Maimonides on "Shilluaḥ Ha-Qen"
The biblical commandment to release the mother bird before taking her young is regarded by Maimonides in the "Mishneh Torah" as a "scriptural decree"; furthermore, he vigorously denies the most plausible reason for it, namely, to spare the mother bird pain. Yet in the "Guide...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Penn Press
1989
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| In: |
The Jewish quarterly review
Year: 1989, Volume: 79, Issue: 4, Pages: 345-366 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The biblical commandment to release the mother bird before taking her young is regarded by Maimonides in the "Mishneh Torah" as a "scriptural decree"; furthermore, he vigorously denies the most plausible reason for it, namely, to spare the mother bird pain. Yet in the "Guide of the Perplexed" Maimonides, by contrast, insists upon assigning a reason to this commandment; indeed, in this philosophic work he endorses the very reason which he had rejected in his earlier halakhic work. It is argued that Maimonides in the "Mishneh Torah" deliberately concealed--more accurately, denied--the true reason for "shilluaḥ ha-qen" lest it engender an antinomian response. It is further argued that in the Guide Maimonides' insight into the relationship between divine mercy and God's commandments with respect to animals enabled him to repel the feared antinomianism; for this reason he was able in the later work to state boldly the reason for the commandment of "shilluaḥ ha-qen": its purpose is indeed to spare the mother bird the grief which she would no doubt suffer over the removal of her young from the nest. |
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| ISSN: | 1553-0604 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The Jewish quarterly review
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2307/1453893 |