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Episode

S7, E15 The Guide of the Perplexed, Rambam’s Messianic Vision (03): Torah and the Parable Without a Meaning

Podcast
The Great Sources with Rabbi Shnayor Burton
Published
Jul 30, 2025
Duration seconds
4601
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https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/shnayor-burton/episodes/S7--E15-The-Guide-of-the-Perplexed--Rambams-Messianic-Vision-03-Torah-and-the-Parable-Without-a-Meaning-e367a9n
Audio
https://anchor.fm/s/fb5467c/podcast/play/106194679/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2025-6-30%2F4555c633-437e-96c5-d6ce-b0b46497cd0f.mp3
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Summary

00:00 The project of the Guide is the rectification of the challenges associated with prophecy 2:30 The need for the Torah to be unlocked 12:00 King Solomon was a Messianic figure who commenced the unlocking of the Torah, which was then completed by Rabbi Akiva 20:45 The innovation in the Torah which is itself rooted in the Torah: Rambam's rereading of the Torah's mission to uproot idolatry and his application of its teaching to God's incorporeality 36:30 The Oral Torah can undermine the surface-level meaning of the Written Torah 40:45 How Moshe both did and didn't wage war against the erroneous belief in the corporeality of God 44:00 It takes much knowledge to know that knowledge is limited 48:45 How Rabbi Akiva's new teaching about parables improved on King Solomon's teaching about parables 51:00 The endless sea and the infinitude of wisdom: The meaning of the parable of water is that we can’t know the true meaning of the parable of water 54:30 The purpose of parables is not to explain something but rather to make an abstract truth attractive to the body 1:01:15 Rabbi Akiva's teaching about the water that has no end; how he faced endless waves and how Rabbi Meir faced endless waves 1:12:30 Two kinds of parables 1:15:30 What will be treated of in the next lecture