Rambam

1. The laws in the Talmud are binding upon all Israel:

• The above ability for a later court to reject the decrees of a previous court only applies regarding those laws, decrees, institutions, and customs, that were made after the writing of the Talmud. However, all the matters that are written of in the Babylonian Talmud are binding upon all the Jewish people and they are all required to follow it, and its laws are to be enforced in the community of every city and country.
• Customs and decrees: This obligation applies to all of the customs that were followed by the sages of the Talmud as well as to all of the decrees and institutions that were passed in their times.
• The reason the Talmud is binding: The reason that all the customs and decrees of Talmudic times are binding upon all Israel is because these matters have been accepted by all the Jewish people, and hence have become law.
• The reason of power of the Talmudic sages: The Talmudic sages who made the above decrees and institutions and customs, and taught the detailed laws of the commands, included all of the Jewish sages, or majority of them, and they received the tradition regarding all of the fundamentals of Torah from the previous generations all the way up until Moshe.

2. The period of the Geonim and the state of knowledge in their time:

• The name Geonim: The sages who expounded on the Torah in the post Talmudic era and were of great reputation of scholarship, are referred to as the Geonim.
• Their locations: The Geonim were in Israel, Babylon, Spain, and France.
• Their purpose to explain the intent of the Talmud: The purpose of the Geonim was to teach the nation the meaning of the Talmud through explaining its difficult statements and arguments, which are extremely deep and challenging to understand.
• Their purpose to translate the Talmud from Aramaic: Likewise, they would translate the words of the Talmud to the masses. The Talmud was written in a mixture of Aramaic and other languages, which was the language that was spoken by the residents of Babylon in the era that the Talmud was written. Thus, residents of other countries who lacked knowledge of this language were unable to access Talmudic knowledge. Likewise, even in Babylon itself, in the generation of the Geonim people no longer understood the original language, unless they were taught it.
• The books of the Geonim-Responsa’s: The Geonim compiled books which contained their responses to queries that they were forwarded relating to the meaning of certain difficult passages in the Talmud. In every city, the Gaon of that city was asked many questions regarding difficult Talmudic passages, and they would respond to them in accordance to their understanding and wisdom. This was then eventually published by the Geonim in order so it be available to the masses.
• The books of the Geonim-Talmudic commentary: In addition to the above responsible, the Geonim of each generation also wrote books which contained explanations of the Talmud. Some would write regarding selected topics of Jewish law [as gleaned from the Talmud]. Others would clarify entire selected Talmudic chapters that were difficult in his days. Others would clarify an entire tractate or order of Talmud.
• The books of the Geonim-Halachic literature: In addition to the above, they also compiled instructions of Jewish law relating to the subjects of Kashrus, and monetary law, in accordance to what they viewed necessary in their times for people to know, due to their inability to extract these laws from the depths of the Talmud.
• This was the great work of God that all of the Geonim performed from the times of the publishing of the Talmud until today, which is the year 1108 from after the destruction of the temple, and is the year 4937 of creation.

3. The period of the Rambam and the state of knowledge in his time:

• In this period, in which we are experiencing much persecution and challenges, the knowledge and wisdom of Torah has become closed and concealed from even amongst our scholars.
• Lack of understanding of the works of the Geonim: Even those commentaries and laws and responses that were compiled by the Geonim, which were meant to clarify the difficulties of the Talmud, have now themselves become difficult to properly understand, with exception to a select few.
• Lack of understanding of the Talmud: It goes without saying that people no longer understand the meanings of the passages of the Babylonian or Jerusalem Talmud, or the works of the Sifra, Sifri, and Tosefta.
• Lack of ability to deduce Jewish law: In order to properly deduce Jewish law and become knowledgeable of the permitted and forbidden, it is imperative that one properly understand the above sources, which is only possible if one has a great breadth of knowledge and a spirit of wisdom, and a lot of time to invest in its study.

4. Mishneh Torah-What it contains and why it was written:

• All the Torah laws: It is due to all the above that I, Moshe the son of Maimon, of Spain, have decided to take upon myself the great task of compiling a work that includes all of the laws of the Torah.
• Relying on God: I relied on God for the success of this mission.
• The sources of the compilation: The laws written in my book are based on my understanding of all the above books of literature relating to Jewish law from the times of Rabbeinu Hakadosh until today, including within it all of the decrees and institutions of the sages and prophets. All this has been written in accordance to the commentary of the Geonim, as written in the compilations that they wrote after the writing of the Talmud.
• The laws of every mitzvah written clearly and concisely: I have written the laws of every single mitzvah of the Torah in a clear and concise manner in order so the practical aspects of the entire oral tradition be readily accessible to be understood by everyone without argument and dispute, irrelevant of their status of knowledge or age.
• This is the only book needed to know the oral tradition: All in all, my compilation includes all the laws enacted from the times of Moshe until today, whether they be biblical, rabbinical, or due to custom, that a person needs to know, in order so that he will not need to revert to opening any other book in order to verify and clarify a law within Judaism.
• The name Mishneh Torah: I have named my compilation by the name Mishneh Torah, being that it suffices for a person to first read the entire written Torah, and then read my work, and from it he will know all of the oral tradition, without needing to read any other book in between.

5. How it is organized:

• Chapters and Halachos: I have organized the Mishneh Torah in accordance to topic, dividing each law into its own separate paragraph, and each topic into its own separate chapter. Every chapter is broken down into smaller subcategories of laws. The purpose of this organization is to assist in the memorization of the details of the laws.
• Not organized according to the mitzvah’s: The book and its chapters are not organized in accordance to the number of mitzvah’s, but rather in accordance to the subject. Thus, there may be some chapters of laws which all surround the same single mitzvah, and some chapters which may include the details of many mitzvah’s, if the mitzvah’s all relate to each other. This will all be evident to the reader as he reads it.

6. The number of minutes was in the Torah-613:

• The number of commands customarily known throughout the generations is 613, which includes 248 positive commands which corresponds to the limbs of a man’s body and 365 negative commands which corresponds to the days of the solar year.