“In Judaism, Abraham, Moses, and David are prime GOAT [Greatest of All Time] contenders. The MVP [Most Valuable Player] of the past 2,000 years is probably Maimonides.”

“In Judaism, Abraham, Moses, and David are prime GOAT [Greatest of All Time] contenders. The MVP [Most Valuable Player] of the past 2,000 years is probably Maimonides.”

This may be the strangest source I have ever used to begin a Dvar Torah. Writing in Christianity Today, Marvin Olasky offered an intriguing outsider’s perspective on Jewish history.

It is an extraordinary description, and some may find it crude, but I think there is something very important in it.

The Rambam, Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, profoundly influenced the Jewish world. Through the Mishneh Torah, he attempted to make the enormous world of Halacha understandable and accessible. Particularly relevant to both this time of year and this week’s Parshah, through Hilchot Teshuvah he articulated repentance with extraordinary clarity. He was simultaneously a rabbi, philosopher, physician, communal leader and one of history’s great synthesising minds.

And somehow, while remaining unmistakably Jewish, his influence travelled far beyond Judaism.

There is perhaps no greater tribute than the famous saying:

“From Moshe to Moshe, there arose no one like Moshe.”

“From Moshe to Moshe, there arose no one like Moshe.”

But for me, the Rambam is more than one of the greatest figures in Jewish history.

Chapter 30 of Devarim contains one of the Torah’s great passages about teshuvah, an obvious theme for Elul and the approaching Yamim Noraim.

After a remarkable passage about return to G-d come some striking verses:

“Surely, this Instruction that I enjoin upon you this day is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach. It is not in the heavens, that you should say, ‘Who among us can go up to the heavens and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who among us can cross to the other side of the sea and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?’ No, the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to observe it.”

“Surely, this Instruction that I enjoin upon you this day is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach. It is not in the heavens, that you should say, ‘Who among us can go up to the heavens and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who among us can cross to the other side of the sea and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?’ No, the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to observe it.”

The Torah systematically removes our excuses.

It is not too difficult. It is not beyond our reach. It is not hidden in Heaven or on the far side of the sea.

It is, remarkably, very close to us.

The Ramban famously understands “this commandment” as referring........

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