Joodse traditie als permanent leren

193.

selves reviled and made no reply. Yet more, they forgave the reviler and pardoned him. Great sages, glorying in their commendable practices, said that they never, for the sake of personal honour, imposed on any one the lighter or severer ban. This is the way of scholars, which it is right to follow. It however only applies to cases where one has been reviled in private. But a scholar, who has been treated with contumely or been reviled in public, may not forgive the wrong done to his honour. If he does so, he is punished, for this is contempt of the Torah. We should relentlessly pursue the matter, till the offender begs his pardon, after which he should be forgiven'.

In the second book of the Mishnah Torah, which Maimonides titled Sefer Ahavah. "Book of Love", we find the Hilkhot Tefillah, the group of laws concerning prayer. In these, the great medieval codifier lays down several principles concerning the relative sanctity of the house of worship and the house of study.

((The Supremacy of the Beth Hamidrash (The House of Study) )) 'The House of Study is greater than the House of Worship. Many great scholars, even though they lived in communities which had many Houses of Worship, would nevertheless hold services of public worship in the places where they studied the Torah. ((8. 3)) It is permitted to convert a House of Worship into a House of Study, but it is forbidden to turn a House of Study into a House of Worship for the sanctity of the former is greater than that of the latter, for the rule is to ascend in the scale of holiness and not to descend. Thus, if the people of a community sell their House of Worship, they must purchase for that money a Holy Ark; if they sold a Holy Ark, they must purchase for that money mantles or a container for a Torah Scroll; if they sold mantles or a container for the Torah Scroll, they must purchase for that money a set of the Chumash; if they sold a set of the Chumash they must acquire for that money a Torah Scroll. If, however, they sold a Torah Scroll they cannot acquire for that money anything else but another Torah Scroll since there is nothing more sacred than a Sefer Torah. ((11. 14))'