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Share- Maintainance of a healthy body & society are the "Path of God"
- The rules we find in Mishpatim are designed to:
- Operate using econmic dynamics
- To encourage good behavior
- To maximize physical prosperity in this world.
- In Maimonides' view, propserity enables a revelation of the intellect, and that further enables the ultimate nebulous goal of everything.
הוֹאִיל וֶהֱיוֹת הַגּוּף בָּרִיא וְשָׁלֵם מִדַּרְכֵי הַשֵּׁם הוּא. שֶׁהֲרֵי אִי אֶפְשָׁר שֶׁיָּבִין אוֹ יֵדַע דָּבָר מִידִיעַת הַבּוֹרֵא וְהוּא חוֹלֶה.
לְפִיכָךְ צָרִיךְ לְהַרְחִיק אָדָם עַצְמוֹ מִדְּבָרִים הַמְאַבְּדִין אֶת הַגּוּף. וּלְהַנְהִיג עַצְמוֹ בִּדְבָרִים הַמַּבְרִין וְהַמַּחֲלִימִים. וְאֵלּוּ הֵן:...
Since maintaining a healthy and sound body is among the ways of God - for one cannot understand or have any knowledge of the Creator, if he is ill - therefore, he must avoid that which harms the body and accustom himself to that which is healthful and helps the body become stronger.
They are as follows:...
Following his remarks in Ch1. The Rambam includes healthy living as the Path of God.
However, then he qualifies is as necessary for intellectual development, which implies this is not the end goal.
... לְפִיכָךְ הִקְפִּידָה תּוֹרָה עַל הַנְּטִירָה עַד שֶׁיִּמְחֶה הֶעָוֹן מִלִּבּוֹ וְלֹא יִזְכְּרֶנּוּ כְּלָל. וְזוֹ הִיא הַדֵּעָה הַנְּכוֹנָה שֶׁאֶפְשָׁר שֶׁיִּתְקַיֵּם בָּהּ יִשּׁוּב הָאָרֶץ וּמַשָּׂאָם וּמַתָּנָם שֶׁל בְּנֵי אָדָם זֶה עִם זֶה:
.... Therefore, the Torah condemned holding a grudge, [requiring] one to wipe the wrong from his heart entirely, without remembering it at all.
This is a proper quality which permits a stable environment, trade, and commerce to be established among people.
Just as the Rambam sees proper maintainance of a person's personal concerns as part of the "Path of God" so too, it would seem that:
- Ethical standards are derived from what is necessary to maintain commerce and peace in society
- This is the path of God.
The next source states this more clearly.
וכבר יצאנו מענין הפרק, אבל בארנו למה הספיק לו הנה מזכרון פעולותיו זכרון אלה לבד, והוא – מפני שהוא צריך אליהם בהנהגת המדינות. כי תכלית מעלת האדם – ההדמות בו ית׳ כפי היכולת – כלומר: שנדמה פעולותינו בפעולותיו – כמו שבארו בפרוש ״קדושים תהיו״ אמרו: ״מה הוא חנון אף אתה היה חנון; מה הוא רחום אף אתה היה רחום״.
We have gone too far away from the subject of this chapter, but we have shown why it has been considered sufficient to mention only these (thirteen) out of all His acts: namely, because they are required for the good government of a country; for the chief aim of man should be to make himself, as far as possible, similar to God: that is to say, to make his acts similar to the acts of God, or as our Sages expressed it in explaining the verse, “Ye shall be holy” (Lev. 21:2): “He is gracious, so be you also gracious: He is merciful, so be you also merciful.”
Here, Maimonides:
- Identifies the Path of God with proper maintainance of the state
- This is what we mean by summarizeing God's behavior as kind.
This is because:
- God optimizes nature to be perfectly balance for the sustinance of life.
- Thus, a nation that operates with an optimal balance for sustiance of life is imitaiting God.
In the following paragraph, the Rambam notes the point of Judicial punishment: a deterrent for future crime.
הכלל הששי כולל ה׳מצוות׳ התלויות בדיני ממונות כ׳דין גנב וגזלן ודין עדים זוממין׳ ורוב מה שספרנום ב״ספר שופטים״. ותועלת כל אלו מבוארת – שאם לא יענש החוטא והחומס לא יסתלק נזק בשום פנים ולא יסתלק חושב להרע. ולא כשטות החושבים שהנחת דיני התשלומים היא חמלה על בני אדם, אבל היא אכזריות גמורה והפסד סדר המדינה. אבל החמלה היא מה שציוה בו ית׳: ״שופטים ושוטרים תתן לך בכל שעריך״.
The sixth class is formed of precepts respecting fines, e.g., the laws on theft and robbery, on false witnesses, and most of the laws contained in the section Shofetim belong to this class. Their benefit is apparent; for if sinners and robbers were not punished, injury would not be prevented at all: and persons scheming evil would not become rarer. They are wrong who suppose that it would be an act of mercy to abandon the laws of compensation for injuries; on the contrary, it would be perfect cruelty and injury to the social state of the country. It is an act of mercy that God commanded “judges and officers thou shalt appoint to thee in all thy gates” (Deut. 16:118).
- In the following paragraph from the Guide, the Rambam shows how
- Liability is designed to prevent future damage.
- Deterrents are limited where the cost of that behavior would be greater than the benefit.
- In the public - the cost of the animal-owner preventing damage is less than the utensil owner preventing damage.
- In the private - the cost is reversed.
- Bimodal distributions are accomodated for, because tail risks may not be worth society avoiding altogether.
ה׳מצוות׳ אשר כללם הכלל החמישי, הם אשר ספרנום ב״ספר נזיקים״ והם כולם בהסרת העול ומנוע ההזק.
ולרוב האזהרה על מניעת ההזק חייב האדם בכל נזק שיבוא מממונו או מסיבת פעולתו ממה שאפשר לו לשמרו מהזיק;\
ולכן חיבנו בנזקים שיבואו מבהמותינו עד שנשמרם; וכן ׳אש ובורי׳ מפני שהם ממעשה האדם ואפשר לו לשמרם עד שלא יבוא מהם נזק
THE precepts of the fifth class, enumerated in the Section—“On Damages” (Sepher neziḳin), aim at the removal of wrong and the prevention of injury.
As we are strongly recommended to prevent damage, we are responsible for every damage caused by our property or through our work in so far as it is in our power to take care and to guard it from becoming injurious.
We are, therefore, responsible for all damage caused by our cattle; we must guard them. The same is the case with fire and pits; they are made by man, and he can be careful that they do not cause damage.
. וכללו אלו הדינים מן היושר מה שאעיר עליו, וזה לשון ש״שן ורגל ברשות הרבים פטור״ שהוא ענין שאי אפשר לשמרו ומה שיבוא מהם מנזק גם כן שם – הוא מעט; ומי ששם דבר ב׳רשות הרבים׳ הוא שפשע בנפשו ונתן ממונו לאיבוד;
ואמנם יהיה חייב ׳על השן והרגל בשדה הניזק׳. אמנם הזק ה׳קרן׳ והדומה לו אשר אפשר לשמרו בכל מקום ואי אפשר להולכים ב׳רשות הרבים׳ להשמר מן הנזק ההוא דינו בכל מקום אחד;
ויש בו הפרש בין ׳תם׳ ל׳מועד׳ שאם יהיה המעשה ממי שלא הורגל בו – יתחיב ׳חצי נזק׳ ואם יהיה מעשה הנזק ממי שנמשך עליו ונודע בו – יתחיב ׳נזק שלם׳.
I will point out the equity of the various laws in this respect. No compensation is enforced for damage caused by the mouth or the foot of an animal in a public thoroughfare; because this cannot be guarded against, and the damage caused there is not very large. Those who place their things in a public place are themselves guilty of neglect, and expose their property to injury.
But compensation is given for damage caused to the property of a person in his own field by the tooth or the foot of an animal. It is different in the case of damage caused by the horn of animals or the like. The animal can be guarded everywhere land prevented from causing injury], whilst those who pass public thoroughfares cannot sufficiently take care against accidents of this kind. In this case the law is the same for all places:
but there is a difference whether the owner of the animal has been warned concerning it or not (mu‘ad or tam). If the animal has not been in the habit of causing damage, the owner need only pay half the damage; but damage caused by an animal which has been in the habit of doing so, and has been known as savage, must be paid in full.
- In the following paragraphs, the Rambam summarizes how we estimate the degree of a punishment:
- Magnitude of damage
- Frequency (I'll interpret this as that either:
- there is a fixed cost of having a law
- or the propensity of one crime to affect the behavior of others
- Gain for the perpetrator (Temptation)
- Probability of capture
- Although is is difficult to answer all the questions of exaclty how these rules are implemented, it is clear that this is the general guidance of the Torah.
הראשון – גודל החטא, שהפעולות שיבוא מהם הפסד גדול – ענשם גדול, והמעשים שהפסדם מועט – ענשם מועט.
והשני – רוב המצאו, שהדבר שהוא נמצא יותר – ראוי שימנע בעונש חזק, אמנם מה שימצא מעט – מעט מן העונש עם מעוט המצאו מספיק במניעתו.
והשלישי – רוב ההסתה בדבר, שהענין שהאדם ניסת בו יותר, להיות התאוה מביאה אליו מאד, או לרוב ההרגל, או שיש בהנחתו צער גדול – בידוע שלא ימנע ממנו אלא על יראת דבר גדול.
והרביעי – קלות עשות המעשה ההוא בהסתר ובהעלם. בענין שלא ירגיש בו זולתו – כי מניעת זאת אי אפשר אלא ביראת עונש גדול וחזק.
1. The greatness of the sin. Actions that cause great harm are punished severely, whilst actions that cause little harm are punished less severely.
2. The frequency of the crime. A crime that is frequently committed must be put down by severe punishment; crimes of rare occurrence may be suppressed by a lenient punishment considering that they are rarely committed.
3. The amount of temptation. Only fear of a severe punishment restrains us from actions for which there exists a great temptation, either because we have a great desire for these actions, or are accustomed to them, or feel unhappy without them.
4. The facility of doing the thing secretly, and unseen and unnoticed. From such acts we are deterred only by the fear of a great and terrible punishment.
