From: dzk@cs.brown.edu (Danny Keren)
Subject: Prof. Leibowitz Answers "Good Rabbi McGuire" Re Maimonides
Organization: Brown University Department of Computer Science
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 14:29:15 GMT


In an attempt to find an answer that will fulfill the standards of our
self-proclaimed "intelligent and rational" (not to mention an expert 
on Judaism) Wayne McGuire, I have phoned Prof. Leibowitz at Jerusalem
to find his opinion about the controversial paragraph in Maimonides'
"Epistle to Yemen", which, according to our great learned Rabbi, proves
that Maimonides advocated some kind of a "biological and genetic purity"
of the Jews.

It seems that Prof. Leibowitz does not share the interpretation our
most respected "scholar of Judaism" has suggested. I am typing below
the transcript of the call; as some of it is quoted from a book and I
did not have time to write it all down, I will add it later. So as
not to be accused of presenting only a part of the conversation, I am
including all of it below (again, except for the part to be added later).

Me: Hello, is this Prof. Leibowitz?

Prof. Leibowitz: Yes.

Me: I am sorry to bother you. My name is Danny Keren, I am formerly
from the Hebrew University, currently at the US. I was wondering
if I could bother you with a question regarding Maimonides.

Prof. Leibowitz: Sure. What is your field of research?

Me: Mathematics and computer science.

Prof. Leibowitz: That is nice. Now, what is your question?

Me: I was wondering about the following paragraphs from Maimonides, which
I will read now....

Prof. Leibowitz: Did you read my book on Maimonides?

Me: Unfortunately, I could not find it in the library here at
Brown University.

Prof. Leibowitz: Well, it was printed in English a year ago, maybe you
will get it sometime. Now which paragraphs do you mean?

Me: Ok, I will read them now...

Prof. Leibowitz: Where are they from?

Me: Sorry, I forgot to mention that. They are from "Epistle to Yemem".

Prof. Leibowitz: Ok, go ahead, read them.

Me: Ok, the first one is "Till only the righteous from the seed of Jacob
will keep to the faith, those of whom it was said 'and God calls to
the remains'. And understand that those are the ones that their fathers
stood at Mount Sinai and heard the message from God", and the second
is "And this is, my brothers, a great truth of our faith that nobody
but one from the seed of Solomon shall be the one to collect our nation
and erase our humiliation and make the true faith known".

Now, my question is: do the terms "seed" and "father" in these 
paragraphs mean "seed" and "father" in the biological, genetic sense?

Prof. Leibowitz: No, no. Not at all. Wait, I will get you the exact source
in which Maimonides speaks of this issue...

Ok, here it is: this is from the book "Answers of Maimonides", where he
answers the convert Ovadia. Ovadia has asked Maimonides if he should
pray "Thank you God, for the miracles you have performed for us and
for our fathers", and, being a convert, asked Maimonides if he should
include the phrase "our fathers", since Abraham was not his father in
the genetic sense. Here is what Maimonides answered him:

[At this point Prof. Leibowitz read to me a long paragraph, which I
shall later translate from Hebrew and post here. In essence, what
Maimonides answered the convert Ovadia is that Abraham *is* his father,
since he converted, and he is the father to everyone who listens to
his word. He goes on to tell Ovadia the convert "there is no difference
whatsoever between you and us; don't change anything in the prayers,
as Abraham is your father and the father of your household"].

There was much more in Maimonides' answer - for instance, he tells
the convert Ovadia that he should also be proud of his relationship
and connection to the nations of the world. I hope to post the whole
answer early this week, assuming I can find the book at the local Hillel.


-Danny Keren.

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