A Person Needs to Do Hitbodedut Every Day for an Hour

THE STORY OF THE RAMBAM’S JOURNEYS AND THE COMPOSITION OF HIS WRITINGS ALONG THE WAY – “EVERYONE WHO CAME WITH US ON THE JOURNEY MUST FAST ON THESE TWO DAYS IN WHICH WE EMERGED IN PEACE FROM THE STORM, AND TO GIVE TZEDAKA”

DAILY CHIZZUK WITH MOREINU HARAV ELIEZER BERLAND SHLIT”A -- THURSDAY, 2 ELUL 5784

IN TIVERIA (TIBERIAS) ARE FOUND THE RAMBAM AND RABBI MAIMON.

The camel which carried the Rambam to burial went by itself to bring him to burial.  They didn’t know where to bury the Rambam.  They said, “We will put him on the camel.”  Then, there were camels, not horses.  The camel went by itself until Tiveria, from Egypt, from Cairo, from Alexandria.  The Rambam lived in Fostat [today part of Cairo).  Today, they call the Old City of Cairo “Fostat.”

THE RAMBAM SAID THAT HE WROTE THE COMMENTARY ON THE MISHNAH [WHILE TRAVELLING] FROM SEA TO SEA.  HE SAID, “I WRITE THIS FROM MEMORY.  I DID NOT HAVE GEMAROT.  I WAS ON SHIPS, [TRAVELLING] FROM SEA TO SEA.  WHILE PASSING FROM SHIP TO SHIP, I WROTE THE COMMENTARY.  I ARRIVED IN EGYPT AT THE AGE OF THIRTY AND FINISHED MY COMMENTARY ON THE MISHNAH.”

After this, the Rambam wrote the Yad Hazaka.  Here [the Rav shows the book during the shiur].  It is written how the Rambam wrote the commentary.  It is written, “We returned from the sea in peace.”  Then he made a feast of gratitude.  This was in the month of Cheshvan.  The Rambam reached the Land [of Israel].

He had to travel from Morocco, from Fez.  He was in Fez for seven years.  At the age of twelve, he left Spain, because the Almohad pogroms against the Jews began.  Then the Rambam, together with everyone, fled Spain to Morocco.  The Rambam lived in Fez for seven years, from the age of twelve until twenty.

The Rambam explains, “For four days, from the beginning of Iyar, I entered the sea.  On the tenth of Iyar, I left the sea.  This was in the year 4925 of creation (1165).  There was a terrible storm, a giant wave in the sea, a wave that grew with great fury.  We wandered for two days at sea, the wind tossed the ship in all directions.  This was a sailing ship, a wooden ship, an old ship.

“The wind tossed the ship like a nutshell, and for two days at sea we were tossed in all directions.  I took onto myself to fast, and I told my sons to also fast, and I fasted during those days at the time of the storm.  There was a terrible storm, and my family and I were there.”  He travelled with his wife and children – Rabbi Avraham [ben HaRambam], who wrote the Sefer HaPerishut, and the book on Hitbodedut (isolated meditation), HaMaspik L’Ovdei Hashem.

A PERSON NEEDS TO DO HITBODEDUT EVERY DAY FOR AN HOUR.

THE RAMBAM WRITES: “MY HOUSEHOLD AND ALL THOSE WHO ACCOMPANY ME, EVERYONE, OBSERVE A PUBLIC FAST UNTIL THE END OF ALL GENERATIONS.”  THE RAMBAM SAYS THAT EVERYONE WHO CAME WITH US ON THE JOURNEY MUST FAST DURING THESE TWO DAYS IN WHICH THEY EMERGED IN PEACE FROM THE STORM, AND TO GIVE TZEDAKA.

The Rambam adds: “I will sit in solitude on the tenth of Iyar.  I will be in total Hitbodedut and will not see a person.”  This was exactly on the tenth of Iyar, because on the fourth of Iyar he entered the ship.  For a period of six days, there was such a storm that the ship was tossed from side to side like a nutshell, blown in all directions, and everyone there was thrown against the walls under the circumstances.  All of this was on the tenth of Iyar.

https://vimeo.com/1006379598