Caught up in the fiery debate on hilchoth Shabbath (קוצר & זורע), I didn't have time to notice the point he mentioned in passing. Rambam doesn't learn anything out solely from the text of the written Torah, because any passuk can always be read another way. That's radical. You know what comes out of that. The only thing we rely on for certain is the mishnah and the gemara.
We don't live by the Written Torah. ONLY the Oral Torah.
From this perspective it seems that the Written Torah's main use is to connect to God through learning and prayer, but as far as connecting to God through mitzwoth, there's only the Oral Torah.
Perhaps I misunderstood his point, I'll have to follow it up. But if I understood correctly, I've never heard something so radical in Torah before, and it makes me understand better why people make such a big deal about the Rambam.
Also makes me wonder if this had anything to do with the Written Torah being misappropriated by the christians.
He definitely wouldn't be down with piskei halachah al pi haKabalah. Heh.
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