11:14 AM
Gil Student
Received via e-mail:
From the new volume of Meged Givos Olam by R. Mikhel Shurkin (pp. 24-25):
On the day R. Laibele Kovner was appointed as rabbi of Kovno, a maskil approached him and said, "Rebbe, do you have any proof that there is a God?" R. Laibele answered him, "Definitely. Bring me a Yad Ha-Hazakah of the Rambam." The maskil went and got him a Yad Ha-Hazakah and R. Laibele opened it to the first halakhah in the first chapter of Hilkhos Yesodei Ha-Torah: "The foundation of foundations and the pillar of all wisdom is to know that there is a First Being who brought everything into existence..." When he finished reading the halakhah, R. Laibele turned to the maskil and said, "Here for you is a clear response and an irrefutable proof for your question. The Rambam says that it is the foundation of foundations and the pillar of all wisdom that there is God, and the Ra'avad agrees with him and makes no critical comment here as he does in many other places. And the Maggid Mishneh, Kesef Mishneh, Mishneh La-Melekh and the Lehem Mishneh pose no difficulties on the Rambam -- behold clear proof that there is a God."
