Home -- Content: Series 7 (Laws) -- Translation: English -- Book: 1 (Tora) -- Part: 1 (Positive) -- Command: 71 -- Text
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The Sharia of Moses in the TORA
Part 1 - The 248 Positive Commandments of the Tora
71 - THE UNCONDITIONAL GUILT-OFFERING
In connection with the law of sacrilege Maimonides reflects as follows: “It behooves every man to meditate upon the ordinances of the Holy Torah and to discern their ultimate purpose according to his ability: let him not hold lightly that for which he finds no explanation or discovers no reason – And let him not break through to come up unto the Lord, lest He break forth upon him* - and let him not consider it in the same manner in which he considers secular things.”
“See how stringent the Torah is in the case of sacrilege! If, by the use of mere words, the name of the Lord of the universe having been proclaimed over (subjects of) wood, stone, earth and ashes, sanctity has been conferred upon them, so that whoever employs them for a secular purpose (becomes culpable for) having committed sacrilege – a violation which even if committed unintentionally necessitates atonement – how much more should this be true of a commandment which the Holy One, blessed be He, has ordained for us, namely that one should not rebel against it (merely) because he does not know its explanation, and that he should make no untrue representations concerning the Lord. Truly one is not to consider (His ordinances) in the same manner in which he considers secular things.”*