Avos 4:5 - Sforno and Rashbatz on the Permissibility of Taking Money for Torah (Part 3)

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!Length: 1 hour 39 minutesSynopsis: Tonight (6/6/24), in our Thursday night Pirkei Avos shiur for women, we continued our analysis of the mishnah about deriving worldly benefit from words of Torah. After a VERY brief review of the Rambam, to which Parts 1 and 2 were devoted, we examined the opposition as formulated by two Rishonim. Sforno provided a clean, straightforward argument which demonstrated a completely different framework from the Rambam's. Rashbatz, in a lengthy commentary on or mishnah and an equally lengthy responsum (neither of which we read in its entirety), seemed to address the Rambam head-on. Not only did he provide a counterargument, but he explained the sources cited by the Rambam to support his view and marshaled dozens if statements from Chazal to support his position. We ended by attempting to define this three-way machlokess, and while we didn't succeed in arriving at a clear answer, we definitely felt like we had a nice first step.-----מקורות:אבות ד:הרמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר המדע, הלכות תלמוד תורה ג:יLenn E. Goodman, "A Guide to the Guide for the Perplexed," pp.58-62ספורנו - אבות ד:הרשב"ץ - אבות ד:התשובות הרשב"ץ א:קמב----- -----The Torah content for this week has been sponsored by Judah and Naomi Dardik in honor of Rabbi Moskowitz's second yahrzeit and in appreciation for all those whose love of Torah and excitement for ideas shines in their teaching.-----If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.If you would like to sponsor a day's or a week's worth of content, or if you are interested in enlisting my services as a teacher or tutor, you can reach me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. Thank you to my listeners for listening, thank you to my readers for reading, and thank you to my supporters for supporting my efforts to make Torah ideas available and accessible to everyone.-----Substack: rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/Patreon: patreon.com/rabbischneeweissYouTube: youtube.com/rabbischneeweissInstagram: instagram.com/rabbischneeweiss/"The Stoic Jew" Podcast: thestoicjew.buzzsprout.com"Machshavah Lab" Podcast: machshavahlab.buzzsprout.com"The Mishlei Podcast": mishlei.buzzsprout.com"Rambam Bekius" Podcast: rambambekius.buzzsprout.com"The Tefilah Podcast": tefilah.buzzsprout.comOld Blog: kolhaseridim.blogspot.com/WhatsApp Content Hub (where I post all my content and announce my public classes): https://chat.whatsapp.com/GEB1EPIAarsELfHWuI2k0HAmazon Wishlist: amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/Y72CSP86S24W?ref_