S7, E4, The Guide of the Perplexed, Creation, 04: Creation ex Nihilo as the Essence of the Torah's Teaching

This shiur was generously sponsored by Mr. Ari Schwartz. This series is a project of the Jacob Lights Foundation.

Highlights:

0:00 Abraham's project to strip away divinity from the universe and its association with Creation ex Nihilo

7:00 Divine bodies

11:00 Overview of the Guide 2:25

17:00 Maimonides' seven questions on the Torah

23:30 The middle question suggests that mitzvahs have no reason, contrary to Maimonides' opinion

29:00 That God has an unfathomable intent is the foundation of the Torah; Torah is irreducible to reason

34:00 If Aristotle's model of reality were to be proven, the Torah would be eventually abandoned, because if Torah is reducible to reason, it would be dispensable

45:30 The reasonableness of idolatry

49:15 Why is idolatry reasonable if it's based on the eternity of the universe?

51:00 The project of the Torah to uproot idolatry is the project of promoting the doctrine of Creation ex Nihilo and God's unfathomable intent in general

55:00 Abraham and Moses brought back God's intent into history