The blessing against the Minim before Christian Censorship

[edu]

The Talmud (Brachot 28b, 29a) says that due to problems caused by  the Minim, the sages decided to ask Shmuel Hakatan to compose a special new blessing to be inserted into the Amida (Shmoneh Esrei prayer) against the Minim.
But in the current Ashkenazic version of the prayer, no explicit mention of the Minim is mentioned. Why?
The answer is that we Ashkenazim have a censored version of the prayer.
In Siddur Vilna, the following is claimed to be the pre-censorship version of the prayer.

ולמשמדים אל תהי תקוה, וכל המינים כרגע יאבדו,  וכל איביׁ(אויבי) עמך מהרה יכרתו ומלכות זדון מהרה תעקר ותשבר ותמגר, ותכניע במהרה בימינו. ברוך אתה ה' שובר איבים (אויבים) ומכניע זדים

It should be added that other Jewish communities [that do not use the Ashkenazic version of the prayer book] do have some mention of Minim in their version of the blessing but not exactly like the one quoted above. Also there is a slight variation of the wording between different communities that mention the Minim in their prayers.

[edu]

I would like to represent Rambam's view of what are Minim or when dealing with a single individual, the term used is  "Min".
In order to make it easier for me I looked around for an existing translation of the Rambam (Maimonides).
At http://www.panix.com/~jjbaker/rambam.html I found this free translation but they asked those that I quote to add the following statement

This translation is copyright (c) Immanuel M. O'Lvey, 1993. This translation may be distributed in any form (on disk, printed, etc.) provided that it is done so on a non-profit basis and that this copyright and conditions message is left attached. The text used for this translation was the Rambam Le'Am, published by Mossad Ha'Rav Kook, Jerusalem. Words in the text that are in square brackets do not appear in the Rambam's writings. British spelling has been used, and Sephardit pronunciation has been used for words and phrases that have been transliterated. Comments are welcome by email - [email protected].

In chapter 3 of Hilchot Teshuva (Laws of Repentance) Rambam the translation translates Minim as infidels.
see http://www.panix.com/~jjbaker/MadaT.html
There he elaborates:

6) The following types of people have no share in the World to Come, and are cut off, destroyed and excommunicated for ever on account of their very great sins and wickedness: An infidel; a heretic; one who denies the Torah; one who denies that there will be a Resurrection; one who denies that there will be a Redemption; one who converts from Judaism; one who causes a lot of people to sin; one who withdraws from communal ways; one who publicly sins in a defiant way like Jehoiakim did; an informer [against Jews]; one who instills fear in the congregation but not in the Name of God; a murderer; one who relates loshan ho'rah; and one who pulls back his foreskin [in order to cover his brit milah].

7) Five types of people are classified as infidels: One who says that there is no God and that there never has been a Leader; one who admits that there is a Leader but that there is more than one; one who admits that there is a single God but that He has a body and form; one who says that God is not the first and that He did not create everything; and one who worships a star or constellation in order for there to be an advocate between himself and God. Each of these opinions counts as infidelity.

[muman613]

Shalom Edu...

I posted some of this information in a thread http://jtf.org/forum/index.php/topic,47501.msg453583.html#msg453583...

Here is another explanation of what you quoted...

http://www.dailyhalacha.com/Display.asp?ClipDate=9/16/2007

The "Apikorsim," "Kofrim" and "Minim" Who Have no Share in the Next World

In the third chapter of Hilchot Teshuva, the Rambam (Rabbi Moshe Maimonides, Spain-Egypt, 1135-1204) delineates the groups of sinners who forfeit their share in the World to Come. In Halacha 8 (listen to audio for precise citation), he defines the group known as "Apikorsim" ("heretics"), explaining that this category includes three types of people:

1) Those who deny the concept of prophecy, that G-d delivers instruction to human beings.

2) Those who deny the prophecy of Moshe Rabbenu. Even if one accepts the notion of prophecy generally, he has no share in the next world if he denies the prophetic stature of Moshe.

3) Those who deny G-d's knowledge of human events and experiences.

All these people fall under the category of "Apikorsim" and have no share in the World to Come.


The next category discussed by the Rambam is that of "Kofrim" ("rejecters"), and consists of people who maintain one of the following three beliefs:

1) That the Torah was not transmitted in its entirety from G-d. Even if one denies the divine origin of a single verse or a single word of the Torah, and claims that Moshe wrote it independently, without it being dictated by the Almighty, he loses his share in the World to Come.

2) That the Rabbinic tradition of Torah She'be'al Peh (oral tradition) does not originate from G-d. Even if a person accepts the divine origin of the written Law, he is deemed a "Kofer" if he rejects the traditions of the Sages in explaining and applying the written Torah.

3) That the Torah or any part thereof is no longer applicable, or has been supplanted by a different law or system of laws. Christians, for example, believe in the divine origin of the Torah but claim that it has since been replaced by a new law. Anybody who maintains such a belief, or says about even a single Misva that it has been repealed or substituted with another law, has no share in the next world.

In Halacha 9 (listen to audio for precise citation), the Rambam proceeds to define the next category of sinners, the "Meshumadim" ("defectors"). He writes that this term refers to one of the following types of sinners:

1) A person who intentionally, habitually and publicly rejects one of the 613 commandments. Even if a person faithfully observes the other 612 Misvot, if he makes a point of publicly transgressing one Misva on a regular basis, such as if he intentionally wears Shaatnez (a garment woven with wool and linen) or cuts his sideburns, he is deemed a "Meshumad."

2) A person who chooses to abandon Judaism and embrace the religion of an enemy people that enjoys the upper hand. If a person defects from Judaism in order to spare himself the humiliation and persecution traditionally suffered by Jews, and to enjoy the benefits of belonging to the ruling people, he is deemed a "Meshumad" and has no share in the World to Come.

Also see this discussion of Apikorsim:

http://jtf.org/forum/index.php/topic,36419.msg366237.html#msg366237