The Great Sources with Rabbi Shnayor Burton: Daily Summaries Delivered

S7, E18, The Guide of the Perplexed, the Closing Chapters, 02: The Birth of a Nation Under Divine Providence

00:45 The turn and the tension in III:51, and its parallel in III:54, about whether the service of God involves turning away from this world or engaging with it4:15 A new reason for all of the mitzvahs that runs counter to the reasons given earlier in the Guide16:15 The contradiction in III:54: Is the true perfection of man intellectual or practical?28:00 Why does Rambam think we cannot be like Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov and Moshe?40:30 Only the founders of the nation can be engaged with this world while remaining purely objective and focused on Hashem 54:30 The history of the Jewish Nation as the embodiment of Hashem's traits of Kindness, Justice and Righteousness, which are the hallmarks of Divine Providence57:00 The perfection of man as individual is knowledge; the perfection of man as a member of the Jewish Nation is engagement in lived Kindness, Justice and Righteousness1:01:00 "The unity of God in the world" – Kindness, Justice and Righteousness reflect God's unity in the dimension of the material world 1:05:00 Kindness, Justice and Righteousness for the collective correspond to intelligence for the individual

S7, E17, The Guide of the Perplexed, the Closing Chapters, 01: The Perfect Life and the Perfect Death

Should Judaism Go Universal?

0:00 Has the time arrived for Judaism to cultivate a stance of ideological expansion?5:00 The divine decree of separation between Israel and the nations8:00 Is the role of Israel to teach other nations or to stand as a model?13:15 Why da'as Hashem includes all the nations17:30 Ideas that are privately held are not fully held19:50 To teach da'as Hashem requires not claiming the status of a teacher of da'as Hashem26:00 AI and globalized da'as31:00 Keeping Torah internal preserves its integrity40:45 If Israel would produce prophets, would the other nations come to study from them?43:00 Should Torah sages be challenged to justify how their study is relevant to the nations?48:45 Torah scholars in Israel should orient themselves toward the other nations; Torah scholars living among the nations should orient themselves toward Israel

How Shlomo Read the Torah: Good, Evil, and the Heart of the Entire Tanach

Guest shiur delivered at Kollel Bein Hamikraos in Yerushalayim

The Door Moshe Closed: Nobody Can Be Moshe, Everyone Has to Listen to Him

Torah is a transmission from someone who went where no one else could go and came back to tell us not to.Moshe entered the source of all being and returned with a single mitzvah: stay outside. Everything else is commentary.

The Three Oaths; guest shiur at Beis Medrash Meshivas Nefesh

Rambam's Secret Interpretation of "An Eye for an Eye"

Rambam writes in the Guide, 3:41:The punishment meted out to anyone who has done wrong tosomebody else consists in general in his being given exactly the same treatment that he has given to somebody else. If he has injured the latter’s body, he shall be injured in his body… And he who has deprived someone of a member, shall be deprived of a similar member: “As he hath maimed a man, so shall it be rendered unto him” (Leviticus 24:20). You should not engage in cogitation concerning the fact that in such a case we punish by imposing a fine. For at present my purpose is to give reasons for the [biblical] texts and not for the pronouncements of the legal sciences. Withal I have an opinion concerning this provision of legal science, which should only be expressed by word of mouth.What was the secret opinion Rambam held regarding this law?

S5, E63 Exodus, Exile and Redemption, Final Audio Message

Written essays are published bi-weekly ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Please subscribe!