THE PROFESSIONALIZATION OF THE RABBINATE
Yet, there was one great halakhic authority who was opposed to the professionalization of the rabbinate: Rabbi Moses Maimonides , the Rambam .
We divided rabbinic remuneration and benefits into three categories: a) compensation for“time and trouble;” b) taxexemptions and business advantages; and c) salaries from communal funds. While Moses Maimonides (1135-1204) protested vigorously against the practice of rabbinic salaries, he approved the other forms of compensation and benefits. He wrote passionately against rabbinic salaries in both his commentary to the Mishnah (specifically, Mishnah Avot IV.5) and in his halakhic masterpiece, the Mishneh Torah . Let us begin by focusing on a few key passages in his lengthy commentary.
"After I had decided not to discuss this commandment, for it is quite clear, and since I also know that what I have to say on it does not please the majority of the great Torah scholars, or possibly all of them, I subsequently changed my mind concerning this decision, and I shall discuss it without considering earlier or contemporary works. Know that the meaning of the saying that “one should not make the Torah a spade with which to dig” is that one should not consider it a means for making a living. He[Hillel ] explains and says that whoever benefits in this world from the honor of the Torah removes his life from the world(this is interpreted as“the World to Come”). People have misunderstood this clear expression, and have cast it aside in their mimicry of the nations, and have rather depended on literary meanings which they did not understand, as I shall explain. Thus, they imposed laws on individuals and on communities and caused people to think, in
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