Rabbi Eytan Hampton

B"H There is a great deal of misinformation on the Maimonidean shita and its current status.  For this reason some clarifications are in order.  IYH this will help readers have a clear understanding of the direction Maimonidean Judaism has taken to the modern day and to have appropriate discernment in assessing Maimonidean spaces in the sphere of Jewish thought.  To be sure there is a constant Maimonidean mesora, and it does actually exist in the real world and not only online or in WhatsApp.  However, to get a better understanding of this we must first clarify what continuity is for the sake of understanding a mesora. Masekhet Avot describes the basic premise of mesora.  Moshe Rabbenu received the Torah at Har Sinai.  He taught Torah to Yehoshua bin Nun among others.  Yehoshua bin Nun taught the Shofetim who taught the Prophets who taught Anshe Keneset haGedola who taught the Tannaim who taught the Amoraim who taught the Savoraim who taught the Geonim...

 B"H Shavua Tov. IYH I am going to try to cover a bit of the liturgy as we know it.  This will follow the Nosah we use in Kehillat Yaakov which is specifically the Maimonidean Nosah.  At times when we deviate from the published form of Mishneh Torah as is available to us BEH we will discuss that as well.  Let us begin with birkot hashahar. The body of birkot hashahar can be seen in Hilkhot Tefilla perek 7.  It is worth mentioning the obvious; at times our current text of the Gemara will differ from the texts available to Rambam, but we generally agree with Rambam as presented in authoritative Oxford texts of Mishneh Torah. Birkot hashahar logically follows the arrangement of waking and getting dressed.  As mentioned by some of the Geonim there is a problem whereby some people cannot memorize these berakhot, and some people are in a state of impurity upon waking; it is acceptable to recite all of birkot hashahar at once (apart from al netilat yadayim, which ...

 B"H For the eighth day of Pesah, Rambam writes in Hilkhot Tefilla 13:8 that the tsibbur reads Parashat Kal haBekhor.  This sidra deals with the firstborn of animals.  These animals have kedusha attached to them, and they must be taken to Yerushalayim to be slaughtered and eaten by the Kohanim.  However, an animal which has a blemish whereby it cannot be sacrificed is instead slaughtered locally and eaten by a Kohen.  The animal cannot be used to work or sheared; it is set apart by being the firstborn. The eighth day of Pesah also occurs during the time of Sefirat haOmer.  Interestingly Parashat Kal haBekhor discusses Sefirat haOmer as well following a discussion on Pesah.  There is something in common with the omer and the bekhor; for both the first carries a weight of kedusha.  Rambam brings in Hilkhot Temidim uMusafim 7:13 that it is assur to harvest any of the five species of grain before the omer is harvested unless it is something which woul...