorrow God willing will be finishing the entire study of sa Mitzvah as it corresponds to the three chapters a day study track of mish which means that those who are studying three chapters a day of mission are also finishing the entire missioner and I should mention because I mention usually every day when we're studying C mites what we're what we're doing in the three chapters day of MTO I should mention there's a concept of learning one chapter day of Mion TOA as well which means instead of finishing the entire Mission TOA in one year if you do one chapter a day it'll take you three years and I just want to put that out there for those for whom that might be an appropriate upgrade maybe you're learning saor mitzah and you want to do something something more you want to start learning the Misha which has more details and explanations and rather than jump all the way to three chapters a day maybe you want to do one chapter a day just putting it out there okay here's our mitzvah for today so we're studying Kings and their Wars all right negative commandment 46 now you remember when we spoke about um the king shouldn't amass too many horses all right one of the things that said over there is he shouldn't amass too many horses in order not to cause the nation to go back to Egypt because there are a lot of horses in Egypt that is one of three places in the Torah that makes it clear that we're not supposed to go back to Egypt and based on this we have a Mitzvah this Mitzvah ne46 prohibiting us from settling in Egypt not allowed to settle in Egypt once we were redeemed from Egyptian slavery that's it you don't go back to Egypt okay now if that's the case well historically we know that there were Jewish communities in Egypt in fact famously theam himself lived in Egypt he was the physician to the Sultan in Egypt he wrote the missionto in Egypt so how is this possible there are many many many explanations that deal with this meaning what are the actual parameters of the prohibition what actually constitutes transgression of the prohibition some say it's only uh a Prohibition to enter Egypt from the land of Israel you can enter Egypt from other other places you just can't enter there from the land of Israel uh others say even more specifically that it's only prohibited if you literally backtrack and retrace in reverse the 42 jauns in the wilderness that the Jewish people took when they left Egypt until for the 40 years in the wilderness there were 42 juns in the wilderness till they entered the promised land so one one opinion is it's only prohibited if you literally backtrack and do that whole trip in reverse and then and there are other explanations as well I'll tell you what the ram says though because we're studying the ramam so I'll tell you the Ram's explanation the ram says it's only prohibited if you go there to settle but it's okay to visit on business and once you're visiting on business it could happen that a person gets stuck there like the dama got stuck there he couldn't that at at the point where he was working for the the the sultan he couldn't leave it wasn't his progress at that point anymore so then it's just a passive thing that you're staying there meaning you didn't actively go to settle there you you went there on a business trip and then you ended up getting stuck there and by the way there's a there's a from where he explains the ra according to the cabala that the AR says that the reason we don't and the arel by the way also lived in MIT he lived in Egypt before he came to Tas the holy city of Tas where he taught cabala um Aral says the reason we don't live in Egypt cabalistic is because all of the Sparks of godliness were were taken out when the Jews left Egypt so there are no sparks there anymore and the rebba puts together the Ram with the and says and that's why the the ram says that you could go there for business because all the Sparks were taken out when we left with all of the wealth of Egypt when we left from Egyptian servitude but there are other things like you know there's a there are trade routes so new things which every physical thing has a spark we're getting into a little cabala over here but every physical object has a spark of godliness and when you use it to do a Mitzvah you elevate that spark so there there are new things that could have been brought to Egypt and now it's okay to go there to on business CU you're going to redeem that spark that's there okay at any rate positive commandment 190 is the Mitzvah the positive Mitzvah to offer peace before Waging War now this gives me an opportunity to speak about something that I haven't spoken about uh this entire year and we only have one more class and that is thez the seven Noah laws why does this give me an opportunity to speak about this because okay so here's the Mitzvah the Mitzvah positive positive command 190 is basically before going to war before um Waging War the the other Army is given an option of surrender and the terms of surrender are that they should accept the the seven no laws and that they should be they should submit themselves to the Jewish nation's Authority now what does it mean the seven noahide laws what is that because a lot of times you tell people about seven no laws what seven laws what seven what what are seven seven Commandments What are seven Commandments I know about 10 commandments right the decalogue The Ten Commandments um people know about some some people know about 6 63 Commandments that's what we've been studying this whole year 613 Commandments but here's the deal 613 Commandments are the Commandments that God commanded Israel the Jewish people then there are seven Commandments that are binding upon all humanity and I'm just going to not going to read to you word for word but I'm going to tell you the source in case you want to look it up in chapter nine which is today's three chapters of of RA of mish I mentioned 7 8 and N today so if you look in chapter 9 he explains to you that six Commandments were given to Adam the first man and no I'm not talking about the Commandment don't eat from the tree because that was just for him I'm talking about eternal Commandments they're binding upon all of his descendants that are basically the the moral code for all Humanity okay so there's the pro prohibition against false gods worshiping false gods there's a Prohibition against cursing God prohibition against murder prohibition against immoral intimate relations such as incest and adultery the prohibition against theft and the Commandment to establish courts of Justice to enforce the previous five prohibitions so you have five prohibitions and a positive commandment which is to establish courts of Justice to enforce the five probations that was to Adam when after After the flood then Noah and his family were the survivors of that flood they were given one more Mitzvah making it seven Mitzvah they were given the prohibition another prohibition a sixth prohibition Against Animal Cruelty because they were given permission to eat animals because only because of them did the animals survive but then they were given the responsibility not to be cruel to animals so you have six prohibitions in total with one positive commandment which is to form courts of Justice which enforce the previous six prohibitions and these sound like really really basic laws and they are they are but you should also know that each one of them are sort of chapter headings they are more than just the basic interpretation they also include within them subheadings under each one of these headings and this is very important to understand that the moral code for the world as outlined in Torah are these seven noahide laws Okay negative commandment 56 here's an exception here's an exception I just said we're supposed to offer a peaceful surrender before Waging War here's an exception Amo and mayv Amo and mayv who are those those are nations who are descended from light or some people call him lot or Lo this is the uh brother-in-law SL nephew of Abraham he was both and he had relations with his two daughters after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the Nations that came from those two pregnancies are called am and mayv or Ammon and Moab and uh we're not supposed to offer them a peaceful surrender however uh as the ramom explains if they ask for one then you got to give them one as well you just don't initially offer it to them negative commandment 57 is the prohibition against wanting destruction specifically destroying a fruit bearing tree while in the midst of battle you're not allowed to destroy a fruit bearing tree or for that matter anything that has productivity we don't do that even when we're in a war positive commandment 192 is to maintain hygiene in the battle camp um by having a place for a latrine not to just to have people doing their business in between the tents or wherever it is that they're staying there has to be a part of the camp that's on the outskirts that's outside of where people are uh living even when you're at War where obviously you don't have the amenities of home but the latrine has to be on the outskirts and that's a positive commandment positive 192 and finally positive commandment 193 it's a related Mitzvah about hygiene and that is that the weapons that the Jewish Army has are supposed to have a like a little shovel like for digging like a spade uh which is for the purposes of being able to cover up um human waste so that that's not just laying out even though we're in a in a war situation we're meant to keep things hygienic and clean okay those are the mitzvah for today we'll see you for more tomorrow with the with the completion which is very very exciting we'll see you then God willing