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Jews who do you pursue? The path of the P’rushim or the path of the Tzeddukim? Hanukkah מצוה דאורייתא או דרבנן. The eternal mitzva of Hanukkah, the הבדלה of lighting these lights משנה תורה לשמה Antonym vs. שכח תורה שבעל פה לא לשמה synonym.

The lights of dedication: To study Torah common law through NaCH prophetic mussar דרוש\פשט-Aggada/Midrashim & רמז\וסוד ritual halachic precedents, which re-interprets again and again through every sugya of gemara on the Mishna; the original intent of the language of the Mishna.

The Talmud stands upon the kabbalah logic sh’itta of rabbi Akiva’s פרדס. Vs. Assimilated Tzeddukim statute law as codified in the Av tuma Greek/Roman egg-crate organized assimilated halachic codes: Rambam, Tur, and Shulkan Aruch. Which base these Av tuma Halachic Order-organization upon the syllogism logic of ancient Greek philosophers Aristotle & Plato.

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What separates the Torah Menorah from the Hanukkah Menorah? שלום כנגד מלחמת אחים

The Torah Menorah dedicates the 7 faces of the oath brit chosen Cohen peoples’ soul. The Hanukkah remembers the Jewish Civil Wars fought as a direct consequence to Jewish assimilation and intermarriage with Goyim. Both transgression define the k’vanna of the 2nd Sinai commandment: not to worship other Gods. When Israel worships avoda zarah: the Torah curse rains down upon our people like as did the plagues in the days of Moshe and Par’o. HaShem condemned the kingdom of David to endure Civil Wars when David profaned the anointing of Moshiach to rule the land with righteous judicial common law Sanhedrin courtroom justice – following the death of the baal of Bat Sheva.

The Torah menorah in the Mishkan has 7 branches which affix to the 6 Yom Tov and Shabbat. Hence the bnai brit soul has 7 names affixed to these 6 Yom Tov + Shabbat. Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Chyyah, Yechida, Nefesh Klalli, and Nefesh Shalom. These 6 + 1 souls dedicated holy to HaShem on those Chaggagim & Shabbat have Divine Names. Yah, Ha’El, El, Elohim, El Shaddai, Eish Ha’Elohim, Shalom. The Talmud teaches that the name Shalom – a Divine Name. These Divine Names remember the Yom Tov + Shabbat throughout the year; something like the rear and front sights of a rifle permit a person to shoot accurately down range.

These 7 Divine Names affix as the k’vanna within the heart to the davening said on each specific day of the week. The mitzva of shabbat requires making the most essential הבדלה. Hence the blessing said over wine at the beginning and termination of the day of shabbat. Why does making הבדלה absolutely essential to observe shabbat? K’vanna (shabbat and yom tov exist as tohor time oriented commandment which require מלכות defined prophetic mussar k’vanna – learned by comparing precedent case studies one against another), separates the understanding which discerns like from like.

For example, what separates the Oral Torah revelation of tohor middot spirits from words: ה’ אל רחום חנון וכו? If a person cannot discern one tohor middah from another then likewise that person fails to discern tohor middot from tumah middot. The heart contains two opposing Yatzirot. Hence the kre’a shma writes לבב, which Rabbi Yechuda the author of the Mishna calls Yatzir Ha’Tov vs the Yatzir Ha’Rah.

The Yatzir Ha’Tov through tohor time oriented Av Commandments breaths the Spirit of the 1st Sinai commandment Name, the greatest commandment in the Torah – doing mitzvot לשמה. The sin of the Golden Calf lacks understanding and confuses the Divine Spirit Name רוח הקודש with word translations! Hence the Xtian bible and Muslim koran both worship other Gods of avoda zarah. Monotheism violates the 2nd Sinai commandment. The 10 plagues which afflicted Par’o and Egypt judged the Gods of Egypt. The brit cut at Gilgal calls upon HaShem to likewise judge the Gods of Canaan. The Rashi tefillen based upon the oath sworn at Gilgal; the Rabbeinu Tam tefillen based upon the oath sworn at Sh’Cem.

The examples brought all require making the essential הבדלה. To keep shabbat requires making the essential הבדלה which separates and distinguishes מלאכה from עבודה: skilled labor from unskilled labor. Mesechta Shabbat addresses the verb of מלאכה; whereas mesechta Baba Kama delves into the verb of עבודה. The morning davening concludes with יום ראשון בשבת יום שני בשבת וכו. A person who observes Shabbat observes all the commandments! The Mishkan has the מקום קדוש וגם מקום קדוש קדושים. So too likewise observance of the Mitzva of Shabbat.

On the day of Shabbat, which has the Divine Name Shalom dedicated within your Yatzir Ha’Tov heart, a person sanctifies not doing acts of מלאכה. This dedication not to do מלאכה on the day of shabbat likewise equally sanctifies not doing איסור עבודה on the 6 days of Chol “shabbat”. The mitzva of shabbat observance sanctifies not just the day but the entire week.

Mesechta Baba Kama makes the דיוק on the opening Av Mishna. It makes the required הבדלה which separates and distinguishes Tam from Muad. Four avot tam damagers and Four avot muad damagers.

The דיוק defines the latter as חמס גזל ערוה ושוחד במשפט. A person who sanctifies not to do these Avot muad damages during the week, sanctifies not doing the 39 forbidden labors on the day of Shabbat and therein keeps all the Torah commandments!

Hence the Gemara of Shabbat learns precedents from the Gemara of Baba Kama. The study of Talmud – a common law legal system and not a post sealing of the Gemarah codification of statute law halachot codifications. The Rambam’s Yad Chazakah failed to make this critical הבדלה and the court of Rabbeinu Yonah together, (it seems to me) with the majority of the Baali Tosafot which learned the Talmud as common law and not assimilated Roman statute law which relies upon Aristotle’s logic of organizing laws into egg-crate like orders, placed the Rambam into נידוי. T’NaCH/Talmud common law – as different from Greek\Roman statute law – as Shabbat differs from both Xtian and Muslim interpretations!

First Light of Hanukkah: Time oriented mitzva from the Torah IF a person affixes prophetic mussar as the מלכות of the oath sworn ברכה לשמה.

Now that’s how the B’HaG, also known as Baal HaMaor,,, (based upon his commentary to the Rif’s famous halachic code) [[This, the student of the Rif, and Rabbeinu Gershom]],,, learned.

This unique poskin of Halacha, that tohor time oriented commandments could make an aliyah of positive and negative toldot commandments unto time oriented Av commandments to create from nothing the chosen Cohen people in all generations יש מאין. Furthermore, he argued an even larger chiddush, even halachic rabbinic mitzvot – if elevated to time oriented Av commandments by means of interpreting the k’vanna of prophetic mussar tohor middot – as the מלכות of the sworn ברכה, these rabbinic commandments too became Mitzvot from the Torah!

However the מלחמת השם directly challenged the priority to interpret the k’vanna of mitzvot, over the need to establish religious halachic codifications as the Rif code clearly accomplished. The commentary written by the RambaN on the Rif halachic code, the dispute between the B’HaG and the RambaN (which also included the Raavad III – this מחלקת ראשונים) … disputed matters of priority.

Whether to learn the T’NaCH\Talmud in order to interpret the k’vanna of tohor Oral Torah middot, as learned from T’NaCH/Talmudic Primary sources vs. the establishment of religious halachic codifications, to cement the religion of Judaism, during the dark ages of Medieval Europe.

Herein defines the essence of the dispute which ripped Jewish communities apart from Spain, to France, to England and Germany. This terrible Jewish Civil War erupted into an all out brawl after the Rambam published his Yad Ha’Zakah. That the RambaN named his commentary to the Rif code מלחמת השם testifies to the bitter fierceness of this brutal Jewish Civil War.

War brings chaos and anarchy. Civil War brings foreign intervention. Picture a dead carcass where lions, hyenas, wild dogs, and vultures all fight to consume the carcass of some trief animal … this depicts a Civil War. How many countries in Syria today? Iraq invaded Iran immediately after the Khomeini revolution in 1979. 1980 Iraq invaded. G’lut Jewish Civil War did not have vast Armies as did the American Civil War where England Russia and France threatened to intervene. But it most definitely experienced foreign interventions!

Henry Seward the Yankee Secretary of State, the European equivalent of Foreign Minister, prevented PM Gladstone from recognizing the Confederate states. Russia threatened to send its navy to Yankee ports and also to widen the American Civil War into a general war across Europe, if England initiated to break the Union blockade of Confederate Ports. Secretary of State Seward pulled a clever stratagem. He knew that PM Gladstone and FM Lord Russell detested one another. Therefore he sent two diplomatic notes conveying opposite messages to Gladstone and Russell.

The Industrial revolution began in England. Hence England, the first European country to outlaw slavery! The Yankee States also Industrialized as did France, especially after Napoleon’s defeat at the battle of Waterloo in 1815. Both the Southern Confederacy and Russia maintained a feudal agricultural based slavery/serf economy. In 1864 both Lincoln and the Czar of Russia outlawed slavery. Both the consequences of military victory/defeats. Lincoln following the battle of Gettsburg & Russia after the 1856 Crimean War. Where Russia faced off against industrialized England and France, and lost that war just as the Confederate South lost the Civil War to those Damned Yankees!!!!!

Southern bitterness has not diminished to this day. Jewish bitterness because lions, tigers, bears and wolves have mauled our trief bodies over and again since the Rambam Civil War have caused the Jewish people to forget the extreme bitterness of that specific horrible Jewish Civil War which plunged Jews into chaos and anarchy following publication of the Rambam’s Yad Chazakah halachic code of “Statute Law”.

Secretary of State Seward sent a diplomatic note to PM Gladstone saying America would tolerate, if England traded Confederate long strand cotton (Only in 1864 did a similar long strand cotton start growing in Egypt. British mills required long strand cotton.), by acquiring it through the Mexico-Texas border; to prevent the British navy from breaking the Union blockade of Southern ports! Secretary of State Seward sent a different diplomatic note to Foreign Minister Lord Russell. In that note Seward bluntly stated that if England attempted to bi-pass the Union blockade of Confederate ports, by trading through Mexico, that such a hostile act – Washington would consider as a pre-text for War between England & the United States.

Secretary of State Seward gambled that the two men, Gladstone & Russell, would not communicate and share their received diplomatic Notes from Seward. Gladstone, deceived by Seward’s diplomatic note, immediately dispatched British troops to acquire Southern Cotton in Mexico. Secretary of State Seward issued an Ultimatum of War, and Foreign Secretary Russell waved his diplomatic note in front of the whole of Parliament, and called the PM a warmonger! This diplomatic crisis almost brought down the Gladstone majority in Parliament! British politics entered into a state of chaos and anarchy!

In this near collapse of the British government, during the ensuing chaos and anarchy – of the fox in the hen house – Bismarck of Prussia initiated his 3 little wars which turned Prussia (dismembered Poland) into the 2nd Germanic empire. That damned Yankee Seward set up a domino effect ירידות הדורות, which triggered the 1st & 2nd World Wars and the Shoah! The resurrection from the dead of the Jewish state, 2000+ years after Rome expelled almost all Jews living in Judea and renamed the land “Palestine”, also a direct result of Secretary of State Seward stratagem to prevent PM Gladstone recognizing the Confederate right to self-determination.

The Rambam, in his work Yad Ha’Zakah (Mishneh Torah), sought to create a comprehensive, systematic codification of Jewish law. His intention was to clarify and simplify the application of halacha by organizing it into 14 books, which cover everything from foundational beliefs to laws of ritual observance. His approach was deeply logical, structured, and aimed at providing a clear, static/rigid “statute law”- halachic code for everyday Jewish life, making it accessible to all, including those who might not have access to deep talmudic study.

While the Rambam’s goal was to create a unified, easy-to-follow codex, this was controversial. Because it did not include sources or direct references to the Talmud, and it seemed to close off the possibility of evolving halachic discourse. Some critics, most notably RambaN, felt that the Rambam’s approach was overly rigid and reduced the dynamic, interpretive nature of Jewish law.

In stark contrast the B’hag and Rabbeinu Tam, who lived before the Rambam, in effect they still condemn the statute law perversion committed by the Rambam’s static codification which abandoned פרדס kabbalah which defines Talmudic, and T’NaCH common law.

The RambaN agreed with the Rambam goal to create a unified, easy-to-follow codex. The chief superficial controversy, the Yad did not include sources or direct references to the Talmud; it seemed to close off the possibility of evolving halachic interpretative discourse. However the substance of the Jewish Civil War more compares to the Confederate argument with Washington DC/Lincoln over States rights to bureaucratically regulate trade and commerce independent of Big Brother; the Rambam code negated T”NaCH and Talmudic common law.

Critics, such as the B’HaG and Rabbeinu Tam would have utterly rejected the Rambam static code. Rabbeinu Yonah’s court placed the Rambam into נידוי. They felt that the Rambam’s assimilation of Greek philosophy & logic, endemic of assimilated ‘golden age’ Spanish Jewry, negated the kabbalah taught by rabbi Akiva’s פרדס logic system. Furthermore, his overly rigid code of law reduced the Talmudic dynamic equilibrium factor. Absolutely required for a living interpretive body of Jewish law. For example: the Rambam’s Sefer Ha’Mitzvot failed all together to address Av Torah commandments: time oriented mitzvot! He clearly misunderstood the opening Av Mishna of Chullen. He failed to address the critical requirement of “fear of heaven” in the kosher slaughter of animals. The apikoros might possess the knowledge how to slaughter correctly but lacks the essential fear of heaven, just as do likewise Goyim.

The B’HaG (Baal HaMaor) and Rabbeinu Tam represent a different approach to dynamic halachic interpretation, one closely aligned with common law fundamentals, the use of precedents and comparative analysis of primary sources.

The B’HaG, a key figure in early halachic history, focused on halachic analysis through a common law פרדס logic approach. Rather than simply codifying laws into rigid egg crate categories which define Greek & Roman law. The B’HaG emphasized, halacha must evolve from an analysis of historical precedents and the comparison of similar Case/Din legal judicial rulings learned from sealed Primary sources. This sh’itta involves understanding halacha not as a static set of rules, but as a dynamic, case-based system flexible & adaptive, to changing dynamic circumstances required for thoughtful legal interpretive reasoning.

The B’HaG’s sh’itta shares many characteristics with the English common law system, where laws developed through judicial decisions based upon prior judicial rulings. Rather than based only upon rigid written codes of static halachic rulings. He focused on evaluating specific legal situations and their outcomes, which could then be applied to new cases.

Rabbeinu Tam, an influential Tosafist and a key figure of French Rishonim common law. He likewise focused on analyzing Jewish law through the lens of case law and precedent. And emphasized the interpretation of Talmudic texts and often used comparative analysis of multiple Talmudic sources to derive halachic rulings. This approach very much reflects the common law T’NaCH/Talmud\Midrashim tradition, which values the analysis of specific legal precedents (and to a far less prioritized aggadic prophetic mussar) to establish a flexible, evolving legal system.

Rabbeinu Tam’s methods, deeply rooted in Talmudic discourse and encouraged a dialogue between past legal rulings and contemporary situations. His sh’itta sought to balance theoretical knowledge with practical application, and his halachic decisions, grounded in precedents, making them deeply relevant to everyday Jewish life.

Both these great common law scholars failed to delve into Midrashic scholarship of Aggadic prophetic mussar common law. Perhaps had Reshonim scholarship done more than give lip service and superficially comment upon Midrashic Gaonim scholarship’s Midrashim, a powerful tool to learn the Aggadic mussar of the T’NaCH & Talmud, the Rambam revolution would not have treated the T’NaCH and Talmud common law legal system, much like as did the Gang of Four during the Cultural Revolution despised classic Confucianism.

Furthermore, Rabbeinu Tam’s approach frequently involved resolving apparent contradictions in the Talmud by using comparative analysis. This allowed for much more of a dynamic halachic system. Law could more easily apply a depth analysis, based on a פרדס logic of previous similar בנין אב cases. However, the chief flaw of the Rabbeinu Tam’s Talmudic scholarship, it seems to me, while he delved into the specifics of a Gemara sugya through comparative precedents. Alas afterwards he failed to re-interpret the language of the Home Mishna using the precedents employed to interpret a Gemara sugya on that home Mishna! Something like a blue-print front, top, and side views permits a man to see a 3-D idea from a 2-D blueprint.

The Rambam sought clarity and uniformity by codifying Jewish law. The RambaN, while impressed by both the B’hag and Rabbeinu Tam, inclined toward the Rambam rigid legal system. The B’HaG and Rabbeinu Tam, emphasize a case-law approach based on precedents and comparative analysis, making halacha more flexible, dynamic, and context-driven.

The debate between codification and common law – not merely an academic criticism which rebuked the Rambam’s failure to bring sources for his halachic posok. Based upon the Tur and Shulkan Aruch, this criticism—merely superficial. The Rambam’s statute law rigic codification of halacha, established a uniform structured Jewish law. It represents a significant shift in Jewish religious authority—one that centralized authority in the hands of the codifier and placed greater emphasis on a universally applicable system of halacha.

This tremendous error in judgment matched the Rambam’s assimilation to Xtian and Muslim theology and Creeds which demanded from their believers to believe in a Universal Monotheistic God. Mesechta Avoda Zarah teaches that the earliest generations, prior to Noach, rejected the Torah oath brit faith. Hence Goyim by definition worship other Gods. Monotheism a creed of avoda zarah.

The B’HaG, Rabbeinu Tam, and others emphasized the importance of Talmudic study and personal interpretation. Their approach consequently led to a more decentralized form of Jewish legal authority and a living tradition that could respond flexibly to the diverse needs of Jewish communities. Alas Feudal Europe required a fixed rigid law at that time.

The assimilated halachic codifiers decreed, which Talmudic authorities the halacha must always followed. There aim, a very valid argument, faced with the feudal constraints which prevented travel, they argued that establishment of rigid static halachic codifications would prevent Jewish communities from scattering into diverse religious Orders. Something that defines Orthodox from secular, from Historical to Liberal Reform Jews today.

After Napoleon freed Jews from the Catholic ghetto war-crimes, Reform Jewish leadership, seeing the huge gap in education following three Centuries of ghetto imprisonment & destitute Jewish poverty, declared the “classic” halachic statute codifications – as archaic and not relevant to the modern world!

This tension between centralized rigid codifications and decentralized dynamic interpretive analysis led to significant divisions within the Jewish communities across Western Europe, contributing to the “Jewish Civil War”.

Following the Pope’s decree condemning Western European Jewry to ghetto imprisonment, a mass population transfer ensued. Jews fled to Poland and the Ukraine. Alas Jewish anarchy and internal chaos left our people no place to hide. At the conclusion of the 30 year War, in 1648 the Cossacks slaughtered up to 1.5 million Jews in a 12 year period.

The debate between static codification (as represented by the Rambam) and a more dynamic, common law sh’itta (as represented by the B’HaG and Rabbeinu Tam commentaries to the Talmud) reflects a fundamental tension in Jewish legal philosophy.

The Rambam’s static codification aimed to establish a unified and systematic religious structure, Jews he viewed as something like a bridge. While the B’HaG and Rabbeinu Tam preferred a more dynamic, interpretive approach. Their sh’itta views the Jews as the waters flowing underneath the bridge. This ongoing debate influences how Jewish law studied and applied across the Yeshiva world. The g’lut victory of the Rambam Civil War, set off a chain reaction, a ירידות הדורות which plagues the Jewish people to this very day. This conflict between static vs. dynamic legalism, it highlights conflicts which separate and divides Jews till now.

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