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Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Address at the Special Knesset Session Marking 800 Years Since the Death of the Rambam / Translation. |
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| 23/02/2004 |
Mr. Speaker,
Members of Knesset,
The Knesset dedicates this meeting to Rabbeinu Moshe Ben-Maimon (the Rambam), "the Great Eagle", one of the most prominent giants of thought in the history of the Jewish people, as was already said of him: "From Moshe until Moshe there was none like Moshe".
With humility and deference, we stand in awe in the face of the magnificent figure of the Rambam, with the richness of his creations, the vastness of his knowledge and the depth of his insight and thoughts. His wisdom, research and writings encompassed many varied subjects, whose origins and foundations lay in the Jewish faith and the fountains of the Torah of Israel, and continued in philosophy, science, astronomy, healing of body and mind and other diverse fields.
There are not enough words to enumerate the abundant fruit of his thought and his historic stature. The Rambam was and remains the greatest Halachic arbiter of the entire period between the completion of the Talmud until today. The extent of his creations is awe-inspiring, especially knowing that in addition to his spiritual pursuits, he was also engaged in trade, employed as a royal physician in Egypt and treated patients who knocked on his door all while forcefully leading the Jewish community, constituting a model of leadership to many other communities and gathering around him students who soaked up his teachings.
I allow myself to rely on this pillar of Jewish wisdom in recommending to the members of this house to pay heed to one important rule determined by the Rambam: to know how to find the golden path and the "middle way". He writes the following:
"There are two opposite extremes to each and every temperament, one of which will not be a good mannerism The way of the upright is [to adopt] the intermediate characteristic of each and every temperament that people have. This is the characteristic that is equidistant from the two extremes of the temperament of which it is a characteristic, and is not closer to either of the extremes.
According to this rule, the Rambam advises that anyone who has such an extreme temperament [is] commanded to go in these middle ways, the good and upright ways and to make one's ways as similar to them as possible. He also said, one should do, change one and change one's actions which one does according to the intermediate temperaments and always go back over them, until such actions are easy for one to do and will not be troublesome for one, and until such temperaments are fixed in one's soul.
It is appropriate at this time for all members of Knesset to carve these words on their hearts.
And if I may, I would add another quote from the Mishneh Torah of the Rambam. I refer to the supreme Jewish moral value of work and manual labor, in addition to the study of the Torah. In the chapter of Avot in the Mishna, it was said: Any Torah which one studies without working at is worthless, and causes punishment. Utilizing this as a basis, the Rambam determined, and I quote: Anybody who undertakes to learn Torah all the time, not work, and support himself from charity is desecrating G-d's name, disgracing the Torah, extinguishes his Jewish spark These words should also be heeded.
I say this as one who cherishes and holds in high esteem learning of the Torah and deepening Jewish awareness. A great miracle occurred for us when the Yeshiva world was revived in Israel after nearly being destroyed in the Holocaust. However, on the other hand it must be remembered that there is no learning without effort.
Members of Knesset,
The State of Israel proudly bears the stamp of its Jewish legacy, and its unequaled contribution to humanity. From antiquity until today, Jewish history is strewn with remarkable figures and giants of thought who left their profound mark on the world of thought, science and creation. At the forefront of Israel's greatest stands the figure of Rabbi Moshe Ben-Maimon, in whom the spirit of G-d resided, and his giant wings of an eagle hover in the sky of our people for over 800 years.
The Rambam closed his book Guide to the Perplexed with wishes for the unity of the Jewish people,all the people of Israel are friends, and for the nation to come out of its state of perplexity and bleakness to a bright and clear path. This is what we aim for. This is our wish for the State of Israel.
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