Siman 407

(1.) About books of philosophical inquiry <span style="color:#b8a060; font-style:italic;" title="הַשְׁמָטָה — מוֹרֶה נְבוּכִים א (תז)"><such as the book Moreh Nevuchim></span> etc. — he told much about this many times and forbade us very, very strictly from looking into them and paying attention to them at all, G-d forbid. And he greatly exaggerated the severity of the prohibition — for they confuse a person's mind greatly with alien ideas that do not agree at all with the view of our holy Torah. They also do not believe in demons — whereas in all the words of our Rabbis of blessed memory the opposite is clearly stated. Particularly given what we have merited — the books of the holy Zohar... and the books of the Ariza.l o.b.m. and the Baal Shem Tov o.b.m., and the like — for they are all founded upon the holy spirit, and they awaken a person very greatly to the service of Hashem Yisburach in truth. Therefore, whoever wants to preserve himself must keep very far — in the uttermost distance — from the books of the investigations that some of the ancients composed, such as the books of the commentators on Scripture printed in the Rabbinic Bibles, which follow the ways of the investigations, and the like — there is no need to enumerate them. And about the Sefer HaAkedah he also said not to study it. And he said that the Sefer HaAkedah is a kosher book — only because it brings the words of the investigations and their difficulties. Likewise the Shaar HaYichud in Chovos HaLevavos, and Sefer HaIkkarim, and Milos HaHigayon of the Rambam, and Moreh Nevuchim, and the rest of the books of the authors — all of them, it is a very, very great prohibition to study them, for they blemish and greatly confuse the holy faith. Fortunate is he who knows nothing of them at all and walks in wholeheartedness, "for not these did Yaakov portion," etc. And he said that according to their scant words, the Holy One Blessed be He cannot change even a single minor creature — even a fly, etc. — so perplexed and entangled were they in the methods of their wisdom. And regarding what is written there in their books — "and is it possible that what is three should be made four?" — Rabbainu o.b.m. said: "I believe that Hashem Yisburach can make four from three, for the ways of Hashem are concealed." And this has already been explained several times, but this warning must be doubled and repeated several times — for the greatness of the very prohibition of this stumbling block, which touches our holy faith. And Rabbainu o.b.m. would repeat this warning many, many times without measure. And every time he spoke of these books he greatly elaborated on the greatness of the prohibition to study these books of investigations. And he warned very much to keep far from them in the uttermost distance, never to look at them at all. Especially these compositions that the investigators of our times composed — needless to say, one must flee from them to save one's soul from the pit, lest he lose his World to Come entirely, G-d forbid. And it was customary in the mouth of Rabbainu o.b.m. to say: it is good to thank Hashem for having sent us the faithful one of His house — Moshe Rabbainu, upon him be peace — who took us out of all the confusions, and gave us the Torah and commanded us to believe in Hashem without any investigations at all, and to fulfill all the words of the Torah and the commandments according to their plain sense. Fortunate is he who merits to walk in wholeheartedness, etc. (Also what is brought in the Rambam's Yad — some investigations, such as in the laws of the Foundations of the Torah and in the laws of Deos, and at the beginning of the laws of Avodah Zarah — one must also flee from them and not look there at all. And wherever he speaks of investigations, one must flee from there very much):