Array ( [0] => {{Short description|Jewish philosopher from Spain (1135–1204)}} [1] => {{cs1 config|name-list-style=vanc}} [2] => {{other uses}} [3] => {{Redirect|Moses ben Maimon|the Moroccan kabbalist|Moses ben Maimon Albas}} [4] => {{for|the Haifa hospital|Rambam Health Care Campus}} [5] => {{for|the Brooklyn, New York hospital|Maimonides Medical Center}} [6] => {{pp|small=yes}} [7] => {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} [8] => {{Infobox philosopher [9] => | region = [[Middle Eastern philosophy]] [10] => * [[Jewish philosophy]] [11] => | era = [[Medieval philosophy]] [12] => * [[12th century in philosophy|12th-century philosophy]] [13] => | image = Portrait of Moses Maimonides in Thesaurus antiquitatum sacrarum.tif [14] => | caption = Purported portrait of Maimonides from which all modern portraits are derived, ''Thesaurus Antiquitatum Sacrarum'' {{Circa|1744}}{{Cite journal |last=Schwartz |first=Yitzhack |date=2011-07-31 |title=The Maimonides Portrait: An Appraisal of One of the World's Most Famous Pictures |url=https://www.rmmj.org.il/issues/5/131/manuscript |journal=[[Rambam Maimonides Medical Journal]] |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=e0052 |doi=10.5041/RMMJ.10052|pmid=23908810 |pmc=3678793 }} [15] => | name = {{ubl|Maimonides|(Moshe ben Maimon)}} [16] => | birth_date = 30 March{{cite web|url= https://www.britannica.com/biography/Moses-Maimonides|title=Moses Maimonides | Biography, Philosophy, & Teachings|website= Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=8 December 2016|archive-date=20 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220233251/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Moses-Maimonides |url-status=live}} or 6 April{{cite web|url= https://www.hebcal.com/converter/?hd=14&hm=Nisan&hy=4895&h2g=1|title=Hebrew Date Converter – 14th of Nisan, 4895 |website=Hebcal Jewish Calendar |access-date=31 March 2021|archive-date= 7 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307004534/https://www.hebcal.com/converter/?hd=14&hm=Nisan&hy=4895&h2g=1|url-status=live}} 1135
[17] => Possibly born 28 March or 4 April{{cite web|url= https://www.hebcal.com/converter/?gd=4&gm=4&gy=1138&g2h=1|title=Hebrew Date Converter – 14th of Nisan, 4898 |website= Hebcal Jewish Calendar |access-date=31 March 2021|archive-date=7 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307004616/https://www.hebcal.com/converter/?gd=4&gm=4&gy=1138&g2h=1|url-status=live}} 1138 [18] => | birth_place = [[Córdoba, Spain|Córdoba]], [[Almoravid dynasty|Almoravid Empire]] [19] => | death_date = 12 December 1204 (66–69 years old) [20] => | death_place = [[Fustat|Fostat]], [[Ayyubid dynasty|Ayyubid Sultanate]] [21] => | school_tradition = [[Aristotelianism]] [22] => | language = [[Judeo-Arabic]], [[Medieval Hebrew]] [23] => | main_interests = [[Jewish theology|Theology]], [[Halakha]], [[Astronomy]], [[Medicine]] [24] => | notable_works = {{ubl|{{transliteration|he|[[Mishneh Torah]]}}|''[[The Guide for the Perplexed]]''}} [25] => | notable_ideas = [[Maimonides' rule]], [[Golden mean (Judaism)|Golden mean]], [[13 principles of faith]] [26] => | influences = [[Talmud]], [[Plato]], [[Aristotle]], [[al-Farabi]], [[Avicenna]], [[Avempace]], [[Averroes]], [[Al-Ghazali]]{{cite web |url=http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=227091077594594 |title=H-Net |access-date=6 May 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071009022604/http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=227091077594594 |archive-date=9 October 2007 |url-status=dead }}{{cite book |last=Pessin |first=Sarah |editor=Edward N. Zalta |title=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |chapter-url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/maimonides-islamic/ |publisher=Stanford |chapter=The Influence of Islamic Thought on Maimonides |date=Spring 2016 |access-date=6 May 2007 |archive-date=9 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141209050833/http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/maimonides-islamic/ |url-status=live }} [27] => |influenced = Virtually all subsequent [[Jewish philosophy]], as well as a significant amount of [[Catholic theology]], and especially [[Baruch Spinoza|Spinoza]], [[Albertus Magnus]], [[Thomas Aquinas|Aquinas]], [[James Joyce|Joyce]], [[Jean Bodin|Bodin]], [[Gottfried Leibniz|Leibniz]], [[Isaac Newton|Newton]],{{cite web |url=http://www.achgut.com/dadgdx/index.php/dadgd/article/issac_newton_judaic_monotheist_of_the_school_of_maimonides/ |title=Isaac Newton: "Judaic monotheist of the school of Maimonides" |publisher=Achgut.com |date=19 June 2007 |access-date=13 March 2010 |archive-date=28 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150428014646/http://www.achgut.com/dadgdx/index.php/dadgd/article/issac_newton_judaic_monotheist_of_the_school_of_maimonides/ |url-status=live }} [[Leo Strauss|Strauss]], [[Martin Buber|Buber]], [[Franz Rosenzweig|Rosenzweig]], [[Michael Friedländer|Friedländer]], [[Emil Fackenheim|Fackenheim]], [[Emmanuel Levinas|Levinas]] [28] => |signature = Firma de Maimonides.svg [29] => |spouse =(1) daughter of Nathaniel Baruch (2) daughter of Mishael Halevi}} [30] => {{Philosophy of religion sidebar}} [31] => '''Moses ben Maimon'''{{efn|{{Lang-he|מֹשֶׁה בֶּן־מַיְמוֹן|Mōše ben-Maymōn}}; {{Lang-ar|موسى بن ميمون|Mūsā bin Maymūn}}}} (1138–1204), commonly known as '''Maimonides''' ({{IPAc-en|m|aɪ|ˈ|m|ɒ|n|ɪ|d|iː|z}} {{respell|my|MON|ih|deez}}){{efn|{{lang-grc-gre|Μωυσής Μαϊμωνίδης|Mōusḗs Maïmōnídēs}}; {{lang-la|Moses Maimonides}}}} and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym '''Rambam''' ({{lang-he|רמב״ם}}){{efn|{{IPAc-en|ˌ|r|ɑː|m|ˈ|b|ɑː|m}}, for '''''R'''abbēnu '''M'''ōše '''b'''en '''M'''aymōn'', "Our [[Rabbi]] Moses, son of Maimon"}}, was a [[Sephardic]] rabbi and [[Jewish philosophy|philosopher]] who became one of the most prolific and influential [[Torah]] scholars of the [[Middle Ages]]. In his time, he was also a preeminent [[astronomer]] and [[physician]], serving as the personal physician of [[Saladin]]. He was born and lived in [[Córdoba, Spain|Córdoba]] in [[al-Andalus]] (now in Spain) within the [[Almoravid dynasty|Almoravid Empire]] on [[Passover]] eve 1138 (or 1135){{efn|The date of 1138 of the [[Common Era]] is the date of birth given by Maimonides himself, in the very last chapter and comment made by Maimonides in his ''Commentary of the Mishnah'',''Commentary of the Mishnah'', Maimonides (1967), s.v. ''Uktzin'' 3:12 (end) and where he writes: "I began to write this composition when I was twenty-three years old, and I completed it in [[Egypt]] while I was aged thirty, which year is the 1,479th year of the [[Seleucid era]] (1168 [[Common Era|CE]])."}}, until his family was expelled for refusing to convert to Islam.Joel E. Kramer, "Moses Maimonides: An Intellectual Portrait", p. 47 note 1. In {{cite book |title=The Cambridge Companion to Maimonides |editor=[[Kenneth Seeskin]] |date=September 2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-52578-7}}1138 in Stroumsa, ''Maimonides in His World: Portrait of a Mediterranean Thinker'', Princeton University Press, 2009, p. 8Sherwin B. Nuland (2008), ''Maimonides'', Random House LLC, p. 38 Later, he lived in Morocco and Egypt and worked as a rabbi, physician and philosopher. [32] => [33] => During his lifetime, most Jews greeted Maimonides' writings on [[Halakha|Jewish law]] and [[Jewish ethics|ethics]] with acclaim and gratitude, even as far away as Iraq and Yemen. Yet, while Maimonides rose to become the revered head of the [[History of the Jews in Egypt|Jewish community in Egypt]], his writings also had vociferous critics, particularly in Spain. He died in [[Fustat]], Egypt and, according to Jewish tradition, was buried in [[Tiberias]]. The [[Tomb of Maimonides]] in Tiberias is a popular pilgrimage and tourist site. [34] => [35] => He was posthumously acknowledged as one of the foremost [[posek|rabbinic decisors]] and philosophers in [[Jewish history]], and his copious work comprises a cornerstone of Jewish scholarship. His fourteen-volume {{transliteration|he|[[Mishneh Torah]]}} still carries significant canonical authority as a codification of [[Halacha]].{{Cite book |last=Marder |first =Michael |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=BsPQBAAAQBAJ |title=The Philosopher's Plant: An Intellectual Herbarium |date=11 November 2014 |publisher= Columbia University Press |isbn= 978-0-231-53813-8 |location=New York |page=97 |access-date=20 September 2020 |archive-date=17 July 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210717215651/https://books.google.com/books?id=BsPQBAAAQBAJ |url-status=live}} [36] => [37] => Aside from being revered by Jewish historians, Maimonides also figures very prominently in the history of Islamic and Arab sciences and he is mentioned extensively in studies. Influenced by [[Aristotle]], [[Al-Farabi]], [[Avicenna|Ibn Sina]], and his contemporary [[Averroes|Ibn Rushd]], he became a prominent philosopher and [[polymath]] in both the Jewish and [[Muslim world|Islamic worlds]]. [38] => [39] => ==Name== [40] => Maimonides referred to himself as "Moses, son of Rabbi Maimon [[Sephardic Jews|the Spaniard]]" ({{lang-he|משה ברבי מימון הספרדי}}).{{Efn|name=e|He usually left off "the Spaniard" and he sometimes added זצ"ל, short for "[let] mention of the righteous one bring a blessing." At the end of his commentary to the [[Mishna]] he gives a fuller lineage: אני משה ברבי מימון הדיין ברבי יוסף החכם ברבי יצחק הדיין ברבי יוסף הדיין ברבי עובדיהו הדיין ברבי שלמה הרב ברבי עובדיהו הדיין זכר קדושים לברכה, "I am Moshe son of Rabbi Maimon the Judge, son of Rabbi Joseph the Wise, son of Rabbi Isaac the Judge, son of Rabbi Joseph the Judge, son of Rabbi Obadiah the Judge, son of Rabbi Solomon the Teacher, son of Rabbi Obadiah the Judge; [let] mention of the holy ones bring a blessing."}} In Medieval Hebrew he was usually called {{lang|he|ר״ם}}, short for "our Rabbi Moshe", but mostly he is called {{lang|he|רמב״ם}}, short for "our Rabbi, Moshe son of Maimon" and pronounced ''Rambam''. [41] => [42] => In Arabic, he is sometimes called "Moses '[[Kunya (Arabic)|son of]] [[Amram]]'{{Efn|Medieval Jews named Moses received the Arabic nickname ''abu Imran'', in which the word ''abu'' has been inverted from its original sense of "father" to reference the biblical Moses' father Amram. Similarly, Jews named Isaac were known as ''abu Ibrahim'', meaning: "son of Abraham". For more on the Jewish system of biblical nicknames, see [[Kunya (Arabic)|Kunya]].}} son of Maimon, of Obadiah,{{Efn|Ubaydallah is to be treated as Maimonides' surname; his grandfather was named Joseph. It is not always included in either Arabic or Hebrew versions of Maimonides' name. Various Hebrew manuscripts render ''ben Ovadyahu'' and ''ben Eved-Elohim'' ("descended/son of Obadiah"), but also ''Eved-Elohim'', implying only "Moses son of Maimon, the servant of God" (cf. Josh. 1:13–15) and Latin versions follow, rendering ''servus dei''. See: {{cite journal | last1=Bar-Sela | first1=Ariel | last2=Hoff | first2=Hebbel E. | last3=Faris | first3=Elias | last4=Maimonides | first4=Moses | title=Moses Maimonides' Two Treatises on the Regimen of Health: Fi Tadbir al-Sihhah and Maqalah fi Bayan Ba'd al-A'rad wa-al-Jawab 'anha | journal=Transactions of the American Philosophical Society | publisher=JSTOR | volume=54 | issue=4 | year=1964 | issn=0065-9746 | doi=10.2307/1005935 | page=3| jstor=1005935 }}}} the [[Córdoba, Spain|Cordoban]]" ({{lang|ar|أَبُو عَمْرَان مُوسَى بْن مَيْمُون بْن عُبَيْد ٱللّٰه ٱلْقُرْطُبِيّ}}, ''Abū ʿImrān Mūsā bin Maimūn bin ʿUbaydallāh al-Qurṭubī''), or more often simply "Moses, son of Maimon" ({{lang|ar|موسى بن ميمون}}). [43] => [44] => In Greek, the Hebrew {{transliteration|he|[[ben (Hebrew)|ben]]}} ('son of') becomes the [[patronymic]] suffix {{transliteration|grc|[[wikt:-ίδης|-ides]]}}, forming Μωησής Μαϊμονίδης "Moses Maimonides".{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}} [45] => [46] => He is sometimes known as "The Great Eagle" ({{lang-he|הנשר הגדול|haNesher haGadol|link=no}}). [47] => [48] => ==Biography== [49] => {{further|History of the Jews in Egypt#Arab rule (641 to 1250)}} [50] => [51] => ===Early years=== [52] => [[File:Almohads1200.png|thumb|The dominion of the [[Almohad Caliphate]] at its greatest extent, {{c.}} 1200]] [53] => Maimonides was born 1138 (or 1135) in Córdoba in the [[Muslim]]-ruled [[Almoravid Caliphate]] at the end of the [[golden age of Jewish culture in Spain|golden age of Jewish culture in the Iberian Peninsula]] after the first centuries of Muslim rule. His father, [[Maimon ben Joseph]], was a [[Beth din#Officers of a beth din|dayyan]] or rabbinic judge. [[Aaron ben Jacob ha-Kohen]] later wrote that he had traced Maimonides' descent back to [[Simeon ben Judah ha-Nasi]] from the [[Davidic line]].Joel L. Kraemer, [https://books.google.com/books?id=aFgCIvDv-JEC ''Maimonides:The Life and World of One of Civilization's Greatest Minds,''] [[Crown Publishing Group]] 2008 {{isbn|978-0-385-52851-1}} p.486 n.6. His ancestry, going back four generations, is given in his ''[[Epistle to Yemen]]'' as Moses son of Maimon the Judge, son of Joseph the Wise, son of Isaac the Rabbi, son of Obadiah the Judge.{{cite web|url=https://www.sefaria.org/Iggerot_HaRambam,_Iggeret_Teiman|title=Iggerot HaRambam, Iggeret Teiman|website=sefaria.org|access-date=31 March 2021|archive-date=23 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423164402/https://www.sefaria.org/Iggerot_HaRambam%2C_Iggeret_Teiman|url-status=live}} At the end of his commentary on the [[Mishnah]], however, a slightly different genealogy is presented: Moses son of Maimon the Judge, son of Joseph the Wise, son of Isaac the Judge, son of Joseph the Judge, son of Obadiah the Judge, son of Solomon the Rabbi, son of Obadiah the Judge.{{efn|name=e}} [54] => [55] => Maimonides [[Torah study|studied Torah]] under his father, who had in turn studied under [[Joseph ibn Migash]], a student of [[Isaac Alfasi]]. At an early age, Maimonides developed an interest in sciences and philosophy. He read [[ancient Greek philosophy]] accessible via Arabic translations and was deeply immersed in the sciences and learning of [[Islamic culture]].Stroumsa, ''Maimonides in His World: Portrait of a Mediterranean Thinker'', Princeton University Press, 2009, p.65 [56] => [57] => Maimonides, who was revered for his personality as well as for his writings, led a busy life, and wrote many of his works while travelling or in temporary accommodation.1954 ''Encyclopedia Americana'', vol. 18, p. 140. [58] => [59] => ===Exile=== [60] => [[File:Maimonides house in Fes.JPG|thumb|upright|left|Maimonides' house in [[Fez, Morocco]], according to local tradition. It is now occupied by the ''[[Dar al-Magana]]''.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FTbdBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT185 |title=Andalusian Morocco: A Discovery in Living Art |last1=Touri |first1=Abdelaziz |last2=Benaboud |first2=Mhammad |last3=Boujibar El-Khatib |first3=Naïma |last4=Lakhdar |first4=Kamal |last5=Mezzine |first5=Mohamed |publisher=Ministry of Cultural Affairs of the Kingdom of Morocco & Museum With No Frontiers |year=2010 |isbn=978-3-902782-31-1 |edition=2 |location= |pages= |language=en}}]] [61] => A [[Berbers|Berber]] dynasty, the [[Almohad Caliphate|Almohads]], conquered Córdoba in 1148 and abolished {{transliteration|ar|[[dhimmi]]}} status (i.e., state protection of non-Muslims ensured through payment of a tax, the {{transliteration|ar|[[jizya]]}}) in some{{which|date=May 2018}} of their territories. The loss of this status forced the [[History of the Jews in Spain|Jewish]] and Christian communities to choose between [[Forced conversion to Islam|conversion to Islam]], [[martyrdom|death]], or [[exile]]. Many Jews were forced to convert, but due to suspicion by the authorities of fake conversions, the new converts had to wear identifying clothing that set them apart and made them subject to public scrutiny.{{Cite encyclopedia |edition=2nd |publisher=Brill Academic Publishers |volume=5 |page=744 |editor=Y. K. Stillman |title=Libās |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia of Islam]] |isbn=978-90-04-09419-2 |year=1984}} [62] => [63] => Maimonides' family, along with most other [[Jews]],{{dubious|date=May 2018}} chose exile. For the next ten years, Maimonides moved about in southern Spain and North Africa, eventually settling in [[Fez, Morocco]]. Some say that his teacher in Fez was Rabbi [[Yehuda Ha-Cohen Ibn Susan]], until the latter was killed in 1165.See for example: [https://www.jstor.org/stable/23601542 Solomon Zeitlin, "MAIMONIDES", '''The American Jewish Year Book''', Vol. 37, pp 65 – 66.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211225011719/https://www.jstor.org/stable/23601542 |date=25 December 2021 }} [64] => [65] => During this time, he composed his acclaimed commentary on the [[Mishnah]], during the years 1166–1168.{{efn|''[[Seder HaDoroth]]'' (year 4927) quotes Maimonides as saying that he began writing his commentary on the Mishna when he was 23 years old, and published it when he was 30. Because of the dispute about the date of Maimonides' birth, it is not clear which year the work was published.}} [66] => [67] => Following this sojourn in Morocco, he lived in [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] with his father and brother, before settling in [[Fustat]] in [[Fatimid Caliphate]]-controlled Egypt by 1168.Davidson, p. 28. There is mention that Maimonides first settled in Alexandria, and moved to Fustat only in 1171. While in [[Cairo]], he studied in a [[yeshiva]] attached to a small [[Maimonides Synagogue|synagogue]], which now bears his name.[[S.D. Goitein|Goitein, S.D.]] ''Letters of Medieval Jewish Traders'', Princeton University Press, 1973 ({{ISBN|0-691-05212-3}}), p. 208 In Palestine, he prayed at the [[Temple Mount]]. He wrote that this day of visiting the Temple Mount was a day of holiness for him and his descendants.{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishmag.com/169mag/rambam_temple_mount/rambam_temple_mount.htm|title=No Jew had been permitted to enter the holy city which has become a Christian bastion since the Crusaders conquered it in 1096|last=Loewenberg |first=Meir |date=October–November 2012 |website=Jewish Magazine|access-date=9 February 2018|archive-date=3 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181103105017/http://www.jewishmag.com/169mag/rambam_temple_mount/rambam_temple_mount.htm|url-status=live}} [68] => [69] => Maimonides shortly thereafter was instrumental in helping rescue Jews taken captive during the Christian [[Amalric of Jerusalem]]'s siege of the southeastern [[Nile Delta]] town of [[Bilbeis]]. He sent five letters to the Jewish communities of [[Lower Egypt]] asking them to pool money together to pay the [[ransom]]. The money was collected and then given to two judges sent to Palestine to negotiate with the Crusaders. The captives were eventually released.Cohen, Mark R. ''Poverty and Charity in the Jewish Community of Medieval Egypt''. Princeton University Press, 2005 ({{ISBN|0-691-09272-9}}), pp. 115–116 [70] => [71] => ===Death of his brother=== [72] => [[File:Ben Maimónides. Córdoba, España-eue.jpg|thumb|200px|Monument in [[Córdoba, Andalusia|Córdoba]]]] [73] => Following this triumph, the Maimonides family, hoping to increase their wealth, gave their savings to his brother, the youngest son David ben Maimon, a merchant. Maimonides directed his brother to procure goods only at the [[Sudan]]ese port of [[ʿAydhab]]. After a long, arduous trip through the desert, however, David was unimpressed by the goods on offer there. Against his brother's wishes, David boarded a ship for India, since great wealth was to be found in the East.{{efn|The "India Trade" (a term devised by the Arabist S.D. Goitein) was a highly lucrative business venture in which Jewish merchants from Egypt, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East imported and exported goods ranging from pepper to brass from various ports along the [[Malabar Coast]] between the 11th–13th centuries. For more info, see the "India Traders" chapter in Goitein, ''Letters of Medieval Jewish Traders,'' 1973 or Goitein, ''India Traders of the Middle Ages,'' 2008.}} Before he could reach his destination, David drowned at sea sometime between 1169 and 1177. The death of his brother caused Maimonides to become sick with grief. [74] => [75] => In a letter discovered in the [[Cairo Geniza]], he wrote: [76] => [77] => {{blockquote|The greatest misfortune that has befallen me during my entire life—worse than anything else—was the demise of the saint, may his memory be blessed, who drowned in the Indian sea, carrying much money belonging to me, to him, and to others, and left with me a little daughter and a widow. On the day I received that terrible news I fell ill and remained in bed for about a year, suffering from a sore boil, fever, and [[depression (mood)|depression]], and was almost given up. About eight years have passed, but I am still mourning and unable to accept consolation. And how should I console myself? He grew up on my knees, he was my brother, [and] he was my student.Goitein, ''Letters of Medieval Jewish Traders'', p. 207}} [78] => [79] => ===Nagid=== [80] => [[File:Maimonides bas-relief in the U.S. House of Representatives chamber cropped.jpg|thumb|left|[[Bas relief]] of Maimonides in the [[United States House of Representatives]]]] [81] => Around 1171, Maimonides was appointed the {{transliteration|he|[[Nagid]]}} of the Egyptian Jewish community. Arabist [[Shelomo Dov Goitein]] believes the leadership he displayed during the ransoming of the Crusader captives led to this appointment.Cohen, ''Poverty and Charity in the Jewish Community of Medieval Egypt'', p. 115 However he was replaced by [[Sar Shalom ben Moses]] in 1173. Over the controversial course of Sar Shalom's appointment, during which Sar Shalom was accused of [[Farm (revenue leasing)|tax farming]], Maimonides excommunicated and fought with him for several years until Maimonides was appointed Nagid in 1195. A work known as "Megillat Zutta" was written by [[Abraham ben Hillel]], who writes a scathing description of Sar Shalom while praising Maimonides as "the light of east and west and unique master and marvel of the generation."{{Cite book|last=Baron|first=Salo Wittmayer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0E_jEhTQpGkC&q=Megillat+Zutta&pg=PA215|title=A Social and Religious History of the Jews: High Middle Ages, 500–1200|date=1952|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-08843-5|page=215|language=en|access-date=16 November 2020|archive-date=25 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211225011741/https://books.google.com/books?id=0E_jEhTQpGkC&q=Megillat+Zutta&pg=PA215|url-status=live}}{{Cite journal|last=Rustow|first=Marina|date=1 October 2010|title=Sar Shalom ben Moses ha-Levi|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-jews-in-the-islamic-world/sar-shalom-ben-moses-ha-levi-SIM_0019250|journal=Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World|language=en|access-date=17 June 2020|archive-date=18 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200618184702/https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-jews-in-the-islamic-world/sar-shalom-ben-moses-ha-levi-SIM_0019250|url-status=live}} [82] => [83] => ===Physician=== [84] => [85] => With the loss of the family funds tied up in David's business venture, Maimonides assumed the vocation of physician, for which he was to become famous. He had trained in medicine in both Spain and in Fez. Gaining widespread recognition, he was appointed court physician to [[al-Qadi al-Fadil]], the chief secretary to Sultan [[Saladin]], then to Saladin himself; after whose death he remained a physician to the [[Ayyubid dynasty]].{{cite journal |author=Julia Bess Frank |title=Moses Maimonides: rabbi or medicine |journal=The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine |year=1981 |volume=54 |pages=79–88 |pmid=7018097 |issue=1 |pmc=2595894}} [86] => [[File:T-S_NS_163.57.jpg|thumb|An [[Autograph (manuscript)|autograph]] from the [[Cairo Geniza]] with words in Arabic and their Romance translations, both written in Hebrew script{{Cite web |last=Schmierer-Lee |first=Melonie |date=2022-10-12 |title=Q&A Wednesday: Maimonides, hiding in plain sight, with José Martínez Delgado |url=https://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/genizah-fragments/posts/qa-wednesday-maimonides-hiding-plain-sight-jose-martinez-delgado |access-date=2023-05-31 |website=lib.cam.ac.uk |language=en}}]] [87] => In his medical writings, Maimonides described many conditions, including [[asthma]], [[diabetes]], [[hepatitis]], and [[pneumonia]], and he emphasized moderation and a healthy lifestyle.{{cite journal |url=http://www.aecom.yu.edu/uploadedFiles/EJBM/19Rosner125.pdf |author=Fred Rosner |title=The Life of Moses Maimonides, a Prominent Medieval Physician |journal=Einstein Quart J Biol Med |year=2002 |volume=19 |issue=3 |pages=125–128 |author-link=Fred Rosner |access-date=14 January 2009 |archive-date=5 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090305065423/http://www.aecom.yu.edu/uploadedFiles/EJBM/19Rosner125.pdf |url-status=dead }} His treatises became influential for generations of physicians. He was knowledgeable about Greek and Arabic medicine, and followed the principles of [[humorism]] in the tradition of [[Galen]]. He did not blindly accept authority but used his own observation and experience. Julia Bess Frank indicates that Maimonides in his medical writings sought to interpret works of authorities so that they could become acceptable. Maimonides displayed in his interactions with patients attributes that today would be called intercultural awareness and respect for the patient's autonomy.{{cite journal |vauthors=Gesundheit B, Or R, Gamliel C, Rosner F, Steinberg A |title=Treatment of depression by Maimonides (1138–1204): Rabbi, Physician, and Philosopher |journal=Am J Psychiatry |date=April 2008 |volume=165 |issue=4 |pages=425–428 |url=http://www.jewishmedicalethics.org/data/treatment%20of%20depression%20by%20maimonides%20rabbi%20physician%20and%20philosopher.pdf |doi=10.1176/appi.ajp.2007.07101575 |pmid=18381913 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090305065423/http://www.jewishmedicalethics.org/data/treatment%20of%20depression%20by%20maimonides%20rabbi%20physician%20and%20philosopher.pdf |archive-date=5 March 2009 }} Although he frequently wrote of his longing for solitude in order to come closer to God and to extend his reflections—elements considered essential in his philosophy to the prophetic experience—he gave over most of his time to caring for others.Abraham Heschel, ''Maimonides'' (New York: Farrar Straus, 1982), Chapter 15, "Meditation on God," pp. 157–162, and also pp. 178–180, 184–185, 204, etc. Isadore Twersky, editor, ''A Maimonides Reader'' (New York: Behrman House, 1972), commences his "Introduction" with the following remarks, p. 1: "Maimonides' biography immediately suggests a profound paradox. A philosopher by temperament and ideology, a zealous devotee of the contemplative life who eloquently portrayed and yearned for the serenity of solitude and the spiritual exuberance of meditation, he nevertheless led a relentlessly active life that regularly brought him to the brink of exhaustion." In a famous letter, Maimonides describes his daily routine. After visiting the Sultan's palace, he would arrive home exhausted and hungry, where "I would find the antechambers filled with gentiles and Jews [...] I would go to heal them, and write prescriptions for their illnesses [...] until the evening [...] and I would be extremely weak."''Responsa Pe'er HaDor'', 143. [88] => [89] => As he goes on to say in this letter, even on [[Shabbat]] he would receive members of the community. Still, he managed to write extended treatises, including not only medical and other scientific studies but some of the most systematically thought-through and influential treatises on [[halakha]] (rabbinic law) and Jewish philosophy of the Middle Ages.{{efn|Such views of his works are found in almost all scholarly studies of the man and his significance. See, for example, the "Introduction" sub-chapter by Howard Kreisel to his overview article "Moses Maimonides", in ''History of Jewish Philosophy'', edited by Daniel H. Frank and Oliver Leaman, Second Edition (New York and London: Routledge, 2003), pp. 245–246.}} [90] => [91] => In 1172–74, Maimonides wrote his famous ''[[Epistle to Yemen]]''.[[s:Epistle to Yemen|Click to see full English translation of Maimonides' "Epistle to Yemen"]] It has been suggested that his "incessant travail" undermined his own health and brought about his death at 69 (although this is a normal lifespan).The comment on the effect of his "incessant travail" on his health is by Salo Baron, "Moses Maimonides", in ''Great Jewish Personalities in Ancient and Medieval Time'', edited by Simon Noveck (B'nai B'rith Department of Adult Jewish Education, 1959), p. 227, where Baron also quotes from Maimonides' letter to Ibn Tibbon regarding his daily regime. [92] => [93] => ===Death=== [94] => {{See also|Tomb of Maimonides}}[[File:Keverambam.jpg|thumb|The [[Tomb of Maimonides]] in [[Tiberias]]]] [95] => Maimonides died on 12 December 1204 (20th of [[Tevet]] 4965) in Fustat. A variety of medieval sources beginning with [[Al-Qifti]] maintain that his body was interred near [[Lake Tiberias]], though there is no contemporary evidence for his removal from Egypt. [[Gedaliah ibn Yahya ben Joseph|Gedaliah ibn Yahya]] records that "He was buried in the [[Upper Galilee]] with elegies upon his gravestone. In the time of [[David Kimhi|[David] Kimhi]], when the sons of [[Belial]] rose up to besmirch [Maimonides] . . . they did evil. They altered his gravestone, which previously had been inscribed 'choicest of the human race (מבחר המין האנושי)', so that instead it read 'the excommunicated heretic (מוחרם ומין)'. But later, after the provocateurs had repented of their act, and praised this great man, a student repaired the gravestone to read 'choicest of the Israelites (מבחר המין הישראלי)'".''Shalshelet haQabbalah'' (Venice, 1587) f. 33b, MS Guenzberg 652 f. 76a. Today, Tiberias hosts the [[Tomb of Maimonides]], on which is inscribed "From [[Moses]] to Moses arose none like Moses."{{cite web |url=https://he.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1187235 |title=Maimonides |website=he.chabad.org |language=Hebrew |access-date=2 August 2021 |archive-date=1 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210801223206/https://he.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1187235 |url-status=live }} [96] => [97] => Maimonides and his wife, the daughter of Mishael ben Yeshayahu Halevi, had one child who survived into adulthood,אגרות הרמב"ם מהדורת שילת [[Abraham Maimonides]], who became recognized as a great scholar. He succeeded Maimonides as Nagid and as court [[physician]] at the age of eighteen. Throughout his career, he defended his father's writings against all critics. The office of Nagid was held by the Maimonides family for four successive generations until the end of the 14th century. [98] => [99] => A [[:es:Estatua de Maimónides (Cordoba)|statue of Maimonides]] was erected near the [[Córdoba Synagogue]]. [100] => [101] => Maimonides is sometimes said to be a descendant of [[King David]], although he never made such a claim.{{cite book |author1=Sarah E. Karesh |author2=Mitchell M. Hurvitz |title=Encyclopedia of Judaism |year=2005 |publisher=Facts on File |isbn=978-0-8160-5457-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z2cCZBDm8F8C&pg=PA305 |page=305 |access-date=20 September 2020 |archive-date=25 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211225011734/https://books.google.com/books?id=Z2cCZBDm8F8C&pg=PA305 |url-status=live }}{{cite book |author=H. J. Zimmels |title=Ashkenazim and Sephardim: Their Relations, Differences, and Problems as Reflected in the Rabbinical Responsa |edition=Revised |year=1997 |publisher=Ktav Publishing House |isbn=978-0-88125-491-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Svzf3uUCFToC&pg=PA283 |page=283 |access-date=20 September 2020 |archive-date=25 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211225011743/https://books.google.com/books?id=Svzf3uUCFToC&pg=PA283 |url-status=live }} [102] => [103] => ==Works== [104] => ===Mishneh Torah=== [105] => {{Main|Mishneh Torah}} [106] => With {{transliteration|he|Mishneh Torah}}, Maimonides composed a code of [[Jewish law]] with the widest-possible scope and depth. The work gathers all the binding laws from the [[Talmud]], and incorporates the positions of the [[Geonim]] (post-Talmudic early Medieval scholars, mainly from [[Mesopotamia]]). It is also known as {{transliteration|he|Yad ha-Chazaka}} or simply {{transliteration|he|Yad}} ({{lang|he|יד}}) which has the numerical value 14, representing the 14 books of the work. The ''Mishneh Torah'' made following Jewish law easier for the Jews of his time, who were struggling to understand the complex nature of Jewish rules and regulations as they had adapted over the years. [107] => [108] => Later codes of Jewish law, e.g. [[Arba'ah Turim]] by Rabbi [[Jacob ben Asher]] and [[Shulchan Aruch]] by Rabbi [[Yosef Karo]], draw heavily on {{transliteration|he|Mishneh Torah}}: both often quote whole sections verbatim. However, it met initially with much opposition.Siegelbaum, Chana Bracha (2010) [https://books.google.com/books?id=4HVwBMI5zK0C&dq=Mishneh+Torah+met+initially+opposition&pg=PA199 ''Women at the crossroads : a woman's perspective on the weekly Torah portion''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912011823/https://books.google.com/books?id=4HVwBMI5zK0C&pg=PA199&lpg=PA199&dq=Mishneh+Torah+met+initially+opposition&source=bl&ots=p7VTtHovyS&sig=_ntA1Qo23D9AQ5MvoggZ9194Tg4&hl=es-419&sa=X&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAmoVChMIldLSte66xwIVghyQCh22dA_s#v=onepage&q=Mishneh%20Torah%20met%20initially%20opposition&f=false |date=12 September 2015 }} Gush Etzion: Midreshet B'erot Bat Ayin. {{ISBN|9781936068098}} page 199 There were two main reasons for this opposition. First, Maimonides had refrained from adding references to his work for the sake of brevity; second, in the introduction, he gave the impression of wanting to "cut out" study of the Talmud,Last section of Maimonides' Introduction to Mishneh Torah to arrive at a conclusion in Jewish law, although Maimonides later wrote that this was not his intent. His most forceful opponents were the rabbis of [[Provence]] (Southern France), and a running critique by Rabbi [[Abraham ben David]] (Raavad III) is printed in virtually all editions of {{transliteration|he|Mishneh Torah}}. Nevertheless, Mishneh Torah was recognized as a monumental contribution to the systemized writing of [[halakha]]. Throughout the centuries, it has been widely studied and its halakhic decisions have weighed heavily in later rulings. [109] => [110] => In response to those who would attempt to force followers of Maimonides and his {{transliteration|he|Mishneh Torah}} to abide by the rulings of his own [[Shulchan Aruch]] or other later works, Rabbi [[Yosef Karo]] wrote: "Who would dare force communities who follow the Rambam to follow any other [[posek|decisor]] [of Jewish law], early or late? [...] The Rambam is the greatest of the decisors, and all the communities of the [[Land of Israel]] and the [[Arabian Peninsula|Arabistan]] and the [[Maghreb]] practice according to his word, and accepted him as their rabbi."{{cite book |url=https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=636&pgnum=70 |author-last=Karo |author-first=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Karo|title=Questions & Responsa Avqat Rokhel|script-title=he:אבקת רוכל|access-date=31 August 2023| at= responsum # 32 |language=he}} (first printed in [[Saloniki]] 1791) [111] => [112] => An oft-cited legal maxim from his pen is: "[[Blackstone's formulation|It is better and more satisfactory to acquit a thousand guilty persons than to put a single innocent one to death]]." He argued that executing a defendant on anything less than absolute certainty would lead to a slippery slope of decreasing burdens of proof, until defendants would be convicted merely according to the judge's caprice.Moses Maimonides, ''The Commandments, Neg. Comm. 290'', at 269–71 (Charles B. Chavel trans., 1967). [113] => [114] => ===Other Judaic and philosophical works=== [115] => [[Image:Manuscript page by Maimonides Arabic in Hebrew letters (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|An autograph fragment of Maimonides' [[The Guide for the Perplexed|''Guide for the Perplexed'']] (Judeo-Arabic)]] [116] => [[File:Maimonides-mishna.jpg|thumb|Autograph manuscript of Maimonides' ''Commentary'' to [[Sukkah (tractate)|Tractate Sukkah]], written in [[Judeo-Arabic dialects|Judeo-Arabic]] [[solitreo]]]] [117] => Maimonides composed works of Jewish scholarship, [[halakhah|rabbinic law]], philosophy, and medical texts. Most of Maimonides' works were written in [[Judeo-Arabic languages|Judeo-Arabic]]. However, the {{transliteration|he|Mishneh Torah}} was written in Hebrew. In addition to Mishneh Torah, his Jewish texts were: [118] => * ''[[Mishnah#Commentaries|Commentary on the Mishna]]'' (Arabic {{transliteration|ar|Kitab al-Siraj}}, translated into Hebrew as {{transliteration|he|Pirush Hamishnayot}}), written in [[Classical Arabic]] using the [[Hebrew alphabet]]. This was the first full commentary ever written on the entire Mishnah, which took Maimonides seven years to complete. It is considered one of the most important Mishnah commentaries, having enjoyed great popularity both in its Arabic original and its medieval Hebrew translation. The commentary includes three philosophical introductions which were also highly influential: [119] => ** The Introduction to the Mishnah deals with the nature of the oral law, the distinction between the prophet and the sage, and the organizational structure of the Mishnah. [120] => ** The Introduction to Mishnah [[Sanhedrin (tractate)|Sanhedrin]], chapter ten ({{transliteration|he|Pereḳ Ḥeleḳ}}), is an eschatological essay that concludes with Maimonides' famous creed ("the thirteen principles of faith"). [121] => ** The Introduction to [[Pirkei Avot]], popularly called ''The Eight Chapters'', is an ethical treatise. [122] => * {{transliteration|he|[[Sefer Hamitzvot]]}} (''The Book of Commandments''). In this work, Maimonides lists all the [[613 commandments|613 mitzvot]] traditionally contained in the Torah (Pentateuch). He describes fourteen {{transliteration|he|shorashim}} (roots or principles) to guide his selection. [123] => * {{transliteration|he|Sefer Ha'shamad}} (''Letter of Martydom'') [124] => * ''[[The Guide for the Perplexed]]'', a philosophical work harmonising and differentiating Aristotle's philosophy and Jewish theology. Written in Judeo-Arabic under the title {{transliteration |ar|Dalālat al-ḥāʾirīn}}, and completed between 1186 and 1190.Kehot Publication Society, Chabad.org.{{better source needed|date=January 2022}} It has been suggested that the title is derived from the Arabic phrase ''dalīl al-mutaḥayyirin'' (guide of the perplexed) a name for God in a work by [[al-Ghazālī]], echoes of whose work can be found elsewhere in Maimonides.[[Sarah Stroumsa]], ''Maimonides in His World: Portrait of a Mediterranean Thinker,'' [[Princeton University Press]] 2011 {{isbn|978-0-691-15252-3}} p.25 The first translation of this work into Hebrew was done by [[Samuel ibn Tibbon]] in 1204 just prior to Maimonides' death. [125] => * {{transliteration|he|Teshuvot}}, collected correspondence and [[responsa]], including a number of public letters (on resurrection and the [[afterlife]], on conversion to other faiths, and {{transliteration|he|[[The Yemen Epistle|Iggereth Teiman]]}}—addressed to the oppressed [[Yemenite Jews|Jewry of Yemen]]). [126] => * {{transliteration|he|Hilkhot ha-Yerushalmi}}, a fragment of a commentary on the Jerusalem Talmud, identified and published by [[Saul Lieberman]] in 1947. [127] => [128] => ===Medical works=== [129] => Maimonides' achievements in the medical field are well known, and are cited by many medieval authors. One of his more important medical works is his ''Guide to Good Health'' ({{lang|la|Regimen Sanitatis}}), which he composed in Arabic for the Sultan [[Al-Afdal ibn Salah ad-Din|al-Afdal]], son of [[Saladin]], who suffered from [[Depression (mood)|depression]].Maimonides (1963), Introduction, p. XIV The work was translated into Latin, and published in Florence in 1477, becoming the first medical book to appear in print there.Maimonides (1963), Preface, p. VI While his prescriptions may have become obsolete, "his ideas about preventive medicine, public hygiene, approach to the suffering patient, and the preservation of the health of the soul have not become obsolete."Maimonides (1963), Preface, p. VII Maimonides wrote ten known medical works in [[Arabic]] that have been translated by the [[Jewish medical ethics|Jewish medical ethicist]] [[Fred Rosner]] into contemporary English.Volume 5 translated by Barzel (foreword by Rosner). Lectures, conferences and research on Maimonides, even recently in the 21st century, have been done at medical universities in [[Morocco]]. [130] => *{{lang|la|Regimen Sanitatis}}, Suessmann Muntner (ed.), [[Mossad Harav Kook]]: Jerusalem 1963 (translated into Hebrew by [[Moses ibn Tibbon|Moshe Ibn Tibbon]]) ({{OCLC|729184001}}) [131] => * ''The Art of Cure – Extracts from Galen'' (Barzel, 1992, Vol. 5)[https://web.archive.org/web/20160128032218/http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/6/6/4/2/3/0/webimg/873411911_o.jpg Title page], [https://web.archive.org/web/20160128032227/http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/6/6/4/2/3/0/webimg/873411923_o.jpg TOC]. is essentially an extract of [[Galen]]'s extensive writings. [132] => * ''Commentary on the Aphorisms of Hippocrates'' (Rosner, 1987, Vol. 2; Hebrew:{{cite web|url=https://www.otzar.org/wotzar/Book.aspx?155175&lang=eng|title=כתבים רפואיים – ג (פירוש לפרקי אבוקראט) / משה בן מימון (רמב"ם) / ת"ש-תש"ב – אוצר החכמה|access-date=19 July 2016|archive-date=21 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160621093314/http://www.otzar.org/wotzar/Book.aspx?155175&lang=eng|url-status=live}} {{lang|he|פירוש לפרקי אבוקראט}}) is interspersed with his own views. [133] => * ''Medical AphorismsMaimonides. ''Medical Aphorisms (Treatises 1–5 6–9 10–15 16–21 22–25)'', [[Brigham Young University]], [[Provo, Utah|Provo]] – [[Utah]] of Moses'' (Rosner, 1989, Vol. 3) titled ''Fusul Musa'' in [[Arabic language|Arabic]] ("Chapters of Moses", Hebrew:{{cite web|url=https://www.otzar.org/wotzar/Book.aspx?155174&lang=eng|title=כתבים רפואיים – ב (פרקי משה ברפואה) / משה בן מימון (רמב"ם) / ת"ש-תש"ב – אוצר החכמה|access-date=19 July 2016|archive-date=21 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160621053920/http://www.otzar.org/wotzar/book.aspx?155174&lang=eng|url-status=live}} {{lang|he|פרקי משה}}) contains 1500 aphorisms and many medical conditions are described. [134] => * ''Treatise on Hemorrhoids'' (in Rosner, 1984, Vol. 1; Hebrew:{{cite web|url=https://www.otzar.org/wotzar/Book.aspx?155176&lang=eng|title=כתבים רפואיים – ד (ברפואת הטחורים) / משה בן מימון (רמב"ם) / ת"ש-תש"ב – אוצר החכמה|access-date=19 July 2016|archive-date=21 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160621120415/http://www.otzar.org/wotzar/Book.aspx?155176&lang=eng|url-status=live}} {{lang|he|ברפואת הטחורים}}) discusses also digestion and food. [135] => * ''Treatise on Cohabitation'' (in Rosner, 1984, Vol. 1) contains recipes as [[aphrodisiac]]s and anti-aphrodisiacs. [136] => * ''Treatise on Asthma'' (Rosner, 1994, Vol. 6)[https://web.archive.org/web/20160128032324/http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/6/6/4/2/3/0/webimg/873411740_o.jpg Title page], [https://web.archive.org/web/20160128032309/http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/6/6/4/2/3/0/webimg/873411751_o.jpg TOC]. discusses climates and diets and their effect on asthma and emphasizes the need for clean air. [137] => * ''Treatise on Poisons and Their Antidotes'' (in Rosner, 1984, Vol. 1) is an early [[toxicology]] textbook that remained popular for centuries. [138] => * ''Regimen of Health'' (in Rosner, 1990, Vol. 4; Hebrew:{{cite web|url=https://www.otzar.org/wotzar/Book.aspx?155173&lang=eng|title=כתבים רפואיים – א (הנהגת הבריאות) / משה בן מימון (רמב"ם) / ת"ש-תש"ב – אוצר החכמה|access-date=19 July 2016|archive-date=29 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160629080558/http://www.otzar.org/wotzar/book.aspx?155173&lang=eng|url-status=live}} {{lang|he|הנהגת הבריאות}}) is a discourse on healthy living and the mind-body connection. [139] => * ''Discourse on the Explanation of Fits'' advocates healthy living and the avoidance of overabundance. [140] => * ''Glossary of Drug Names'' (Rosner, 1992, Vol. 7)[https://web.archive.org/web/20160128032348/http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/6/6/4/2/3/0/webimg/873411994_o.jpg Title page], [https://web.archive.org/web/20160128032352/http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/6/6/4/2/3/0/webimg/873412019_o.jpg TOC]. represents a [[pharmacopeia]] with 405 paragraphs with the names of drugs in Arabic, Greek, Syrian, Persian, Berber, and Spanish. [141] => [142] => ====''The Oath of Maimonides''==== [143] => The ''[[Oath of Maimonides]]'' is a document about the medical calling and recited as a substitute for the ''[[Hippocratic Oath]]''. It is not to be confused with a more lengthy ''Prayer of Maimonides''. These documents may not have been written by Maimonides, but later. The ''Prayer'' appeared first in print in 1793 and has been attributed to [[Markus Herz]], a German physician, pupil of [[Immanuel Kant]].{{cite web |url=http://www.library.dal.ca/kellogg/Bioethics/codes/maimonides.htm |title=Oath and Prayer of Maimonides |publisher=Library.dal.ca |access-date=13 March 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080629222954/http://www.library.dal.ca/kellogg/Bioethics/codes/maimonides.htm |archive-date=29 June 2008 }} [144] => [145] => ===Treatise on logic=== [146] => The ''Treatise on Logic'' (Arabic: {{transliteration|ar|Maqala Fi-Sinat Al-Mantiq}}) has been printed 17 times, including editions in [[Latin]] (1527), [[German language|German]] (1805, 1822, 1833, 1828), [[French language|French]] (1936) by Moïse Ventura and in 1996 by Rémi Brague, and English (1938) by Israel Efros, and in an abridged Hebrew form. The work illustrates the essentials of Aristotelian logic to be found in the teachings of the great [[List of Muslim philosophers|Islamic philosophers]] such as [[Avicenna]] and, above all, [[Al-Farabi]], "the Second Master," the "First Master" being [[Aristotle]]. In his work devoted to the Treatise, [[Rémi Brague]] stresses the fact that Al-Farabi is the only philosopher mentioned therein. This indicates a line of conduct for the reader, who must read the text keeping in mind Al-Farabi's works on logic. In the Hebrew versions, the Treatise is called ''The words of Logic'' which describes the bulk of the work. The author explains the technical meaning of the words used by logicians. The Treatise duly inventories the terms used by the logician and indicates what they refer to. The work proceeds rationally through a lexicon of philosophical terms to a summary of higher philosophical topics, in 14 chapters corresponding to Maimonides' birthdate of 14 Nissan. The number 14 recurs in many of Maimonides' works. Each chapter offers a cluster of associated notions. The meaning of the words is explained and illustrated with examples. At the end of each chapter, the author carefully draws up the list of words studied. [147] => [148] => Until very recently, it was accepted that Maimonides wrote the ''Treatise on Logic'' in his twenties or even in his teen years.Abraham Heschel, ''Maimonides''. New York: Farrar Straus, 1982 p. 22 ("at sixteen") Herbert Davidson has raised questions about Maimonides' authorship of this short work (and of other short works traditionally attributed to Maimonides). He maintains that Maimonides was not the author at all, based on a report of two Arabic-language manuscripts, unavailable to Western investigators in Asia Minor.Davidson, pp. 313 ff. Rabbi [[Yosef Qafih|Yosef Kafih]] maintained that it is by Maimonides and newly translated it to Hebrew (as {{transliteration|he|Beiur M'lekhet HaHiggayon}}) from the Judeo-Arabic.{{cite web|url=https://www.otzar.org/wotzar/book.aspx?149870&lang=eng|title=באור מלאכת ההגיון / משה בן מימון (רמב"ם) / תשנ"ז – אוצר החכמה|access-date=19 July 2016|archive-date=21 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160621131149/http://www.otzar.org/wotzar/book.aspx?149870&lang=eng|url-status=live}} [149] => [150] => ==Philosophy== [151] => [152] => Through ''[[The Guide for the Perplexed]]'' and the philosophical introductions to sections of his commentaries on the Mishna, Maimonides exerted an important influence on the [[Scholasticism|Scholastic]] philosophers, especially on [[Albertus Magnus]], [[Thomas Aquinas]] and [[Duns Scotus]]. He was a Jewish Scholastic. Educated more by reading the works of Arab Muslim philosophers than by personal contact with Arabian teachers, he acquired an intimate acquaintance not only with Arab Muslim philosophy, but with the doctrines of Aristotle. Maimonides strove to reconcile [[Aristotelianism]] and science with the teachings of the [[Torah]].{{cite web|title=The Guide to the Perplexed|url= http://www.wdl.org/en/item/3963/|publisher=World Digital Library|access-date=22 January 2013|archive-date=23 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130723013042/http://www.wdl.org/en/item/3963/|url-status=live}} In his ''Guide for the Perplexed'', he often explains the function and purpose of the statutory provisions contained in the Torah against the backdrop of the historical conditions. The book was [[Maimonidean Controversy|highly controversial]] in its day, and was banned by French rabbis, who burnt copies of the work in [[Montpellier]].Jonathan Klawans,''Purity, Sacrifice, and the Temple: Symbolism and Supersessionism in the Study of Ancient Judaism,'' [[Oxford University Press]], 2009 {{isbn|978-0-195-39584-6}} p.8. [153] => [154] => ===Thirteen principles of faith=== [155] => {{Main|Jewish principles of faith}} [156] => {{Jews and Judaism sidebar}} [157] => In his commentary on the Mishnah ([[Sanhedrin (tractate)|Tractate Sanhedrin]], chapter 10), Maimonides formulates his "13 principles of faith"; and that these principles summarized what he viewed as the required beliefs of Judaism: [158] => # The [[existence of God]]. [159] => # God's [[Divine simplicity#In Jewish thought|unity]] and indivisibility into elements. [160] => # God's [[spirituality]] and [[incorporeal]]ity. [161] => # God's [[eternity]]. [162] => # [[God in Judaism#To God alone may one offer prayer|God alone]] should be the object of [[worship]]. [163] => # [[Revelation]] through God's [[prophet]]s. [164] => # The preeminence of [[Moses]] among the prophets. [165] => # That the entire Torah (both the Written and Oral law) are of Divine origin and were dictated to Moses by God on Mt. Sinai. [166] => # The [[Torah]] given by Moses is permanent and will not be replaced or changed. [167] => # God's awareness of all human actions and thoughts. [168] => # Reward of righteousness and punishment of evil. [169] => # The coming of the [[Jewish Messiah]]. [170] => # The [[resurrection of the dead]]. [171] => [172] => Maimonides is said to have compiled the principles from various Talmudic sources. These principles were controversial when first proposed, evoking criticism by Rabbis [[Hasdai Crescas]] and [[Joseph Albo]], and were effectively ignored by much of the Jewish community for the next few centuries.''Dogma in Medieval Jewish Thought'', Menachem Kellner However, these principles have become widely held and are considered to be the cardinal principles of faith for [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jews]].See, for example: [[Marc B. Shapiro]]. ''The Limits of Orthodox Theology: Maimonides' Thirteen Principles Reappraised''. Littman Library of Jewish Civilization (2011). pp. 1–14. Two poetic restatements of these principles ({{transliteration|he|[[Ani Ma'amin]]}} and {{transliteration|he|[[Yigdal]]}}) eventually became canonized in many editions of the [[Siddur]] (Jewish prayer book).e.g. {{cite web |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Siddur_Edot_HaMizrach%2C_Additions_for_Shacharit%2C_Thirteen_Principles_of_Faith.3?ven=Sefaria_Community_Translation&lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en |title=Siddur Edot HaMizrach 2C, Additions for Shacharit: Thirteen Principles of Faith |website=sefaria.org |access-date=27 September 2020 |archive-date=28 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128013032/https://www.sefaria.org/Siddur_Edot_HaMizrach%2C_Additions_for_Shacharit%2C_Thirteen_Principles_of_Faith.3?ven=Sefaria_Community_Translation&lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en |url-status=live }} [173] => [174] => The omission of a list of these principles as such within his later works, the {{transliteration|he|Mishneh Torah}} and ''[[The Guide for the Perplexed]]'', has led some to suggest that either he retracted his earlier position, or that these principles are descriptive rather than prescriptive.{{cite book |last=Landau |first=Rabbi Reuven |date=1884 |publisher=Chernovitsi |title=Sefer Degel Mahaneh Reuven |url=https://hebrewbooks.org/3998 |access-date=27 September 2020 |oclc=233297464 |language=he |archive-date=5 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210805233252/https://hebrewbooks.org/3998 |url-status=live }}{{cite journal |last=Brown |first=Jeremy |journal=The Torah U-Madda Journal |title=Rabbi Reuven Landau and the Jewish Reaction to Copernican Thought in Nineteenth Century Europe |year=2008 |publisher=Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, an affiliate of Yeshiva University |volume=15 |issue=2008 |pages=112–142 |jstor=40914730 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40914730 |access-date=27 September 2020 |archive-date=2 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201102002842/https://www.jstor.org/stable/40914730 |url-status=live }}{{cite journal |last=Shapiro |first=Marc B. |journal=The Torah U-Madda Journal |title=Maimonides' Thirteen Principles: The Last Word in Jewish Theology? |year=1993 |publisher=Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, an affiliate of Yeshiva University |volume=4 |issue=1993 |pages=187–242 |jstor=40914883 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40914883 |access-date=27 September 2020 |archive-date=4 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201004020839/https://www.jstor.org/stable/40914883 |url-status=live }}{{cite journal |last=Levy |first=David B. |title=Book Review: New Heavens and a New Earth: The Jewish Reception of Copernican Thought |publisher=Journal of Jewish Identities |volume=8(1) |issue=2015 |pages=218–220 |url=https://touroscholar.touro.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&context=tcl_pubs |website=touroscholar.touro.edu |access-date=27 September 2020 |archive-date=11 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200711211629/https://touroscholar.touro.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&context=tcl_pubs |url-status=live }}{{cite book |last=Brown |first=Jeremy |title=New Heavens and a New Earth: The Jewish Reception of Copernican Thought |date=2013 |isbn=978-0-19-975479-3 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199754793.001.0001}} [175] => [176] => ===Theology=== [177] => [[File:Measure of men.jpg|thumb|Depiction of Maimonides teaching students about the 'measure of man' in an [[illuminated manuscript]]]] [178] => Maimonides equated the [[God in Judaism|God of Abraham]] to what philosophers refer to as the [[necessary being|Necessary Being]]. God is unique in the universe, and the Torah commands that one [[Love of God#Judaism|love]] and [[Fear of God#Judaism|fear]] God ([[Book of Deuteronomy|Deut]] 10:12) on account of that uniqueness. To Maimonides, this meant that one ought to contemplate God's works and to marvel at the order and wisdom that went into their creation. When one does this, one inevitably comes to love God and to sense how insignificant one is in comparison to God. This is the basis of the Torah.Kraemer, 326-8 [179] => [180] => The principle that inspired his philosophical activity was identical to a fundamental tenet of [[scholasticism]]: there can be no contradiction between the truths which God has revealed and the findings of the human mind in science and philosophy. Maimonides primarily relied upon the science of Aristotle and the teachings of the Talmud, commonly claiming to find a basis for the latter in the former.Kraemer, 66 [181] => [182] => Maimonides' admiration for the [[Neoplatonism|Neoplatonic commentators]] led him to doctrines which the later Scholastics did not accept. For instance, Maimonides was an adherent of [[apophatic theology]]. In this theology, one attempts to describe God through negative attributes. For example, one should not say that God exists in the usual sense of the term; it can be said that God is not non-existent. One should not say that "God is wise"; but it can be said that "God is not ignorant," i.e., in some way, God has some properties of knowledge. One should not say that "God is One," but it can be stated that "there is no multiplicity in God's being." In brief, the attempt is to gain and express knowledge of God by describing what God is not, rather than by describing what God "is."Robinson, George. [https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/maimonides-conception-of-god/ "Maimonides' Conception of God/"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180501092948/https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/maimonides-conception-of-god/ |date=1 May 2018 }} ''My Jewish Learning''. 30 April 2018. [183] => [184] => Maimonides argued adamantly that God is not corporeal. This was central to his thinking about the sin of [[idolatry]]. Maimonides insisted that all of the [[anthropomorphic]] phrases pertaining to God in sacred texts are to be interpreted [[metaphor]]ically. A related tenet of Maimonidean theology is the notion that the [[613 commandments|commandments]], especially those pertaining to [[Korban|sacrifices]], are intended to help wean the Israelites away from idolatry.Reuven Chaim Klein, "[https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/12/5/363/htm Weaning Away from Idolatry: Maimonides on the Purpose of Ritual Sacrifices] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211029111645/https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/12/5/363/htm |date=2021-10-29 }}", ''Religions'' 12(5), 363. [185] => [186] => Maimonides also argued that God embodied [[reason]], [[intellect]], [[science]], and [[nature]], and was [[omnipotent]] and indescribable.{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1120116712 |title=Judaism for Dummies |last2=Blatner |last1=Falcon |first1=Ted |first2=David |publisher=[[Wiley (publisher)|John Wiley & Sons, Inc.]] |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-119-64307-4 |edition=2nd |location=Hoboken, New Jersey |pages=25, 27, 30–31 |oclc=1120116712 |author-link2=David Blatner}} He said that science, the growth of scientific fields, and discovery of the unknown by comprehension of nature was a way to appreciate God. [187] => [188] => ===Character development=== [189] => {{See also|Golden mean (Judaism)}} [190] => {{Jewish philosophy|expanded=Medieval}} [191] => Maimonides taught about the developing of one's [[moral character]]. Although his life predated the modern concept of a [[personality]], Maimonides believed that each person has an innate disposition along an ethical and emotional spectrum. Although one's disposition is often determined by factors outside of one's control, human beings have [[free will]] to choose to behave in ways that build character.Telushkin, 29 He wrote, "One is obligated to conduct his affairs with others in a gentle and pleasing manner."Commentary on ''The Ethics of the Fathers'' 1:15. Qtd. in Telushkin, 115 Maimonides advised that those with antisocial character traits should identify those traits and then make a conscious effort to behave in the opposite way. For example, an arrogant person should practice humility.Kraemer, 332-4 If the circumstances of one's environment are such that it is impossible to behave ethically, one must move to a new location.MT ''De'ot'' 6:1 [192] => [193] => ===Prophecy=== [194] => Maimonides agreed with "the Philosopher" (Aristotle) that the use of logic is the "right" way of thinking. He claimed that in order to understand how to know God, every human being must, by study, and meditation attain the degree of perfection required to reach the [[prophet]]ic state. Despite his rationalistic approach, he does not explicitly reject the previous ideas (as portrayed, for example, by Rabbi [[Judah Halevi|Yehuda Halevi]] in his {{transliteration|he|[[Kuzari]]}}) that in order to become a prophet, God must intervene. Maimonides teaches that prophecy is the highest purpose of the most learned and refined individuals. [195] => [196] => ===The problem of evil=== [197] => Maimonides wrote on [[theodicy]] (the philosophical attempt to reconcile the existence of a God with the existence of evil). He took the premise that an omnipotent and good God exists.{{cite book|author=Moses Maimonides|title=The Guide to the Perplexed|year=2007|publisher=BN Publishers}}{{cite encyclopedia|author=Joseph Jacobs|title=Moses Ben Maimon|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=905&letter=M&search=maimonides#ixzz1GVE5kJqV|encyclopedia=Jewish Encyclopedia|access-date=13 March 2011|archive-date=23 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110523165222/http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=905&letter=M&search=Maimonides#ixzz1GVE5kJqV|url-status=live}}{{cite journal|author=Shlomo Pines|title=Maimonides (1135–1204)|journal=Encyclopedia of Philosophy|year=2006|volume=5|pages=647–654}}{{cite journal|author=Isadore Twersky|title=Maimonides, Moses|journal=Encyclopedia of Religion|year=2005|volume=8|pages=5613–5618}} In ''The Guide for the Perplexed'', Maimonides writes that all the evil that exists within human beings stems from their individual attributes, while all good comes from a universally shared humanity (Guide 3:8). He says that there are people who are guided by higher purpose, and there are those who are guided by physicality and must strive to find the higher purpose with which to guide their actions. [198] => [199] => To justify the existence of evil, assuming God is both omnipotent and omnibenevolent, Maimonides postulates that one who created something by causing its opposite not to exist is not the same as creating something that exists; so evil is merely the absence of good. God did not create evil, rather God created good, and evil exists where good is absent (Guide 3:10). Therefore, all good is divine invention, and evil both is not and comes secondarily. [200] => [201] => Maimonides contests the common view that evil outweighs good in the world. He says that if one were to examine existence only in terms of humanity, then that person may observe evil to dominate good, but if one looks at the whole of the universe, then he sees good is significantly more common than evil (Guide 3:12). Man, he reasons, is too insignificant a figure in God's myriad works to be their primary characterizing force, and so when people see mostly evil in their lives, they are not taking into account the extent of positive Creation outside of themselves. [202] => [203] => Maimonides believes that there are three types of evil in the world: evil caused by nature, evil that people bring upon others, and evil man brings upon himself (Guide 3:12). The first type of evil Maimonides states is the rarest form, but arguably of the most necessary—the balance of life and death in both the human and animal worlds itself, he recognizes, is essential to God's plan. Maimonides writes that the second type of evil is relatively rare, and that humanity brings it upon itself. The third type of evil humans bring upon themselves and is the source of most of the ills of the world. These are the result of people's falling victim to their physical desires. To prevent the majority of evil which stems from harm one does to oneself, one must learn how to respond to one's bodily urges. [204] => [205] => ===Skepticism of astrology=== [206] => {{further|Jewish views on astrology}} [207] => Maimonides answered an inquiry concerning astrology, addressed to him from [[Marseille]].Joel E. Kramer, "Moses Maimonides: An Intellectual Portrait," p. 45. In {{cite book |title=The Cambridge Companion to Maimonides |editor=Kenneth Seeskin |date=September 2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-52578-7}} He responded that man should believe only what can be supported either by rational proof, by the evidence of the senses, or by trustworthy authority. He affirms that he had studied astrology, and that it does not deserve to be described as a science. He ridicules the concept that the fate of a man could be dependent upon the constellations; he argues that such a theory would rob life of purpose, and would make man a slave of destiny.{{cite book|last=Rudavsky|first=T.|title=Maimonidies|date=March 2010|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|location=Singapore|isbn=978-1-4051-4898-6|page=10}} [208] => [209] => ===True beliefs versus necessary beliefs=== [210] => In ''The Guide for the Perplexed'' Book III, Chapter 28,{{cite web |url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/gfp/gfp164.htm |title=Guide for the Perplexed, on |publisher=Sacred-texts.com |access-date=13 March 2010 |archive-date=14 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100414043124/http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/gfp/gfp164.htm |url-status=live }} Maimonides draws a distinction between "true beliefs," which were beliefs about God that produced intellectual perfection, and "necessary beliefs," which were conducive to improving social order. Maimonides places anthropomorphic personification statements about God in the latter class. He uses as an example the notion that God becomes "angry" with people who do wrong. In the view of Maimonides (taken from [[Avicenna]]), God does not become angry with people, as God has no human passions; but it is important for them to believe God does, so that they desist from doing wrong. [211] => [212] => === Righteousness and charity === [213] => [214] => Maimonides conceived of an eight-level hierarchy of [[tzedakah]], where the highest form is to give a gift, loan, or partnership that will result in the recipient becoming self-sufficient instead of living upon others. In his view, the lowest form of ''tzedakah'' is to give begrudgingly.{{cite web |title=Maimonides' Eight Levels of Charity |url=https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/45907/jewish/Eight-Levels-of-Charity.htm |access-date=11 March 2023}} The eight levels are:{{cite web |url=http://www.jtfn.org/sites/default/files/docs/resources/maimonides_ladder_and_tzedakah_texts.pdf |title=Maimonides Eight Degrees of Tzedakah |work=Jewish Teen Funders Network |access-date=November 26, 2018 |archive-date=23 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181123182720/http://www.jtfn.org/sites/default/files/docs/resources/maimonides_ladder_and_tzedakah_texts.pdf |url-status=dead }} [215] => # Giving begrudgingly [216] => # Giving less than you should, but giving it cheerfully [217] => # Giving after being asked [218] => # Giving before being asked [219] => # Giving when you do not know the recipient's identity, but the recipient knows your identity [220] => # Giving when you know the recipient's identity, but the recipient doesn't know your identity [221] => # Giving when neither party knows the other's identity [222] => # Enabling the recipient to become self-reliant [223] => [224] => ===Eschatology=== [225] => {{See also|Jewish eschatology}} [226] => [227] => ====The Messianic era==== [228] => Perhaps one of Maimonides' most highly acclaimed and renowned writings is his treatise on the Messianic era, written originally in [[Judeo-Arabic]] and which he elaborates on in great detail in his Commentary on the [[Mishnah]] (Introduction to the 10th chapter of [[Sanhedrin (tractate)|tractate Sanhedrin]], also known as {{transliteration|he|Pereḳ Ḥeleḳ}}). [242] => [243] => ====Resurrection==== [244] => [245] => Religious Jews believed in immortality in a spiritual sense, and most believed that the future would include a messianic era and a resurrection of the dead. This is the subject of [[Jewish eschatology]]. Maimonides wrote much on this topic, but in most cases he wrote about the immortality of the soul for people of perfected intellect; his writings were usually {{em|not}} about the resurrection of dead bodies. Rabbis of his day were critical of this aspect of this thought, and there was controversy over his true views.{{efn|According to Maimonides, certain Jews in Yemen had sent to him a letter in the year 1189, evidently irritated as to why he had not mentioned the physical resurrection of the dead in his {{transliteration|he|Hil. Teshuvah}}, chapter 8, and how that some persons in Yemen had begun to instruct, based on Maimonides' teaching, that when the body dies it will disintegrate and the soul will never return to such bodies after death. Maimonides denied that he ever insinuated such things, and reiterated that the body would indeed resurrect, but that the "world to come" was something different in nature. See: Maimonides' {{transliteration|he|Ma'amar Teḥayyath Hamethim}} (Treatise on the Resurrection of the Dead), published in ''Book of Letters and Responsa'' ({{lang|he|ספר אגרות ותשובות}}), Jerusalem 1978, p. 9 (Hebrew).}} [246] => [247] => Eventually, Maimonides felt pressured to write a treatise on the subject, known as "The Treatise on Resurrection." In it, he wrote that those who claimed that he believed the verses of the [[Tanakh|Hebrew Bible]] referring to the resurrection were only allegorical were spreading falsehoods. Maimonides asserts that belief in resurrection is a fundamental truth of Judaism about which there is no disagreement.Kraemer, 422 [248] => [249] => While his position on the [[World to come|World to Come]] (non-corporeal eternal life as described above) may be seen as being in contradiction with his position on bodily resurrection, Maimonides resolved them with a then unique solution: Maimonides believed that the resurrection was not permanent or general. In his view, God never violates the laws of nature. Rather, divine interaction is by way of [[angel]]s, whom Maimonides often regards to be metaphors for the laws of nature, the principles by which the physical universe operates, or Platonic eternal forms.{{efn|This view is not always consistent throughout Maimonides' work; in {{transliteration |he|Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah}}, chapters 2–4, Maimonides describes angels that are actually created beings.}} Thus, if a unique event actually occurs, even if it is perceived as a miracle, it is not a violation of the world's order.Commentary on the Mishna, Avot 5:6 [250] => [251] => In this view, any dead who are resurrected must eventually die again. In his discussion of the [[Jewish principles of faith|13 principles of faith]], the first five deal with knowledge of God, the next four deal with prophecy and the Torah, while the last four deal with reward, punishment and the ultimate redemption. In this discussion Maimonides says nothing of a universal resurrection. All he says it is that whatever resurrection does take place, it will occur at an indeterminate time before the world to come, which he repeatedly states will be purely spiritual. [252] => [253] => ====The World to Come==== [254] => Maimonides distinguishes two kinds of intelligence in man, the one material in the sense of being dependent on, and influenced by, the body, and the other immaterial, that is, independent of the bodily organism. The latter is a direct emanation from the universal [[active intellect]]; this is his interpretation of the {{transliteration|grc|noûs poietikós}} of Aristotelian philosophy. It is acquired as the result of the efforts of the soul to attain a correct knowledge of the absolute, pure intelligence of God.{{citation needed|date=August 2021}} [255] => [256] => The knowledge of God is a form of knowledge which develops in us the immaterial intelligence, and thus confers on man an immaterial, spiritual nature. This confers on the soul that perfection in which human happiness consists, and endows the soul with [[immortality]]. One who has attained a correct knowledge of God has reached a condition of existence, which renders him immune from all the accidents of fortune, from all the allurements of sin, and from death itself. Man is in a position to work out his own salvation and his immortality.{{citation needed|date=August 2021}} [257] => [258] => [[Baruch Spinoza]]'s doctrine of immortality was strikingly similar. However, Spinoza teaches that the way to attain the knowledge which confers immortality is the progress from sense-knowledge through scientific knowledge to philosophical intuition of all things {{lang|la|sub specie æternitatis}}, while Maimonides holds that the road to perfection and immortality is the path of duty as described in the [[Torah]] and the rabbinic understanding of the [[oral law]].{{citation needed|date=August 2021}} [259] => [260] => Maimonides describes the world to come as the stage after a person lives their life in this world as well as the final state of existence after the Messianic Era. Some time after the resurrection of the dead, souls will live forever without bodies. They will enjoy the radiance of the Divine Presence without the need for food, drink or sexual pleasures.{{cite web |title=Mishneh Torah, Repentance 9:1 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Mishneh_Torah%2C_Repentance.9.1?lang=bi&with=Commentary&lang2=en |website=sefaria.org |access-date=2 August 2021 |archive-date=1 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210801074355/https://www.sefaria.org/Mishneh_Torah,_Repentance.9.1?lang=bi&with=Commentary&lang2=en |url-status=live }} [261] => [262] => ===Maimonides and Kabbalah=== [263] => Maimonides was not known as a supporter of [[Kabbalah]], although a strong intellectual type of mysticism has been discerned in his philosophy.Abraham Heschel, ''Maimonides'' (New York: Farrar Straus, 1982), Chapter 15, "Meditation on God," pp. 157–162. In ''The Guide for the Perplexed'', Maimonides declares his intention to conceal from the average reader his explanations of {{transliteration|he|Sod}}{{efn|"Within [the Torah] there is also another part which is called 'hidden' ({{transliteration|he|mutsnaʿ}}), and this [concerns] the secrets ({{transliteration|he|sodot}}) which the human intellect cannot attain, like the meanings of the statutes ({{transliteration|he|ḥukim}}) and other hidden secrets. They can neither be attained through the intellect nor through sheer volition, but they are revealed before Him who created [the Torah]". (Rabbi Abraham ben Asher, ''The Or ha-Sekhel'')}} esoteric meanings of Torah. The nature of these "secrets" is debated. Religious Jewish rationalists, and the mainstream academic view, read Maimonides' Aristotelianism as a mutually-exclusive alternative metaphysics to [[Kabbalah]].Such as the first (religious) criticism of Kabbalah, ''Ari Nohem'', by [[Leon Modena]] from 1639. In it, Modena urges a return to Maimonidean Aristotelianism. ''The Scandal of Kabbalah: Leon Modena, Jewish Mysticism, Early Modern Venice'', Yaacob Dweck, Princeton University Press, 2011. Some academics hold that Maimonides' project fought against the Proto-Kabbalah of his time.Menachem Kellner, ''Maimonides' Confrontation With Mysticism'', Littman Library, 2006 [264] => [265] => Maimonides employed rationalism to defend Judaism rather than limit inquiry of {{transliteration|he|Sod}} only to rationalism. His rationalism, if not taken as an opposition,{{efn|Contemporary academic views in the study of Jewish mysticism, hold that 12–13th century Kabbalists wrote down and systemised their transmitted oral doctrines in oppositional response to Maimonidean rationalism. See e.g. Moshe Idel, ''Kabbalah: New Perspectives''}} also assisted the Kabbalists, purifying their transmitted teaching from mistaken [[Anthropomorphism in Kabbalah|corporeal]] interpretations that could have been made from [[Hekhalot literature]],{{efn|The first comprehensive systemiser of Kabbalah, [[Moses ben Jacob Cordovero]], for example, was influenced by Maimonides. One example is his instruction to undercut any conception of a Kabbalistic idea after grasping it in the mind. One's intellect runs to God in learning the idea, then returns in qualified rejection of false spatial/temporal conceptions of the idea's truth, as the human mind can only think in material references. Cited in Louis Jacobs, ''The Jewish Religion: A Companion'', Oxford University Press, 1995, entry on Cordovero.}} though Kabbalists held that their theosophy alone allowed human access to Divine mysteries.Norman Lamm, ''The Religious Thought of Hasidism: Text and Commentary'', Ktav Pub, 1999: Introduction to chapter on Faith/Reason has historical overview of religious reasons for opposition to Jewish philosophy, including the Ontological reason, one Medieval Kabbalist holding that "we begin where they end". [266] => [267] => ==Influence and legacy== [268] => [[File:Guide for the Perplexed by Maimonides.jpg|thumb|The title page of ''[[The Guide for the Perplexed]]'']] [269] => Maimonides' {{transliteration|he|Mishneh Torah}} is considered by Jews even today as one of the chief authoritative codifications of Jewish law and ethics. It is exceptional for its logical construction, concise and clear expression and extraordinary learning, so that it became a standard against which other later codifications were often measured.Isidore Twersky, ''Introduction to the Code of Maimonides (Mishneh Torah)'', Yale Judaica Series, vol. XII (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1980), passim, and especially Chapter VII, "Epilogue," pp. 515–38. It is still closely studied in rabbinic {{transliteration|he|yeshivot}} (seminaries). The first to compile a comprehensive lexicon containing an alphabetically arranged list of difficult words found in Maimonides' {{transliteration|he|Mishneh Torah}} was [[Tanhum ha-Yerushalmi|Tanḥum ha-Yerushalmi]] (1220–1291).{{cite journal |last=Reif |first=Stefan C. |author-link=Stefan Reif |title=Review of 'Sobre la Vida y Obra de Maimonides' | editor = Jesus Pelaez del Rosal|journal=[[Journal of Semitic Studies]] |date=1994 |volume=39 |issue= 1 |page=124 |doi=10.1093/jss/XXXIX.1.123}} A popular medieval saying that also served as his [[epitaph]] states, "From [[Moses|Mosheh]] [of the Torah] to Mosheh [Maimonides] there was none like Mosheh." It chiefly referred to his rabbinic writings. [270] => [271] => However, Maimonides was also one of the most influential figures in medieval Jewish philosophy. His adaptation of [[Aristotelianism|Aristotelian thought]] to Biblical faith deeply impressed later Jewish thinkers, and had an unexpected immediate historical impact.This is covered in all histories of the Jews. E.g., including such a brief overview as Cecil Roth, ''A History of the Jews'', Revised Edition (New York: Schocken, 1970), pp. 175–179. Some more acculturated Jews in the century that followed his death, particularly in Spain, sought to apply Maimonides' Aristotelianism in ways that undercut traditionalist belief and observance, giving rise to an [[Maimonidean Controversy|intellectual controversy]] in Spanish and southern French Jewish circles.D.J. Silver, ''Maimonidean Criticism and the Maimonidean Controversy, 1180–1240'' (Leiden: Brill, 1965), is still the most detailed account. The intensity of debate spurred Catholic Church interventions against "heresy" and a general confiscation of rabbinic texts. [272] => [273] => In reaction, the more radical interpretations of Maimonides were defeated. At least amongst Ashkenazi Jews, there was a tendency to ignore his specifically philosophical writings and to stress instead the rabbinic and halakhic writings. These writings often included considerable philosophical chapters or discussions in support of halakhic observance; [[David Hartman (rabbi)|David Hartman]] observes that Maimonides clearly expressed "the traditional support for a philosophical understanding of God both in the Aggadah of Talmud and in the behavior of the hasid [the pious Jew]."David Hartman, ''Maimonides: Torah and Philosophic Quest'' (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1976), p. 98. Maimonidean thought continues to influence traditionally observant Jews.On the extensive philosophical aspects of Maimonides' halakhic works, see in particular Isidore Twersky's ''Introduction to the Code of Maimonides (Mishneh Torah)'', Yale Judaica Series, vol. XII (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1980). Twersky devotes a major portion of this authoritative study to the philosophical aspects of the ''Mishneh Torah'' itself.The Maimunist or Maimonidean controversy is covered in all histories of Jewish philosophy and general histories of the Jews. For an overview, with bibliographic references, see Idit Dobbs-Weinstein, "The Maimonidean Controversy," in ''History of Jewish Philosophy'', Second Edition, edited by Daniel H. Frank and Oliver Leaman (London and New York: Routledge, 2003), pp. 331–349. Also see Colette Sirat, ''A History of Jewish Philosophy in the Middle Ages'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), pp. 205–272. [274] => [275] => The most rigorous medieval critique of Maimonides is [[Hasdai Crescas]]' {{transliteration|he|[[Or Adonai]]}}. Crescas bucked the eclectic trend, by demolishing the certainty of the Aristotelian world-view, not only in religious matters but also in the most basic areas of medieval science (such as physics and geometry). Crescas' critique provoked a number of 15th-century scholars to write defenses of Maimonides. [276] => [277] => Because of his path-finding synthesis of Aristotle and Biblical faith, Maimonides had an influence on Christian theologian [[Thomas Aquinas]] who refers to Maimonides in several of his works, including the ''[[Commentary on the Sentences]]''.{{cite book |author=Mercedes Rubio|title=Aquinas and Maimonides on the possibility of the knowledge of god |url=https://archive.org/details/aquinasmaimonide00rubi|url-access=limited|pages=11, [https://archive.org/details/aquinasmaimonide00rubi/page/n71 65]–126, 211, 218 |publisher=[[Springer-Verlag]] |year=2006 |doi=10.1007/1-4020-4747-9_2 |isbn=978-1-4020-4720-6|chapter=Aquinas and Maimonides on the Divine Names }} [278] => [279] => Maimonides' combined abilities in the fields of theology, philosophy and medicine make his work attractive today as a source during discussions of evolving norms in these fields, particularly medicine. An example is the modern citation of his method of determining death of the body in the controversy regarding declaration of death to permit [[organ donation]] for [[Organ transplantation|transplantation]].Vivian McAlister, ''Maimonides's cooling period and organ retrieval'' ([[Canadian Journal of Surgery]] 2004; 47: 8 – 9) [280] => [281] => ===Maimonides and the Modernists=== [282] => [[File:Maimonides, at Rambam Medical Center (square).jpg|thumb |left|Plaque of Maimonides at Rambam Medical Center, [[Haifa]]]] [283] => Maimonides remains one of the most widely debated Jewish thinkers among modern scholars. He has been adopted as a symbol and an intellectual hero by almost all major movements in modern Judaism, and has proven important to philosophers such as [[Leo Strauss]]; and his views on the importance of [[humility]] have been taken up by modern [[humanism|humanist]] philosophers. [284] => In academia, particularly within the area of Jewish Studies, the teaching of Maimonides has been dominated by traditional scholars, generally Orthodox, who place a very strong emphasis on Maimonides as a rationalist; one result is that certain sides of Maimonides' thought, including his opposition to [[anthropocentrism]], have been obviated.{{Citation needed|date=December 2017}} There are movements in some postmodern circles to claim Maimonides for other purposes, as within the discourse of [[ecotheology]].{{cite web|url=http://neohasid.org/torah/rambam/|title=NeoHasid.org | Rambam and Gaia|website=neohasid.org|access-date=11 December 2013|archive-date=8 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131208213823/http://www.neohasid.org/torah/rambam/|url-status=live}} Maimonides' reconciliation of the philosophical and the traditional has given his legacy an extremely diverse and dynamic quality. [285] => [286] => ===Tributes and memorials=== [287] => [[File:Israel 1 Sheqel 1986 Obverse & Reverse.jpg|thumb|Maimonides used to be on the [[Israeli new shekel#Series A (1985–1999)|1 ILS banknote]].]] [288] => Maimonides has been memorialized in numerous ways. For example, one of the Learning Communities at the [[Tufts University School of Medicine]] bears his name. There is also [[Maimonides School]] in [[Brookline, Massachusetts]], [[Maimonides Academy School]] in [[Los Angeles, California]], [[Lycée Maïmonide]] in Casablanca, the Brauser Maimonides Academy in [[Hollywood, Florida]],{{cite web|url=http://www.floridajewishnews.com/site/a/major_grant_awarded_to_maimonides/ |work=Florida Jewish Journal |title=Major Grant Awarded to Maimonides |author=David Morris |access-date=13 March 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070730212312/http://www.floridajewishnews.com/site/a/major_grant_awarded_to_maimonides/ |archive-date=30 July 2007 }} and [[Maimonides Medical Center]] in [[Brooklyn]], New York. [[Beit Harambam Congregation]], a Sephardi synagogue in [[Philadelphia]], Pennsylvania, is named after him.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58152263/the-philadelphia-inquirer/|title=Fear meets fellowship|first=Jane|last=Eisner|date=1 June 2000|page=25|newspaper=[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]]|via=[[Newspapers.com]]|access-date=29 August 2020|archive-date=23 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201123194859/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58152263/the-philadelphia-inquirer/|url-status=live}}{{open access}} [289] => [290] => Issued from 8 May 1986 to 1995,{{cite news | url=https://www.leftovercurrency.com/exchange/israeli-new-shekel/demonetized-israeli-new-shekel-banknotes/1-israeli-new-shekel-banknote-rabbi-moses-maimonides/ | title=1 Israeli New Shekel (Rabbi Moses Maimonides) – exchange yours | newspaper=Leftover Currency }} the Series A of the [[Israeli New Shekel]] featured an illustration of Maimonides on the obverse and the place of his burial in [[Tiberias]] on the reverse on its 1-shekel bill.{{cite book|last=Linzmayer|first=Owen|title=The Banknote Book|chapter=Israel|publisher=BanknoteNews.com|year=2012|location=San Francisco, CA|chapter-url=http://www.banknotebook.com|access-date=25 December 2021|archive-date=29 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120829063428/http://www.banknotebook.com/|url-status=live}} [291] => [292] => In 2004, conferences were held at [[Yale]], [[Florida International University]], [[Penn State]], and the [[Rambam Health Care Campus|Rambam Hospital]] in [[Haifa]], Israel, which is named after him. To commemorate the 800th anniversary of his death, [[Harvard University]] issued a memorial volume.{{cite web |url=http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/HARMAM.html |title=Harvard University Press: Maimonides after 800 Years : Essays on Maimonides and his Influence by Jay M. Harris |publisher=Hup.harvard.edu |access-date=13 March 2010 |archive-date=19 May 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090519030853/http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/HARMAM.html |url-status=live }} In 1953, the Israel Postal Authority issued a [[postage stamp]] of Maimonides, pictured. [293] => [294] => In March 2008, during the [[Euro-Mediterranean Partnership|Euromed]] Conference of Ministers of Tourism, The Tourism Ministries of Israel, Morocco and Spain agreed to work together on a joint project that will trace the footsteps of the Rambam and thus boost religious tourism in the cities of Córdoba, Fez and [[Tiberias]].Shelly Paz (8 May 2008) [https://web.archive.org/web/20110718101800/http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1209627041328&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull Tourism Ministry plans joint project with Morocco, Spain]. ''The Jerusalem Post'' [295] => [296] => Between December 2018 and January 2019 the [[Israel Museum]] held a special exhibit dedicated to the writings of Maimonides.{{cite web|url= https://www.imj.org.il/en/exhibitions/maimonides|title= Maimonides | place = Jerusalem|website=The Israel Museum |date=2 October 2018|access-date=11 July 2019|archive-date=20 May 2019|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190520012052/https://www.imj.org.il/en/exhibitions/maimonides |url-status=live}} [297] => [298] => ==Burial place== [299] => [[File:Tomb marker of Rabbi Moses ben Maimon.jpg|thumb|Burial marker at the tomb of Rabbi Moses ben Maimon in Tiberias.]] [300] => He is buried in HaRambam compound in [[Tiberias]]. Other notable rabbis also buried in HaRambam compound / complex are: [301] => * [[Isaiah Horowitz|Shelah HaKadosh]] [302] => * [[Eliezer ben Hurcanus]] [303] => * [[Yohanan ben Zakkai]] [304] => * [[Joshua ben Hananiah]] [305] => [306] => ==See also== [307] => * [[Averroes]] [308] => * {{transliteration|he|[[s:Epistle to Yemen|Iggeret Teman]]}} (''Epistle to Yemen'') [309] => * [[Maimonides Foundation]] [310] => * [[Mimouna]] [311] => [312] => ==Notes== [313] => {{notelist}} [314] => [315] => ==References== [316] => {{Reflist}} [317] => [318] => [319] => ==Bibliography== [320] => {{refbegin}} [321] => * {{JewishEncyclopedia|article=Moses Ben Maimon|url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=905&letter=M|author1=[[Joseph Jacobs]] |author2=[[Isaac Broydé]] |others=The Executive Committee of the Editorial Board, and [[Jacob Zallel Lauterbach]]}} [322] => * {{cite book|first=Uriel|last=Barzel|title=Maimonides' Medical Writings: The Art of Cure Extracts|volume=5|place=Galen|publisher=Maimonides Research Institute|date=1992|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PPraAAAAMAAJ|access-date=14 November 2015|archive-date=17 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160617152544/https://books.google.com/books?id=PPraAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}} [323] => * {{cite book|first=Gerrit |last=Bos |title=Maimonides. On Asthma (vol.1, vol.2)|place=Provo, Utah|publisher=Brigham Young University Press|date=2002}} [324] => * {{cite book|last=Bos |first=Gerrit |title=Maimonides. Medical Aphorisms Treatise 1–5 (6–9, 10–15, 16–21, 22–25)|place=Provo, Utah|publisher=Brigham Young University Press|date=2007}} [325] => * {{cite book|first=Herbert A.|last=Davidson|date=2005|title=Moses Maimonides: The Man and his Works|publisher=Oxford University Press}} [326] => * {{cite book|first=Rabbi Yaakov|last=Feldman|title=Shemonah Perakim: The Eight Chapters of the Rambam|publisher=[[Targum Press]]|date=2008}} [327] => * {{cite book|first=Marvin|last=Fox|title=Interpreting Maimonides|publisher=Univ. of Chicago Press|date=1990}} [328] => * {{cite book|first=Julius |last=Guttman |author-link=Julius Guttman|title=Philosophies of Judaism|editor=David Silverman|place=Philadelphia|publisher=Jewish Publication Society of America|date=1964}} [329] => * {{cite book|first=Moshe|last=Halbertal|author-link=Moshe Halbertal|title=Maimonides: Life and Thought|publisher=Princeton University Press|date=2013|isbn=978-0-691-15851-8|url=http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10093.html|access-date=23 June 2015|archive-date=5 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905085947/http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10093.html|url-status=live}} [330] => * {{cite book|title=Leo Strauss on Maimonides: The Complete Writings|first=Kenneth|last=Hart Green|place=Chicago|publisher=University of Chicago Press|date=2013}} [331] => * {{cite book |first=David |last=Hartman |author-link=David Hartman (rabbi) |title=Maimonides: Torah and Philosophic Quest |url=https://archive.org/details/maimonidestorahp00hart |url-access=registration |place=Philadelphia |publisher=Jewish Publication Society of America |date=1976 |isbn=978-0-8276-0083-6 }} [332] => * {{cite book|first= Abraham Joshua |last=Heschel|author-link=Abraham Joshua Heschel |title=Maimonides: The Life and Times of a Medieval Jewish Thinker|place=New York|publisher=Farrar Straus|date=1982 }} [333] => * {{cite book|first=Isaac |last=Husik |author-link=Isaac Husik|title=A History of Jewish Philosophy|publisher=Dover Publications, Inc.|date=2002|orig-year=1941|ref=pp. 236–311}} Originally published by the Jewish Publication of America, Philadelphia. [334] => * {{cite journal|first=Aryeh |last=Kaplan |author-link=Aryeh Kaplan|title=Maimonides Principles: The Fundamentals of Jewish Faith|journal=The Aryeh Kaplan Anthology|volume=I|date=1994 }} [335] => * {{cite book|first=Menachem|last=Kellner|title=Dogma in Medieval Jewish Thought|url=https://archive.org/details/dogmainmedievalj0000kell|url-access=registration|place=London|publisher=Oxford University press|date=1986|isbn=978-0-19-710044-8}} [336] => * {{cite journal|first=George Y.|last=Kohler|title=Reading Maimonides' Philosophy in 19th Century Germany|journal=Amsterdam Studies in Jewish Philosophy|volume=15|date=2012}} [337] => * {{cite book|first=Joel L.|last=Kraemer|title=Maimonides: The Life and World of One of Civilization's Greatest Minds|publisher=[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]]|date=2008}} [338] => * {{cite book|first1=Daniel H.|last1=Leaman|first2=Frank|last2=Leaman|first3=Oliver|last3=Leaman|title=History of Jewish Philosophy|edition=Second|place=London and New York|publisher=Routledge|date=2003|ref=pp. 228–378}} See especially chapters 10 through 15. [339] => *{{cite book |last=Maimonides |author-link=Maimonides |editor=Suessmann Muntner |title=Moshe Ben Maimon (Maimonides) Medical Works |date=1963|publisher=Mossad Harav Kook |translator=Moshe Ibn Tibbon |location=Jerusalem |language=he |oclc=729184001 }} [340] => *{{cite book |last=Maimonides |author-link=Maimonides |title=[[Mishnah]], with Maimonides' Commentary |publisher=[[Mossad Harav Kook]] |translator=[[Yosef Qafih]] |volume=3 |date=1967|location=Jerusalem |language=he |oclc=741081810 }} [341] => * {{cite book|first=Fred |last=Rosner |author-link=Fred Rosner|title=Maimonides' Medical Writings|volume=7 Vols|publisher=Maimonides Research Institute|date=1984–1994 }} (Volume 5 translated by Uriel Barzel; foreword by Fred Rosner.) [342] => * {{cite journal|first=David|last=Seidenberg|title=Maimonides – His Thought Related to Ecology|journal=The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature|date=2005|url=http://neohasid.org/torah/rambam/|access-date=11 December 2013|archive-date=8 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131208213823/http://www.neohasid.org/torah/rambam/|url-status=live}} [343] => * {{cite journal|first=Marc B.|last=Shapiro|title=Maimonides Thirteen Principles: The Last Word in Jewish Theology?|journal=The Torah U-Maddah Journal|volume= 4|date=1993}} [344] => * {{cite book|first=Marc B.|last=Shapiro|title=Studies in Maimonides and His Interpreters|place=Scranton (PA)|publisher=University of Scranton Press|date=2008}} [345] => * {{cite book|first=Colette|last=Sirat|title=A History of Jewish Philosophy in the Middle Ages|place=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=1985|ref=pp. 131 to 344}} See chapters 5 through 8. [346] => * {{cite book|first=Leo|last=Strauss|author-link=Leo Strauss |title=How to Begin to Study the Guide: The Guide of the Perplexed – Maimonides|volume=1|editor=Shlomo Pines|language=ar|publisher=University of Chicago Press|date=1974}} [347] => * {{cite book|first=Leo|last=Strauss|author-link=Leo Strauss|title=Persecution and the Art of Writing|url=https://archive.org/details/persecutionartof0000stra|url-access=registration|publisher=University of Chicago Press|date=1988|isbn=978-0-226-77711-5}} reprint [348] => * {{cite book|first=Sarah|last=Stroumsa|title=Maimonides in His World: Portrait of a Mediterranean Thinker|publisher=Princeton University Press|date=2009|url=https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=26207|isbn=978-0-691-13763-6|access-date=19 January 2011|archive-date=3 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603055156/https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=26207|url-status=live}} [349] => * {{cite book|first=Joseph|last=Telushkin |author-link=Joseph Telushkin |title=A Code of Jewish Ethics|volume=1 (You Shall Be Holy)|place=New York|publisher=Bell Tower|date=2006 |oclc=460444264 }} [350] => * {{cite book|first=Isadore|last=Twersky|author-link=Isadore Twersky |editor=I Twersky|title=A Maimonides Reader|place=New York|publisher=Behrman House|date=1972}} [351] => * {{cite journal|first=Isador |last=Twersky |author-link=Isadore Twersky|title=Introduction to the Code of Maimonides (Mishneh Torah)|journal=Yale Judaica Series|volume=XII|place=New Haven and London|date=1980}} [352] => {{refend}} [353] => [354] => ==Further reading== [355] => * Maimonides: Abū ʿImrān Mūsā [Moses] ibn ʿUbayd Allāh [Maymūn] al‐Qurṭubī [http://islamsci.mcgill.ca/RASI/BEA/Maimonides_BEA.htm www.islamsci.mcgill.ca] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110827111712/http://islamsci.mcgill.ca/RASI/BEA/Maimonides_BEA.htm |date=27 August 2011 }} [356] => * {{cite web|url=https://med.uottawa.ca/department-innovation/medicine-humanities/history-medicine|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130524172551/http://www.med.uottawa.ca/historyofmedicine/hetenyi/levinoff.htm|url-status=dead|title=History of Medicine|archive-date=24 May 2013|website=AIME}} [357] => * {{cite journal|pmid=10493314|journal=Arch Intern Med |year=1999 |volume=159|issue=16|pages=1841–5|title=Moses Maimonides: medieval physician and scholar|author=S. R. Simon|doi=10.1001/archinte.159.16.1841}} [358] => * {{cite journal|title=Maimonides's medicine|journal=The Lancet|volume=371|issue=9615|page=804|year=2008|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(08)60365-7 |author=Athar Yawar Email Address|s2cid=54415482|doi-access=free}} [359] => * {{cite web|title=Moses Maimonides {{!}} biography – Jewish philosopher, scholar, and physician|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/358539/Moses-Maimonides|access-date=4 June 2015|archive-date=30 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150430003629/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/358539/Moses-Maimonides|url-status=live}} [360] => [361] => ==External links== [362] => {{External links|date=April 2022}} [363] => {{Commons category}} [364] => {{wikiquote}} [365] => {{wikisource author}} [366] => ;About Maimonides [367] => * [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=905&letter=M Maimonides entry] in the ''Jewish Encyclopedia'' (1906) [368] => * [https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/358539/Moses-Maimonides Maimonides entry in the Encyclopædia Britannica] [369] => * [https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/philosophy-and-religion/judaism-biographies/maimonides Maimonides entry] in the ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'', 2nd edition (2007) [370] => * {{cite SEP |url-id=maimonides |title=Maimonides |last=Seeskin |first=Kenneth}} [371] => * [http://www.iep.utm.edu/maimonid/ "Maimonides entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy"] [372] => * [http://jewishhistorylectures.org/2013/11/15/rabbi-moshe-ben-maimon-maimonides/ Video lecture on Maimonides] by [[Henry Abramson|Dr. Henry Abramson]] [373] => * [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/People/Maimonides/YAAMAI/home.html Maimonides, a biography] — book by David Yellin and Israel Abrahams [374] => * [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/maimonides Maimonides as a Philosopher] [375] => * [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/maimonides-islamic The Influence of Islamic Thought on Maimonides] [376] => * [https://web.archive.org/web/20090218232603/http://www.hoover.org/publications/policyreview/38243009.html "The Moses of Cairo,"] Article from ''Policy Review'' [377] => * [http://www.neohasid.org/torah/rambam/ Rambam and the Earth: Maimonides as a Proto-Ecological Thinker] – reprint on neohasid.org from The Encyclopedia of Religion and Ecology [378] => * [http://faur.derushah.com/articlesbyhakhamjosefaur.html#anti Anti-Maimonidean Demons] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720160655/http://faur.derushah.com/articlesbyhakhamjosefaur.html#anti |date=20 July 2008 }} by Jose Faur, describing the controversy surrounding Maimonides' works [379] => * David Yellin and Israel Abrahams, ''[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/People/Maimonides/YAAMAI/home.html Maimonides]'' (1903) (full text of a biography) [380] => * {{cite encyclopedia | editor = Thomas Hockey | display-editors = etal | author = Y. Tzvi Langermann | title=Maimonides: Abū ʿImrān Mūsā [Moses] ibn ʿUbayd Allāh [Maymūn] al-Qurṭubī | encyclopedia = The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers | publisher = Springer | year = 2007 | location = New York | pages = 726–7 | url=http://islamsci.mcgill.ca/RASI/BEA/Maimonides_BEA.htm | isbn=978-0-387-31022-0}} ([http://islamsci.mcgill.ca/RASI/BEA/Maimonides_BEA.pdf PDF version]) [381] => * Maimonides at [http://intellectualencounters.org intellectualencounters.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210720213031/http://www.intellectualencounters.org/ |date=20 July 2021 }} [382] => * {{cite book |last=Kriesel |first=Howard |title=Judaism as Philosophy: Studies in Maimonides and the Medieval Jewish Philosophers of Provence |date=2015 |publisher=[[Academic Studies Press]] |location=Boston |doi=10.2307/j.ctt21h4xpc |jstor=j.ctt21h4xpc|jstor-access=free|isbn=978-1-61811-789-2 }} [383] => * {{cite book |last=Friedberg |first=Albert |title=Crafting the 613 Commandments: Maimonides on the Enumeration, Classification, and Formulation of the Scriptural Commandments |date=2013 |publisher=[[Academic Studies Press]] |location=Boston |doi=10.2307/j.ctt21h4wf8|jstor=j.ctt21h4wf8|jstor-access=free|isbn=978-1-61811-848-6 }} [384] => *''[https://www.maimonides-guide.com/ The Guide: An Explanatory Commentary on Each Chapter of Maimonides' Guide of The Perplexed]'' by Scott Michael Alexander (covers all of Book I, currently) [385] => [386] => ;Maimonides' works [387] => * [https://www.amazon.com/Rambam-Mishneh-Torah-CODEX-Hamafteach/dp/B09QP2MTMN Steinberg '''The Rambam Mishneh Torah Codex''' on ''Amazon''] [388] => * [https://www.amazon.com/s?k=%22rambam+chumash%22 Steinberg '''The Rambam Chumash''' on ''Amazon''] [389] => * [http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/682956/jewish/Mishneh-Torah.htm Complete Mishneh Torah online, halakhic work of Maimonides] [390] => * [http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/940209/jewish/Sefer-Hamitzvot-Translation.htm Sefer Hamitzvot, English translation] [391] => * [http://www.torahforme.com/files/Rambam/ Oral Readings of Mishne Torah] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013183143/http://torahforme.com/files/Rambam/ |date=13 October 2007 }} — Free listening and Download, site also had classes in Maimonides' ''[[The Yemen Epistle|Iggereth Teiman]]'' [392] => * [http://www.aish.com/spirituality/philosophy/Maimonides_13_Principles_-_Part_1_God_as_Creator.asp Maimonides 13 Principles] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161031212341/http://www.aish.com/spirituality/philosophy/Maimonides_13_Principles_-_Part_1_God_as_Creator.asp |date=31 October 2016 }} [393] => * [http://www.intellectualencounters.org/KotarApp/BrowseBooks.aspx?ExpandNodeID=2442$2443$2446&bAsImage=False Intellectual Encounters – Main Thinkers – Moses Maimonides], in [https://web.archive.org/web/20120415041817/http://www.intellectualencounters.org/ intellectualencounters.org] [394] => * [http://bodleian.thejewishmuseum.org/?p=21 Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Autograph Draft] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130129095132/http://bodleian.thejewishmuseum.org/?p=21 |date=29 January 2013 }}, Egypt, {{circa}} 1180 [395] => * [https://blogs.bl.uk/asian-and-african/2020/07/autograph-responsum-of-moses-maimonides.html British Library – Autograph responsum of Moses Maimonides, pre-eminent Jewish polymath and spiritual leader], Ilana Tahan [396] => * [https://search.cjh.org/primo-explore/search?query=creator,contains,Moses%20Maimonides,AND&tab=default_tab&search_scope=LBI&vid=lbi&facet=tlevel,include,online_resources&facet=creator,include,Maimonides,%20M&mode=advanced&offset=0 Digitized works by Maimonides] at the [[Leo Baeck Institute]] [397] => [398] => ;Texts by Maimonides [399] => * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080703012045/http://www.derushapublishing.com/siddur-mesorath-moshe.shtml Siddur Mesorath Moshe], a prayerbook based on the early Jewish liturgy as found in Maimonides' Mishne Tora [400] => * [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/e/e0000.htm Rambam's introduction to the Mishneh Torah (English translation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326034621/https://mechon-mamre.org/e/e0000.htm |date=26 March 2023 }}) [401] => * [https://www.daat.ac.il/daat/mahshevt/hakdama/tohen-m-2.htm Rambam's introduction to the Commentary on the Mishnah (Hebrew-language full text)] [402] => * [http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/gfp/index.htm The Guide For the Perplexed by Moses Maimonides translated into English by Michael Friedländer] [403] => * [https://web.archive.org/web/20061212182013/http://jnul.huji.ac.il/dl/mss/html/rambam_l.htm Writings of Maimonides; manuscripts and early print editions. Jewish National and University Library] [404] => * [http://www.kb.dk/permalink/2006/manus/293/ Facsimile edition of Moreh Nevukhim/The Guide for the Perplexed (illuminated Hebrew manuscript, Barcelona, 1347–48). The Royal Library, Copenhagen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811001635/http://www5.kb.dk/permalink/2006/manus/293/ |date=11 August 2021 }} [405] => * [http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/Taylor-Schechter/maimonides-exhibition.html University of Cambridge Library collection] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100129195805/http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/Taylor-Schechter/maimonides-exhibition.html |date=29 January 2010 }} of Judeo-Arabic letters and manuscripts written by or to Maimonides. It includes the last letter his brother David sent him before drowning at sea. [406] => * A. Ashur, [http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/Taylor-Schechter/fotm/march-2014/ A newly discovered medical recipe written by Maimonides] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181103050149/http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/Taylor-Schechter/fotm/march-2014/ |date=3 November 2018 }} [407] => * M.A Friedman and A. Ashur, [http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/Taylor-Schechter/fotm/may-2012/ A newly-discovered autograph responsum of Maimonides] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181101142529/http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/Taylor-Schechter/fotm/may-2012/ |date=1 November 2018 }} [408] => *{{prdl}} [409] => *{{Librivox author |id=14982}} [410] => [411] => {{Navboxes|list= [412] => {{Rabbinical eras timeline|1138|1204|Maimonides}} [413] => {{Medieval Philosophy}} [414] => {{Philosophy of religion}} [415] => {{Social and political philosophy}} [416] => {{Islamic medicine}} [417] => {{Aristotelianism}} [418] => {{Rishonim}} [419] => }} [420] => {{Authority control}} [421] => [422] => {{DEFAULTSORT:Maimonides}} [423] => [[Category:Maimonides| ]] [424] => [[Category:1130s births]] [425] => [[Category:1204 deaths]] [426] => [[Category:12th-century Arabic-language writers]] [427] => [[Category:12th-century Jewish theologians]] [428] => [[Category:12th-century Sephardi Jews]] [429] => [[Category:12th-century Egyptian physicians]] [430] => [[Category:12th-century philosophers]] [431] => [[Category:13th-century philosophers]] [432] => [[Category:Aristotelian philosophers]] [433] => [[Category:Egyptian philosophers]] [434] => [[Category:Authors of books on Jewish law]] [435] => [[Category:Commentaries on the Mishnah]] [436] => [[Category:Court physicians]] [437] => [[Category:Exponents of Jewish law]] [438] => [[Category:Jewish astronomers]] [439] => [[Category:Jewish ethicists]] [440] => [[Category:Jewish refugees]] [441] => [[Category:Jews and Judaism in the Kingdom of Jerusalem]] [442] => [[Category:Judeo-Arabic writers]] [443] => [[Category:Medieval Jewish astronomers]] [444] => [[Category:Medieval Jewish physicians of Spain]] [445] => [[Category:Medieval Jewish physicians of Egypt]] [446] => [[Category:Rabbis from Córdoba, Spain]] [447] => [[Category:Philosophers from al-Andalus]] [448] => [[Category:Philosophers of Judaism]] [449] => [[Category:Sephardi rabbis]] [450] => [[Category:University of al-Qarawiyyin alumni]] [451] => [[Category:Physicians from the Ayyubid Sultanate]] [452] => [[Category:Holy Land travellers]] [453] => [[Category:Medieval Jewish scholars]] [] => )
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Maimonides

Maimonides, also known as Moses ben Maimon or Rambam, was a medieval Jewish philosopher, rabbi, and physician who lived in the 12th century. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest medieval Jewish scholars and his works had a significant impact on Jewish thought and philosophy.

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He is widely regarded as one of the greatest medieval Jewish scholars and his works had a significant impact on Jewish thought and philosophy. Maimonides was born in Cordoba, Spain, but due to persecution of Jews, his family was forced to flee to Morocco and then eventually settled in Cairo, Egypt. He received a comprehensive education in Jewish law, philosophy, and science, and went on to serve as a physician to the sultan and the Jewish community in Egypt. Maimonides is most famous for his work "Mishneh Torah," a comprehensive code of Jewish law that aimed to simplify and organize existing Jewish legal texts. It provided a systematic presentation of Jewish law and included discussions on various aspects of Jewish life, from daily rituals to ethical behavior. He also wrote numerous other philosophical and theological works, including "Guide for the Perplexed," where he explored the relationship between reason and faith, and attempted to reconcile Biblical texts with Greek philosophy, particularly Aristotelianism. Maimonides' writings had a significant influence on both Jewish and Islamic scholars, and he is considered a key figure in medieval Jewish philosophy. His philosophical ideas and rational approach continue to inspire and engage scholars and thinkers to this day. Maimonides' impact extends beyond the realm of philosophy. He made significant contributions to medicine, particularly in the fields of ophthalmology and dietetics. His medical writings were highly regarded in the Islamic world and had a lasting influence on medical practice. Throughout his life, Maimonides faced persecution and external pressures, but he remained committed to his faith and scholarship. He sought to bridge the gap between reason and religious tradition, leaving an enduring legacy as one of the greatest Jewish thinkers in history.

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