txt/Jewish Thought/Rishonim/Guide for the Perplexed/English/Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology.txt

Guide for the Perplexed
מורה נבוכים
Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology
https://www.sefaria.org

Guide for the Perplexed

Introduction of Ibn Tibon



Letter to R Joseph son of Judah



Prefatory Remarks



Part 1

Introduction







Part 2

Introduction







Part 3

Introduction







Chapter 1



Chapter 2



Chapter 3



Chapter 4



Chapter 5



Chapter 6



Chapter 7



Chapter 8



Chapter 9



Chapter 10



Chapter 11



Chapter 12



Chapter 13



Chapter 14



Chapter 15



Chapter 16



Chapter 17



Chapter 18



Chapter 19



Chapter 20



Chapter 21



Chapter 22



Chapter 23



Chapter 24



Chapter 25



Chapter 26



Chapter 27



Chapter 28



Chapter 29



Chapter 30



Chapter 31



Chapter 32



Chapter 33



Chapter 34



Chapter 35



Chapter 36



Chapter 37



Chapter 38



Chapter 39



Chapter 40



Chapter 41



Chapter 42



Chapter 43



Chapter 44



Chapter 45

The commandments included in the tenth general category are those which I recounted in the laws of the Chosen House and the laws of the Temple vessels and its servants, and the laws of entering the Temple. I already explained the benefit of this category in a general fashion. It is known that the idolaters were careful to build their houses of worship and to place their idols on the highest spots found on the highest mountains. For this reason our father Avraham chose Mount Moriah, because it was the highest of mountains in the area, and there made known the unity of Gd. He singled out the west because the holy of holies is in the west, this is what is said ’the Presence of Gd is in the West.’ Our Rabbis explained in the gemara Yoma that Avraham singled out the west, that is to say the holy of holies. In my eyes he did this because the worship of the sun as a god was a widespread belief in his day, and there is no doubt that everyone turned to the east. Because of this, Avraham turned to the west on Mount Moriah, that is to say in the Holy Temple, to the point where he placed the sun behind him. Do we not see that when Israel rejected Gd and they returned to earlier beliefs, what did they do? They turned their backs on the House of Gd and their faces to the east, prostrating themselves toward the sun. Understand this wondrous thing. Furthermore, I have no doubt that the place which Avraham singled out through his prophecy was also known to Moshe our teacher and many others because Avraham commanded them that this be a house of Divine service. This is what Onkelus explains by translating ‘and Avraham did service and prayed in that place,’ and ‘he said before the Lord this is where service will dwell…’ The fact that the Torah does not make specific mention of Jerusalem, but rather hints at it and says, "the place which God will choose,” appears to me to have three explanations.  The first: so that the nations would not seize the place and wage power struggles over it, knowing that this place out of the entire Land represents the ultimate purpose of the Torah; secondly so that whoever possessed it at the time not destroy it and devastate it to the extent of their ability; and thirdly, the strongest reason of all, so that every tribe would not seek to include it in its inheritance in order to rule over it, and it be a source of controversy and strife, as was the priesthood.  For this reason we are commanded that the Temple not be built until after the coronation of a king, so that there is one single ruler and all strife is removed, as I explained in the book of Judges.