shavuos - shittas harambam ligabai zechiras maamad har sinai

what im about to say now is not my chiddush- its stuff i've heard/read.  still, i thought it was worthwhile  to write it out.

the ramban, in his hasagos on the sefer hamitzvos of the rambam, says the rambam forgot a pretty important mitzvas lo taaseh - namely, to not forget maamad har sinai. this prohibition is based on the pasuk in parshas vaeschanan: השמר לך ושמור נפשך מאד פן תשכח את הדברים אשר ראו עיניך ופן יסורו מלבבך כל ימי חייך והודעתם לבניך ולבני בניך יום אשר עמדת לפני י"י אלהיך בחורב. - as chazal say, hishamer in the torah always means a lav - hence this is a prohibition against forgetting the day we stood at har sinai.  whats pshat in the rambam?

the megillas esther suggests that the rambam holds like rashi's pshat in the pasuk.  rashi there writes, אז כשלא תשכחו אותם ותעשום על אמתתם תחשבו חכמים ונבונים ואם תעוותו אותם מתוך שכחה תחשבו שוטים - the prohibition isnt to forget the specific maamad har sinai, but rather, to forget and fail to practice the torah given over at har sinai.  as such, this commandment is not counted as per shoresh daled of the rambam.  (a mitzvah which doesnt command a new action, but rather, commands us to keep that which we already were commanded, is called a mitzvah klalis.  thus, the mitzvah to not forget the torah and to keep the torah is a mitzvah klalis and not counted.)

the problem is, the rambam does seem to think that the pasuk specifically exhorts us to remember har sinai.  the rambam writes in iggeres teiman:מעמד הר סיני שצונו הקדוש ברוך הוא לזכרו תמיד, וגם הזהירנו מלשכחו אותו, וצונו ללמד אותו לבנינו כדי שיגדלו על תלמודו, הוא מה שנאמר (דברים ד' ט' - י'): "רק השמר לך ושמר נפשך מאד פן תשכח את הדברים אשר ראו עיניך ופן יסורו מלבבך כל ימי חייך והודעתם לבניך ולבני בניך יום אשר עמדת לפני ה' אלהיך בחרב" 

the real answer, i think, lies in the mishna in avos.  the mishna says: רבי דוסתאי ברבי ינאי משום רבי מאיר אומר כל השוכח דבר אחד ממשנתו מעלה עליו הכתוב כאילו מתחייב בנפשו שנאמר (דברים ד') רק השמר לך ושמור נפשך מאד פן תשכח את הדברים אשר ראו עיניך

how did chazal extend the pasuk, which we saw is talking about maamad har sinai, and make it into an issur to forget any part of torah?

this goes back to the piece i wrote about the rambam's shittah in talmud torah. when we learn torah, we have to learn the same way it was given over at har sinai.  but even more - we have to learn as if we right now are at har sinai.

if someone learns and really feels that he is right now at har sinai, and hashem himself is giving him the torah, he wont forget.  the mitzvah to remember har sinai is not counted as its own mitzvah because really, it is part of and defines the mitzvah of talmud torah.  we have to learn torah not just for the content, but for the experience of connecting to har sinai.  a person who learns haphazardly and forgets demonstrates his lack of connection to har sinai, and is thus in violation of the pasuk of hishamer.

the more i think about it, the more this directly connects to my previous piece.  i asked, according to the rambam, there doesnt seem to be an issur to teach torah for schar.  the drasha of mah ani bichinam af atah doesnt connote an issur, all it tells us is that klal yisrael learned for free at har sinai.  but the answer is, the torah commands us in our pasuk to learn as if we were at har sinai - we are the bnei yisrael standing underneath the mountain.  if you take money for teaching, that is a violation of remembering maamad har sinai - you are learning in a way that is incompatible with that of har sinai.  (i need to update that article)