HASHKOFO-----apikores

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Q: Will you explain to me exactly what an Apikores is? What are the different levels of Apikursos?

I was under the impression that it is better for a person to perform the mitzvot for the wrong reason than it is for him to ignore them all together. How then could this place him at the "absolute bottom on the spiritual food chain"?


A: According to the Rambam, “Apikores” comes from the root “hefker” meaning to devalue or unbind. The Apikores devalues the Torah and its scholars. Another interpretation: the apikores acts unbound to the Torah (Bartenura).

The classic Apikores is someone who denies the concept of prophecy in general, or the prophecy of Moshe Rabbeinu specifically, or who claims that Hashem does not know everything that happens on earth (Rambam Teshuva 3:8).

Other various types of heretics are included in Apikores according to other Rishonim.

Examples include someone who denies the coming of Moshiach, someone who purposely twists the meaning of the Torah, someone who interprets the mitzvos figuratively, someone who blatantly violates the Torah, someone who does not respect the Yomim Tovim, and other assorted types of anti-Torah behaviors. See the meforshim on the Mishna Sanhedrim 90a for details.

But there are others who are considered as bad as an Apikores, and we call those Apikorsim too. Those are people who deny the truth of the Torah, including the Oral Torah (i.e. the Mishna, gemora, etc.), people who commit sins not for any worldly gain but rather they don’t care about the fact that it is a sin or don’t consider it a sin. (see Rambam Commentary on Mishna Chulin 1:2 and Avodah Zarah 2:5, Laws of Murderers 4:10, and meforshim ad loc).

Apikorsim are considered worse than idol worshippers, and although they are still obligated in all Mitzvos, they lose all privileges and qualifications that Jews have, and are considered Halachicly like non-Jews regarding all Halachos, such as shchitah, returning lost items, etc. They have no share in Olam Habah (Mishna Sanhedrim 90a) and when they die their relatives do not mourn for them (Rambam Laws of Mourning 1:10). We are actually allowed to indirectly cause their death (Avodah Zarah 26a).

Rav Chaim Soloveichik ZT”L (quoted in Kovetz Maamarim by R. Elchonon Wasserman) said The reason for an Apikores losing his share in the World to Come is not a punishment, but rather it is not possible to be resurrected without the merit of belief (emunah). Therefore, even if someone was never taught Torah (tinok sh’nishbah) he still does not merit the world to come, because although he is not punished for his not being a believer, he also cannot get credit for believing.

According to the Chazon Ish, the level of Apikores in the Gemora, where the Halachah allows us to cause his death, does not apply nowadays, since today we do not see open miracles on the same level that we used to, a denier of the Torah is not guilty to the extent that one may kill him. On the contrary, we should try to be mekarev them and cause them to do teshuva (YD 13).
The Satmar Rav ZT”L writes that an Apikores sins because he does not believe, but if someone convinces himself that he does not believe because he will otherwise feel guilty about sinning, “perhaps” he is not what Chazal meant by Apikores (Divrei Yoel Sukkah).

If a person disagrees with any of the Torah’s opinions at all (Daas Torah) he is guilty of Apikursus (Sefer Hachinuch, lo sasuru acharei levavcham, Mishna Brura Biur Halachah 1), and violates a prohibition of lo sasuru acharei levavchem. Though one would not consider him a full fledged Apikores regarding all of the above, unless he either purposely disagreed with the Torah, meaning he knows the Torah believes one way and disagrees, or denies one of the Fundamentals of Judaism, even unwittingly (see Kovetz Maamarim above).

The Chazon Ish once wrote about a statement in the Sefer Binah L’Itim that he considered Apikursus, “Even though the author was a Yorei Shamayim, he worshipped Apikursus unwittingly (b’shogeg)”.

The Sefer HaIkarrim (I) writes that if a person, through Torah scholarship and honest and objective Torah reasoning, concludes something different than the truth, he would not be considered an Apikores, such as Rabbi Hillel in the Gemora, who holds that Moshiach is not coming (we don’t rule like him, obviously). An honest mistake on the level of honesty and Torah objectivity of Rabbi Hillel would not qualify one as Apikores, even if badly mistaken.

So the status of Apikores depends on: (a) what you deny and (b) why you deny it.

There were rabbis who, because of their Hashkafos, were not accepted in various circles, as their beliefs were considered by others to be full fledged Apikorsus.

Re: Doing a Mitzvah for the wrong reasons:

While it is true that you get credit for a Mitzvah regardless of the motive for performing it, that is only if you believe it is a Mitzvah that you are doing.

So if I, let’s say, send away the mother bird before taking the eggs because I am on a class trip in the park and my Rebbe made me do so, I still get a Mitzvah. In this case, I know it is a Mitzvah of the Torah, I would just not be sufficiently motivated to perform it without my Rebbe bothering me.

But, if I don’t believe in Judaism, but rather the Bird God, and I send away the mother bird not because it is a Mitzvah from Hashem but rather a command of the Bird People from Planet Bird that upon performance will usher in the Second Coming of the Bird God, then I do not get a Mitzvah. This is because I do not even think of the act of sending the bird away as a Mitzvah to begin with.

Same thing if I do a Mitzvah in my sleep. It’s the motions of a Mitzvah, but it’s not a Mitzvah.

Same thing if I am an atheist. If I don’t believe in a Commander then I do not believe that my act is a Mitzvah (commandment).

There are unacceptable deviations from proper Hashkafa, and if the deviation is sufficiently great, the person is no longer practicing Judaism but another religion.

If someone believes that G-d is a pot-bellied gold statue, or He impregnated a married woman and had a child (c”v), then he not only has a Hashkafic error, but he is practicing another religion.

And if he does a Mitzvah, he is not doing a Mitzvah because G-d said so, but rather because of some imaginary being who he thinks is G-d said so. His god is not G-d. And his Mitzvah is not a Mitzvah.


..More sources on "Who Is An Apikores?

1) Responsa Divre Chaim YD 105: The case was, somone denied that the commentary of the Ohr HaCHaim was written with Ruach HaKodesh. The Divrei Chaim rules that such a person is an Apikores because he said something that contradicts Chazal, namely, that the Gedolim of each generation have Ruach HaKodesh.

2) See also Maaseh Ish (biography on the Chazon Ish) vol. I p. 201:
"[The CHazon Ish said] "anybody who says that there is in CHazal even one thing that is "laav davka"("not exactly true") , is "mekatzetz b'netiyos" . . . he would even refrain from eating chicen that was slaughtered by an expert and skilled shochet if he was one of those people ...

The Chazon Ish used to say, that someone who has warped hashkofos, is worse than someone who violates shabbos, regarding making his wine into yayin nesech.

Rav S. Greimenam ZTL testified thusly in the name of the CHazon Ish, and added an incident that happened when the Chazon Ish was in Vilna. There was in those days a young man, an outstanding lamdan, that would stay by the Chazon Ish. Every Firday, he would bring the CHazon Ish a bottle of wine. He used speak a lot with the CHazon Ish in learning. Once, they were discussing a Chazal about Og Melech Habashan who uprooted a mountain to throw it on the Jews, and a miracle happened ... the young man commented: This is probably said as an exaggeration and a figure of speech. The Chazon Ish gave him a look, and said sternly: "Next Shabbos, do not bring with you any wine!" ...

"Casting doubts on the truthfulness of certain words of Chazal is like "giduf" against chazal. Someone who veers from this is, as per out tradition, like a Kofer in the words of Chazal; his shechita is trief, he is disqualified to be a witness etc."