The sages of the Mishna made an effort to decide what was part of the Torah
There was some questions about the Song of Songs and the book of Ezekiel.
The only reason these two were included was the first Rabbi Akiva said was OK and the other another sage went into his attic and did not leave until he resolved the contradictions.
This is all contained in Bava Batra and in the Talmud Shabat.
Later on the Oral Law was all written down. So we have today the set of the oral Law.
That is an actual account of the oral tradition. Later on a kind of consensus developed about what would be considered valid Halacha books. So we have a kind of set of Halacha.
There is a point to this. The point is that even if people are going to read books out of the regular set of Torah they still need to know what is part of the regular set and what is not. The Sages of the Mishna could have just said whatever people want to read they will read anyway. And they were not making a list of forbidden books. It is rather people need to know what is the established system.
I suggest a similar process with Musar.
Here is my idea of the what constitutes the Oral and Written Law Torah. Old Testament. The Two Talmuds and Midrashei Halacah Midrashei Agada,
Rif, Rosh, Rambam, Tur, Beit Yoseph.
Musar I think also needs to be limited in some way.
I am not alone in this. At least we know that Rav Shach made a distinction between books that are meant to be clarify things within the context of the Oral Law and books of "hashkafa" world view issues. He wrote that the verse "Of making books there is no end and they weariness to the flesh." applies to books of world view.
What is wrong with books about Hashkafa (השקפה world view of Torah)?
1) They are in most often written by authors who do not know the Hashkafa of Torah.
That is to say Saadia Gaon wrote a book for the specific purpose of telling people the world view of Torah. You would think that a book by an authentic Gaon would be popular by people who want to understand about the world view of Torah. I mean who could possible know it more accurately that a real authentic Gaon? But in fact people have scarcely even heard of Saadia Gaon and the name of his books certainly draws a complete blank. [It is called the Creeds and Doctrines. אמונות ודעות].
The Guide of the Rambam is also written specifically for the sake of explain the world view of Torah. You would think it would the singular most popular book in the Jewish world. Who after all could know the world view of Torah or explain it more clearly that the Rambam himself?
But the truth is people don't read these two books because they say things people don't want to hear.
They would rather read books that feed into their delusions and make them feel good about themselves. They don't want to know or even hear about what the Torah actually holds. And of they do then it will only be about rituals--never about what the Torah holds about major issues.
The problem with the Guide for the Perplexed of the Rambam is not that it is hard to understand. The reason people don't read it is because it is possible to understand. All too possible and all too easy. And then when he says things that fly in the face of what people want to believe it is disturbing.
There was some questions about the Song of Songs and the book of Ezekiel.
The only reason these two were included was the first Rabbi Akiva said was OK and the other another sage went into his attic and did not leave until he resolved the contradictions.
This is all contained in Bava Batra and in the Talmud Shabat.
Later on the Oral Law was all written down. So we have today the set of the oral Law.
That is an actual account of the oral tradition. Later on a kind of consensus developed about what would be considered valid Halacha books. So we have a kind of set of Halacha.
There is a point to this. The point is that even if people are going to read books out of the regular set of Torah they still need to know what is part of the regular set and what is not. The Sages of the Mishna could have just said whatever people want to read they will read anyway. And they were not making a list of forbidden books. It is rather people need to know what is the established system.
I suggest a similar process with Musar.
Here is my idea of the what constitutes the Oral and Written Law Torah. Old Testament. The Two Talmuds and Midrashei Halacah Midrashei Agada,
Rif, Rosh, Rambam, Tur, Beit Yoseph.
Musar I think also needs to be limited in some way.
I am not alone in this. At least we know that Rav Shach made a distinction between books that are meant to be clarify things within the context of the Oral Law and books of "hashkafa" world view issues. He wrote that the verse "Of making books there is no end and they weariness to the flesh." applies to books of world view.
What is wrong with books about Hashkafa (השקפה world view of Torah)?
1) They are in most often written by authors who do not know the Hashkafa of Torah.
That is to say Saadia Gaon wrote a book for the specific purpose of telling people the world view of Torah. You would think that a book by an authentic Gaon would be popular by people who want to understand about the world view of Torah. I mean who could possible know it more accurately that a real authentic Gaon? But in fact people have scarcely even heard of Saadia Gaon and the name of his books certainly draws a complete blank. [It is called the Creeds and Doctrines. אמונות ודעות].
The Guide of the Rambam is also written specifically for the sake of explain the world view of Torah. You would think it would the singular most popular book in the Jewish world. Who after all could know the world view of Torah or explain it more clearly that the Rambam himself?
But the truth is people don't read these two books because they say things people don't want to hear.
They would rather read books that feed into their delusions and make them feel good about themselves. They don't want to know or even hear about what the Torah actually holds. And of they do then it will only be about rituals--never about what the Torah holds about major issues.
The problem with the Guide for the Perplexed of the Rambam is not that it is hard to understand. The reason people don't read it is because it is possible to understand. All too possible and all too easy. And then when he says things that fly in the face of what people want to believe it is disturbing.
