Must email DovBear to say thanks for the new sidebar. It enabled me to find this post from last year about the eighth principle of faith. Here's the bit I like:
... let's recall that we're dealing here with a two-tiered verity, ie: the truth of fact, or reality, and the truth of law.
Often reality is set aside in favor of law. If a piece of pork, for example, were to fall into a very large vat of kosher meat, it becomes kosher according to the laws of bitul. The law says that under these conditions, the pork is kosher; though the facts haven't changed: it's still pig meat.
There was an intense tussle in the comments about his philosophy. Personally I'm not sure if I agree 100% but I like it anyway. It's an interesting way of looking at things and it does fit with the Talmudic examples he gives.
I also think it answers Simon's question about the multiple scrolls.
Definitely some food for thought. I was intending to give Rambam a bit of a break and start dissing some other Rabbi I like (makes lots of sense, I know) but maybe I'll have to stick with him for a while. I can always tackle Rav JB Soloveitchik's views on women's tefilla groups later...
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