More Discussions for this daf
1. The existence of Shedim 2. Toivling the Shulchan 3. Newly Discovered Eggs
4. The size of eggs 5. Shedim, in the Rambam's opinion 6. Seah
7. Tzelach about Zugos 8. Size of Revi'is for a Mitzvah d'Oraisa 9. k'Beitzah
10. ולא יעשה צרכיו תרי 11. רביעית של תורה 12. שולחן של מקדש של פרקים
13. המקווה של השולחן
DAF DISCUSSIONS - PESACHIM 109

Elazar Yechiel Bernstein asked:

Dear Rabbi Kornfeld,

If the Rambam is of the opinion that shedim did not exist, how would the Rashi in Noach be learned that says Noach placed two shedim in the Tevah?

The Kollel replies:

Your question is no less applicable to the many places in the Shas in which Shedim are mentioned. The Gemara in Pesachim says that the Amora'im saw Shedim and even spoke with them. The comment of Rashi which you mention, as well as all of the other sources in Chazal which mention Shedim, are a question on the Rambam's opinion.

The Mefarshim explain that the answer for the Rambam's opinion is that all of the places which mention Shedim are speaking in metaphorical terms (similar to what the Rambam himself writes in his introduction to Perek Chelek in Sanhedrin). This is also how the Rambam will explain the Midrash which Rashi brings that says that Noach brought Shedim into the Tevah. "Shedim" refers to the force of denying the Hashgachah of Hash-m and attributing events in the world to Mazal and nature, and saying that there is no reward or punishment for good or bad deeds.

In the times of Noach, even though the Mabul made it clear to the world that there is reward and punishment from Hash-m for everyone according to his deeds, nevertheless, there remained in the world a certain force which denied this and attributed it to Mazal. This is why we find, as Rashi later points out, that after the Mabul the people built the Migdal Bavel; they had "determined" that every 1,651 years, the skies collapse (as Rashi points out).

M. KORNFELD