"Lifnim Mi-Shurat Ha-Din" in Maimonides' "Mishneh Torah"
In "Hilkhot Deʿot", Maimonides gives an intriguing definition of "lifnim mi-shurat ha-din", which in rabbinic sources refers to supererogatory behavior "beyond the line of the law." According to Maimonides, "lifnim mi-shurat ha-din" characterizes the behavior...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Penn Press
1999
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| In: |
The Jewish quarterly review
Year: 1999, Volume: 89, Issue: 3/4, Pages: 291-317 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | In "Hilkhot Deʿot", Maimonides gives an intriguing definition of "lifnim mi-shurat ha-din", which in rabbinic sources refers to supererogatory behavior "beyond the line of the law." According to Maimonides, "lifnim mi-shurat ha-din" characterizes the behavior of the ḥasid who adopts extreme character traits which deviate from the Aristotelian mean--in particular, extreme humility, or meekness, and the capacity to quell anger, or impassivity. How Maimonides arrived at this conception of "lifnim mi-shurat ha-din" is a puzzle. He has taken what is essentially a legal principle and converted it into a philosophical and ethical one. Maimonides provides no information as to how he came up with his interpretation, nor have medieval or modern commentators been able to shed much light on this issue. I attempt to show how Maimonides formulated his concept of "lifnim mi-shurat ha-din" by reading rabbinic sources through the lens of Aristotelian ethics. Particularly important to Maimonides were the halakhic discussions of lifnim mi-shurat ha-din in the Talmud, which Maimonides seems to have read as requiring people of superior social-standing to act with humility when interacting with others of lower standing. Also important was an aggadic source which connects the restraint of God's anger against the Jewish people with "lifnim mi-shurat ha-din." His reading of these Jewish sources was refined by philosophical considerations. In Aristotle, meekness and impassivity are related and mutually reinforcing virtues. Moreover, each of these virtues serves a role in imitating God, a key concept in Maimondies' ethics. Impassivity accomplishes this purpose because God is a passionless Being capable of feeling anger. Meekness prepares one to imitate God by taking the focus away from one's own needs and enabling one to behave with impassivity, especially when experiencing insult. |
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| ISSN: | 1553-0604 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The Jewish quarterly review
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2307/1455026 |