Maimonides - Wikipedia PDF

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Maimonides
Moses ben Maimon, commonly known as Maimonides
Maimonides
(/maɪˈmɒnɪdiːz/ my-MON-i-deez)[note 1] and also referred to by the
Moses ben Maimon
acronym Rambam,[note 2] was a medieval Sephardic Jewish 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.[8][9][10][11] Born in Córdoba, Almoravid Empire (present-day
Spain) on Passover Eve, 1135 or 1138,[12][13][14][15][16] he worked as a
rabbi, physician, and philosopher in Morocco and Egypt. He died in Egypt
on December 12, 1204, whence his body was taken to the lower Galilee
and buried in Tiberias.[17][18]
During his lifetime, most Jews greeted Maimonides' writings on Jewish

law and ethics with acclaim and gratitude, even as far away as Iraq and
Yemen. Yet, while Maimonides rose to become the revered head of the
Jewish community in Egypt, his writings also had vociferous critics,
particularly in Spain. Nonetheless, he was posthumously acknowledged as
18th-century depiction of
among the foremost rabbinical decisors and philosophers in Jewish
Maimonides
history, and his copious work comprises a cornerstone of Jewish
Born 30 March[1] or 6 April[2]
scholarship. His fourteen-volume Mishneh Torah still carries significant
1135
canonical authority as a codification of Talmudic law. He is sometimes
Possibly born 28
known as "ha Nesher ha Gadol" (the great eagle) in recognition of his
March or 4 April[3] 1138
outstanding status as a bona fide exponent of the Oral Torah.
Córdoba, Almoravid
Aside from being revered by Jewish historians, Maimonides also figures Empire (present-day
very prominently in the history of Islamic and Arab sciences and is Spain)
mentioned extensively in studies. Influenced by Al-Farabi, Avicenna, and Died 12 December 1204
his contemporary Averroes, he in his turn influenced other prominent (aged 69)
Arab and Muslim philosophers and scientists. He became a prominent Fostat, Ayyubid
philosopher and polymath in both the Jewish and Islamic worlds. Sultanate (present-day
Egypt)[4]
Era Medieval philosophy

Contents Region Jewish philosophy
Name
School Jewish law, Jewish
Biography ethics
Early years
Main Religious law
Exile
interests
Death of his brother
Nagid Influences
Death Influenced
13 principles of faith Signature
Legal works
Tzedakah (charity)
Philosophy
Theology
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Maimonides - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maimonides
Character development
Prophecy
The problem of evil
Skepticism of astrology
True beliefs versus necessary beliefs
Eschatology
The World to Come
The Messianic era
Resurrection
Maimonides and Kabbalah
The Oath of Maimonides
Influence
Maimonides and the Modernists
Tributes and memorials
Works and bibliography
Judaic and philosophical works
Medical works
Treatise on logic
See also
Notes
References
See also
Bibliography
External links
Name
His full Hebrew name is Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon (‫)רבי משה בן מימון‬, whose acronym forms "Rambam" (‫)רמב״ם‬.
His full Arabic name is Abū ʿImrān Mūsā bin Maimūn bin ʿUbaidallāh al-Qurtabī (‫ﷲ‬ ‫ن‬ ‫ﻣ‬ ‫ان ﻣ‬ ‫ا‬
‫)ا ط‬, or Mūsā bin Maymūn (‫ن‬ ‫ﻣ‬ ‫ )ﻣ‬for short. In Latin, the Hebrew ben (son of) becomes the Greek-style
patronymic suffix -ides, forming "Moses Maimonides".
Biography
Early years
Maimonides was born in Córdoba during what some scholars consider to
be the end of the golden age of Jewish culture in the Iberian Peninsula,
after the first centuries of the Moorish rule. At an early age, he developed
an interest in sciences and philosophy. He read those Greek philosophers
accessible in Arabic translations, and was deeply immersed in the sciences
The dominion of the Almohad
and learning of Islamic culture.[19]
Caliphate at its greatest extent,
c. 1200 CE
Maimonides was not known as a supporter of mysticism, although a
strong intellectual type of mysticism has been discerned in his
philosophy.[20] He expressed disapproval of poetry, the best of which he declared to be false, since it was founded on
pure invention. This sage, 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.[21] Maimonides studied Torah under his father
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Maimon, who had in turn studied under Rabbi Joseph ibn Migash, a student of Isaac Alfasi.
Exile
A Berber dynasty, the Almohads, conquered Córdoba in 1148, and
abolished dhimmi status (i.e., state protection, through payment of a tax,
the jizya, of the life and possessions of non-Muslims) in some of their
territories. The loss of this status left the Jewish and Christian
communities with conversion to Islam, death, or exile.[21] 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.[22][23]
Maimonides's family, along with most other Jews, chose exile. Some say,
though, that it is likely that Maimonides feigned a conversion to Islam
before escaping.[24] This forced conversion was ruled legally invalid under
Islamic law when brought up by a rival in Egypt.[25] For the next ten
Maimonides' house in Fez, Morocco
years, Maimonides moved about in southern Spain, eventually settling in
Fez in Morocco. During this time, he composed his acclaimed
commentary on the Mishnah, during the years 1166–1168.[26]
Following this sojourn in Morocco, together with two sons,[27] he sojourned in the Holy Land, before settling in
Fustat, Egypt around 1168. While in Cairo, he studied in a yeshiva attached to a small synagogue (which now bears
his name).[28] In the Holy Land, 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.[29]
Maimonides shortly thereafter was instrumental in helping rescue Jews taken captive during the Christian King
Amalric's siege of the Egyptian town of Bilbays. 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.[30]
Death of his brother

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 Sudanese port of ‘Aydhab. 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.[31] 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.
In a letter (discovered later in the Cairo Geniza), he wrote:
The greatest misfortune that has befallen me during my entire

life—worse than anything else—was the demise of the saint,
Monument in Córdoba
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
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received that terrible news I fell ill and remained in bed for about a year, suffering from a sore boil,
fever, and 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.[32]
Nagid
Around 1171, Maimonides was appointed the Nagid of the Egyptian
Jewish community.[28] Arabist S.D. Goitein believes the leadership he
displayed during the ransoming of the Crusader captives led to this
appointment.[33] 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
Córdoba and in Fez. Gaining widespread recognition, he was appointed
court physician to the Grand Vizier Al Qadi al Fadil, then to Sultan
Saladin, after whose death he remained a physician to the royal family.[34]
In his medical writings, Maimonides described many conditions,

Bas relief of Maimonides in the U.S. including asthma, diabetes, hepatitis, and pneumonia, and he emphasized
House of Representatives. moderation and a healthy lifestyle.[35] 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.[35] Julia Bess Frank
indicates that Maimonides in his medical writings sought to interpret works of authorities so that they could become
acceptable.[34] Maimonides displayed in his interactions with patients attributes that today would be called
intercultural awareness and respect for the patient's autonomy.[36] 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.[37] 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."[38] As he goes on to say in this
letter, even on the Sabbath he would receive members of the community. It is remarkable that 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.[39] In
1173/4, Maimonides wrote his famous Iggeret Teman (Epistle to Yemen).[40] 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).[41]
Death
Maimonides died on December 12, 1204 (20th of Tevet 4965) in Fustat. It is widely believed that he was briefly
buried in the study room (beit hamidrash) of the synagogue courtyard, and that, soon after, in accordance with his
wishes, his remains were exhumed and taken to Tiberias, where he was re-interred.[42] The Tomb of Maimonides on
the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in Israel marks his grave. This location for his final resting-place has been
debated, for in the Jewish Cairene community, a tradition holds that he remained buried in Egypt.[43]
Maimonides and his wife, the daughter of Mishael ben Yeshayahu Halevi, had one child who survived into
adulthood,[44] Avraham, 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.
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Maimonides is widely respected in Spain, and a statue of him was erected

near the Córdoba Synagogue.
Maimonides is sometimes said to be a descendant of King David, although

he never made such a claim.[45][46]
13 principles of faith
In his commentary on the Mishnah (tractate Sanhedrin, chapter 10),
Maimonides formulates his "13 principles of faith". They summarized The Tomb of Maimonides in Tiberias
what he viewed as the required beliefs of Judaism:
1. The existence of God.

2. God's unity and indivisibility into elements.
3. God's spirituality and incorporeality.
4. God's eternity.
5. God alone should be the object of worship.
6. Revelation through God's prophets.
7. The preeminence of Moses among the prophets.
8. That the entire Torah (both the Written and Oral law) are of Divine origin and were dictated to Moses by God on
Mt. Sinai.
9. The Torah given by Moses is permanent and will not be replaced or changed.
10. God's awareness of all human actions and thoughts.
11. Reward of good and punishment of evil.
12. The coming of the Jewish Messiah.
13. The resurrection of the dead.
Maimonides 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.[47] However, these principles have become widely held and are
considered to be the cardinal principals of faith for Orthodox Jews.[48][49] Two poetic restatements of these
principles (Ani Ma'amin and Yigdal) eventually became canonized in many editions of the "Siddur" (Jewish prayer
book).
Legal works
With 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).
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 Mishneh Torah: both often quote whole sections verbatim. However, it met initially with much
opposition.[50] 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,[51] 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 Mishneh Torah. It was still 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.
In response to those who would attempt to force followers of Maimonides and his 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 decisor, early or late? … The Rambam is the greatest of the decisors, and
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all the communities of the Land of Israel and the Arabistan and the Maghreb practice according to his word, and
accepted him as their rabbi."[52]
An oft-cited legal maxim from his pen is: "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 we would be convicting merely according to the
judge's caprice.[53]
Scholars specializing in the study of the history and subculture of Judaism in premodern China (Sino-Judaica) have
noted surprising similarities between this work and the liturgy of the Kaifeng Jews, descendants of Persian
merchants who settled in the Middle Kingdom during the early Song dynasty.[54] Beyond scriptural similarities,
Michael Pollak comments the Jews' Pentateuch was divided into 53 sections according to the Persian style.[55] He
also points out:
There is no proof, to be sure, that Kaifeng Jewry ever had direct access to the works of "the Great
Eagle," but it would have had ample time and opportunity to acquire or become acquainted with them
well before its reservoir of Jewish learning began to run out. Nor do the Maimonidean leanings of the
kehillah contradict the historical evidence that has the Jews arriving in Kaifeng no later than 1126, the
year in which the Sung fled the city—and nine years before Maimonides was born. In 1163, when the
kehillah built the first of its synagogues, Maimonides was only twenty-eight years old, so that it is
highly unlikely that even his earliest authoritative teachings could by then have reached China.[56]
Tzedakah (charity)
One of the most widely referred to sections of the Mishneh Torah is the section dealing with tzedakah. In Hilkhot
Matanot Aniyim (Laws about Giving to Poor People), Chapter 10:7–14, Maimonides lists his famous Eight Levels of
Giving (where the first level is most preferable, and the eighth the least):[57]
1. Giving an interest-free loan to a person in need; forming a partnership with a person in need; giving a grant to a
person in need; finding a job for a person in need; so long as that loan, grant, partnership, or job results in the
person no longer living by relying upon others.
2. Giving tzedakah anonymously to an unknown recipient via a person (or public fund) which is trustworthy, wise,
and can perform acts of tzedakah with your money in a most impeccable fashion.
3. Giving tzedakah anonymously to a known recipient.
4. Giving tzedakah publicly to an unknown recipient.
5. Giving tzedakah before being asked.
6. Giving adequately after being asked.
7. Giving willingly, but inadequately.
8. Giving "in sadness" (giving out of pity): It is thought that Maimonides was referring to giving because of the sad
feelings one might have in seeing people in need (as opposed to giving because it is a religious obligation).
Other translations say "Giving unwillingly."
Philosophy
Through the Guide for the Perplexed (which was initially written in Arabic as Dalālat al-ḥāʾirīn) and the
philosophical introductions to sections of his commentaries on the Mishna, Maimonides exerted an important
influence on the Scholastic philosophers, especially on Albert the Great, 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 Aristotelian philosophy and science with the teachings of the
Torah.[58] 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. Maimonides is said to have been influenced
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by Asaph ha-Jehoudi, who was the first Hebrew medical writer.
Theology
Maimonides equated the God of Abraham to what philosophers refer to as
the Necessary Being. God is unique in the universe, and the Torah
commands that one love and fear God (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.[59] Depiction of Maimonides teaching
students about the 'measure of man'
The principle that inspired his philosophical activity was identical to a in an illuminated manuscript.
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 finding basis in the former for the latter.[60]
Maimonides' admiration for the neo-Platonic commentators led him to doctrines which the later Scholastics did not
accept. For instance, Maimonides was an adherent of "negative theology" (also known as "Apophatic theology".) In
this theology, one attempts to describe God through negative attributes. For instance, one should not say that God
exists in the usual sense of the term; it can be said that God is not non-existent. We should not say that "God is wise";
but we can say that "God is not ignorant," i.e., in some way, God has some properties of knowledge. We should not
say that "God is One," but we can state 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."[61]
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
metaphorically.[61]
Character development
Maimonides taught about the developing 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.[62] He wrote, "One is obligated to conduct his affairs with others
in a gentle and pleasing manner."[63] Maimonides advised those with anti-social character traits ought to identify
those traits and then make a conscious effort to behave in the opposite way. For example, an arrogant person should
practice humility.[64] If the circumstances of one's environment are such that it is impossible to behave ethically, one
must move to a new location.[65]
Prophecy
He agrees with "the Philosopher" (Aristotle) in teaching that the use of logic is the "right" way of thinking. In order to
build an inner understanding of how to know God, every human being must, by study, meditation and
uncompromising strong will, attain the degree of complete logical, spiritual and physical perfection required in the
prophetic state. Here he rejects previous ideas (especially portrayed by Rabbi Yehuda Halevi in "Hakuzari") that in
order to become a prophet, God must intervene. Maimonides claims that any man or woman[66] has the potential to
become a prophet (not just Jews) and that in fact it is the purpose of the human race.
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The problem of evil

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.[67][68][69][70] In his 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.
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.
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.
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 falling victim to their physical desires. To prevent the majority of evil
which stems from harm we do to ourselves, we must learn how to ignore our bodily urges.
Skepticism of astrology
Maimonides answered an inquiry concerning astrology, addressed to him from Marseille.[71] 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.[72]
True beliefs versus necessary beliefs

In Guide for the Perplexed Book III, Chapter 28,[73] 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.
Eschatology
The World to Come

Maimonides distinguishes two kinds of intelligence in man, the one material in the sense of being dependent on, and
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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 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.
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.
Spinoza's doctrine of immortality was strikingly similar. But 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 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.
The Messianic era

Perhaps one of Maimonides's 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 tractate Sanhedrin, also known as Pereḳ Ḥeleḳ). (Open window for text)
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Full text of Maimonides on the Messianic Era
Maimonides on the Messianic Era

Mishnah Commentary
Tractate Sanhedrin
Pereḳ Ḥeleḳ (Chapter 10)
"… 'The days of the Messiah' (i.e., the Messianic Era) is a timeframe in which the kingdom shall return to Israel,
and they (i.e., the people of Israel) will return to the Land of Israel, and the king who shall stand-up will establish
the place of his kingdom in Zion, whose name shall be extolled and it will reach unto the ends of the earth, being
[even] greater than Solomon's kingdom, and the nations will enter a covenant of peace with him, and all lands
shall serve him on account of the abundance of his righteousness, and for the wondrous things that shall be
revealed through him; whosoever shall rise-up against him, the Lord will cut him off and deliver him into his
hands. All of the Scriptural verses bear witness of him, and of us with him, but there is nothing which exists now
that will change, excepting that the kingdom will be given over to Israel; thus have we heard it in the language
used by the Sages: 'There is no difference between this world and the days of the Messiah, excepting only the
subjugation of kingdoms' (San. 91b). There shall remain in his days, both, the strong and the weak, in comparison
to others, only that in those days the people's livelihood will be made much easier for them, insofar that if a man
should work any work no matter how short-lived, he will gain much thereby. This is that which they have spoken
about, saying: 'In the future, the Land of Israel shall produce sweet-rolls of bread and clothes made of white
woollen fabric' (Shab. 30b), seeing that people will say whenever a man finds something ready [and prepared for
use] in abundance that so-and-so has found baked bread and a cooked dish, the proof of which being what is
written: 'And the sons of the stranger shall be your field workers and vine dressers' (Isa. 61:5). Meaning, a time of
ploughing and a time of reaping will be there; Wherefore, it was for this reason that that erudite man who said
these things[a] was angered at his disciple when he failed to understand their import and had thought rather that
these things should be understood in their plain sense, and he was compelled to answer him in a way that he'd
understand, even though that wasn't the proper response [to give him]. The evidence for this, viz., that he didn't
give him a truthful answer in accordance with what he learned of the verse, is this: 'Don't answer a foolish man in
accordance with his folly' (Proverbs 26:4).
Now the greatest advantage at that time will be that we'll have rest from the subjugation of the wicked kingdom,
which prevents us from performing that which God has enjoined unto us to do, while knowledge will be vastly
increased, as it says: 'For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lo-rd' (Isa. 11:9). Meanwhile, battles
and wars will come to an end, as it says: 'Nation shall not lift up a sword against nation' (Micha 4:3), while all those
who will be in those days will attain to great perfection, by which he will merit the world to come. The Messiah will
then die [as all men], and his son, and his son's son will rule after him. Now God has already described his
death; he says: 'He shall not tire nor be weary, till he establish judgment in the earth: and the isles shall hope for
his law' (Isa. 42:4). His kingdom shall continue for a very long time, while the lives of men will also be prolonged;
for by the absence of worries and troubles they shall prolong their lives. Neither should it seem strange that his
kingdom will continue for thousands of years, inasmuch as the Sages have already said that no matter how
noble the things that are collected together, when they are but few that are amassed together, they will fall apart.
Nevertheless, we do not desire the days of the Messiah so that our grain and possessions might increase, or so
that we can mount horses, or be engaged in revelry of drink and musical instruments, as those who are confused
may think. Rather, the prophets fervently desired them and the pious men longed for them because of what shall
be there of the ingathering of righteous men, and of proper conduct, and wisdom, and the uprightness of the king
and his great wisdom and his drawing nigh unto the Creator, just as it was said of him: 'Thou art my son, [etc.]'
(Psalm 2:7), as well as the observance of the entire Law of Moses, without worries and without fear, and without
constraint, just as He has promised 'And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his
brother, saying, Know the LORD. For they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them' (Jer.
10 of 24 07/08/2019 08:30
31:33 [34]); 'and I shall put my Law in their heart,' 'and I shall remove the heart of stone from your flesh' (Ezek.
36:26), and there are many similar verses that speak of such matters. It is in this manner [that a man] will acquire
the next world with a firm acquisition, while the desired end [of every man] is the world to come, and all that
comes before it is [merely] human effort.
Wherefore, he that can perceive the truth has looked at the ultimate purpose of life and has forsaken all other
things, whereby He says: 'All of Israel has a portion in the world to come.' Moreover, seeing that this is the
desired end and purpose of one's life, it is not fitting that he who wishes to serve [his Maker] out of love should
serve Him for the sole intent of attaining the next world, as we have premised earlier, but rather that he may
serve Him in the manner that I shall prescribe, viz., that if he has already come to believe that knowledge has
been imparted unto the prophets from God, and that by it (i.e., that knowledge) He has revealed to them that the
[coveted] virtues are such and such, and the faults are such and such, it behooves him, therefore, by reason of
his being a moderate man of reason, to draw near to the virtues and to shun that which is deficient. If he has
done this, Lo! He would have completed the mortal chapter [related to his existence], and he is then
distinguished from the [brute] beasts; and since he would have become a [more] perfect man, one of the virtues
of man is that no hindrance be found that will hinder him from attaining life for his soul in what is his remaining
[spiritual] existence through her (i.e., the soul's) [continued] consciousness,[b] and which is the world to come as
we have explained.[c] Moreover, it is that which is said: 'Be ye not like a horse, [or] like a mule, which has no
understanding; [who must be held back by bit and bridle]' (Psalm 32:9), meaning, the thing that prevents them from
idleness and uncontrollable conduct is an external thing like a bit and a bridle. May a man never be like this, but
rather, let his soul be what stops him from acting in such a manner, that is to say, his [inner] human form[d] [given
to man by God at the hour of Creation] – if it were perfected, it will prevent him from whatever thing that
withholds from him perfection (i.e., the betterment of his condition), which things are called deficiencies, but it will
spurn him on in whatever is considered wholesome, which things are the virtues. This then is what has become
clear unto me from all of their words relating to this noble matter, but things that can be easily misconstrued."[e]
Notes:
a. Rabban Gamliel; see: Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 30b

b. The Judeo-Arabic word used by Maimonides is ‫מעלומהא‬, or "that which is known by her (i.e., by the soul),"
meaning, the ens intelligibile. Some translate this word as "perceived intellect."
c. See: Mishne Torah (Hil. Teshuvah, chapter 8), for more on what is meant by "the world to come."
d. See: Mishne Torah (Hil. Yesodei HaTorah 4:8[14]) for a discussion on the soul. Elsewhere, in Hil. Teshuvah
8:3, Maimonides writes: "Every 'soul' that is mentioned here in this context isn't the [animated] spirit that
stands in need of a body, but rather the 'form of the soul,' which is the knowledge [attained by the mind] with
which one comprehends the Creator according to its ability." See also the Guide for the Perplexed, part iii, the
last chapter, on the fourth kind of perfection.
e. This last addition, "but things that can be easily misconstrued," is written in Maimonides's original Judeo-
Arabic text, but was omitted in the translated printed texts. Rabbi Yosef Qafih points out the omission, and
inserts it in his new translation. See: Mishnah, with Commentary of Maimonides (ed. Yosef Qafih), vol. 2, Rav
Kook Institute, Jerusalem 1963 (Hebrew)
Resurrection
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 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.[74]
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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 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.[75]
While his position on the 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 angels, whom Maimonides often regards to be metaphors for the laws
of nature, the principles by which the physical universe operates, or Platonic eternal forms. [This is not always the
case. In Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah Chaps. 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.[76]
In this view, any dead who are resurrected must eventually die again. In his discussion of the 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.
Maimonides and Kabbalah

In Guide for the Perplexed, Maimonides declares his intention to conceal from the average reader his explanations of
Sod [77] 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.[78] Some academics hold that Maimonides' project fought against the Proto-Kabbalah of his time.[79]
However, Kabbalists and their heirs read Maimonides according to Kabbalah or as an actual covert subscriber to
Kabbalah.[80] According to this, he employed rationalism to defend Judaism rather than limit inquiry of Sod only to
rationalism. His rationalism, if not taken as an opposition,[81] also assisted the Kabbalists, purifying their transmitted
teaching from mistaken corporeal interpretations that could have been made from earlier Jewish mysticism,[82]
though Kabbalists held that their theosophy alone allowed human access to Divine mysteries.[83]
The Oath of Maimonides

The Oath of Maimonides is a document about the medical calling and recited as a substitute for the Oath of
Hippocrates. The Oath is not to be confused with a more lengthy Prayer of Maimonides. These documents may not
have been written by Maimonides, but later.[34] The Prayer appeared first in print in 1793 and has been attributed to
Marcus Herz, a German physician, pupil of Immanuel Kant.[84]
Influence
Maimonides' 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.[85] It is still
closely studied in rabbinic yeshivot (academies). A popular medieval saying that also served as his epitaph states,
From Mosheh (of the Torah) to Mosheh (Maimonides) there was none like Mosheh. It chiefly referred to his rabbinic
writings.
But Maimonides was also one of the most influential figures in medieval Jewish philosophy. His brilliant adaptation
of Aristotelian thought to Biblical faith deeply impressed later Jewish thinkers, and had an unexpected immediate
historical impact.[86] Some more acculturated Jews in the century that followed his death, particularly in Spain,
12 of 24 07/08/2019 08:30
sought to apply Maimonides's Aristotelianism in ways that undercut

traditionalist belief and observance, giving rise to an intellectual
controversy in Spanish and southern French Jewish circles.[87] The
intensity of debate spurred Catholic Church interventions against "heresy"
and a general confiscation of rabbinic texts. 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 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]."[88] Maimonidean thought continues to
influence traditionally observant Jews.[89][90]
The most rigorous medieval critique of Maimonides is Hasdai Crescas's

The title page of The Guide for the
Or Adonai. Crescas bucked the eclectic trend, by demolishing the
Perplexed
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's critique provoked a number of 15th-century scholars to write defenses of Maimonides. A partial
translation of Crescas was produced by Harry Austryn Wolfson of Harvard University in 1929.
Because of his path-finding synthesis of Aristotle and Biblical faith, Maimonides had a fundamental influence on the
great Christian theologian Saint Thomas Aquinas.[91] Aquinas refers specifically to Maimonides in several of his
works, including the Commentary on the Sentences.
Maimonides's 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 transplantation.[92]
Maimonides and the Modernists

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
humanist philosophers.
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's thought, including his opposition to anthropocentrism, have been obviated.
There are movements in some postmodern circles to claim Maimonides for other purposes, as within the discourse of
ecotheology.[93] Maimonides's reconciliation of the philosophical and the traditional has given his legacy an
extremely diverse and dynamic quality.
Tributes and memorials

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
13 of 24 07/08/2019 08:30
Academy in Hollywood, Florida,[94] and Maimonides Medical Center in

Brooklyn, New York.
In 2004, conferences were held at Yale, Florida International University,

Penn State, and the Rambam hospital in Haifa, Israel, which is named
after him. To commemorate the 800th anniversary of his death, Harvard
University issued a memorial volume.[95] In 1953, the Israel Postal
Authority issued a postage stamp of Maimonides, pictured.
In March 2008, during the Euromed Conference of Ministers of Tourism,

The Tourism Ministries of Israel, Morocco and Spain agreed to work Plaque of Maimonides at Rambam
Medical Center, Haifa
together on a joint project that will trace the footsteps of the Rambam and
thus boost religious tourism in the cities of Córdoba, Fes and Tiberias.[96]
Between December 2018 and January 2019 the Israel Museum held a special exhibit dedicated to the writings of
Maimonides.[97]
Works and bibliography
Judaic and philosophical works

Maimonides composed works of Jewish scholarship, rabbinic law,
philosophy, and medical texts. Most of Maimonides's works were written
in Judeo-Arabic. However, the Mishneh Torah was written in Hebrew.
His Jewish texts were:
Commentary on the Mishna (Hebrew Pirush Hamishnayot, Arabic

Kitab al-Siraj), written in Judeo-Arabic. This was the first full
commentary ever written on the entire Mishnah, and it enjoyed great
popularity both in its Arabic original and its medieval Hebrew
translation. The commentary includes three philosophical
introductions which were also highly influential: Manuscript page by Maimonides.
Judeo-Arabic language in Hebrew
The Introduction to the Mishnah deals with the nature of the oral
law, the distinction between the prophet and the sage, and the letters.
organizational structure of the Mishnah.
The Introduction to Mishnah Sanhedrin, chapter ten (Perek
Helek), is an eschatological essay that concludes with Maimonides's famous creed ("the thirteen principles of
faith").
The Introduction to Tractate Avot (popularly called The Eight Chapters) is an ethical treatise.
Sefer Hamitzvot (trans. The Book of Commandments). In this work, Maimonides lists all the 613 mitzvot
traditionally contained in the Torah (Pentateuch). He describes fourteen shorashim (roots or principles) to guide
his selection.
Sefer Ha'shamad (letter of Martydom)
Mishneh Torah, a comprehensive code of Jewish law. It is also known as Yad ha-Chazaka or simply Yad/"‫"יד‬
which has the numerical value 14, representing the 14 sections of the book.
Guide for the Perplexed, a philosophical work harmonising and differentiating Aristotle's philosophy and Jewish
theology. Written in Judeo-Arabic, and completed between 1186 and 1190.[98] The first translation of this work
into Hebrew was done by Samuel ibn Tibbon in 1204.[58]
Teshuvot, collected correspondence and responsa, including a number of public letters (on resurrection and the
afterlife, on conversion to other faiths, and Iggereth Teiman – addressed to the oppressed Jewry of Yemen).
Hilkhot ha-Yerushalmi, a fragment of a commentary on the Jerusalem Talmud, identified and published by Saul
Lieberman in 1947.
Medical works
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Maimonides wrote ten known medical works in Arabic that have been translated by the Jewish medical ethicist Fred
Rosner into contemporary English.[35][99]
The Art of Cure – Extracts from Galen (Barzel, 1992, Vol. 5)[100] is essentially an extract of Galen's extensive
writings.
Commentary on the Aphorisms of Hippocrates (Rosner, 1987, Vol. 2; Hebrew:[101] ‫ )פירוש לפרקי אבוקראט‬is
interspersed with his own views.
Medical Aphorisms[102] of Moses (Rosner, 1989, Vol. 3) titled Fusul Musa in Arabic ("Chapters of Moses,"
Hebrew:[103] ‫ )פרקי משה‬contains 1500 aphorisms and many medical conditions are described.
Treatise on Hemorrhoids (in Rosner, 1984, Vol. 1; Hebrew:[104] ‫ )ברפואת הטחורים‬discusses also digestion and
food.
Treatise on Cohabitation (in Rosner, 1984, Vol. 1) contains recipes as aphrodisiacs and anti-aphrodisiacs.
Treatise on Asthma (Rosner, 1994, Vol. 6)[105] discusses climates and diets and their effect on asthma and
emphasizes the need for clean air.
Treatise on Poisons and Their Antidotes (in Rosner, 1984, Vol. 1) is an early toxicology textbook that remained
popular for centuries.
Regimen of Health (in Rosner, 1990, Vol. 4; Hebrew:[106] ‫ )הנהגת הבריאות‬is a discourse on healthy living and the
mind-body connection.
Discourse on the Explanation of Fits advocates healthy living and the avoidance of overabundance.
Glossary of Drug Names (Rosner, 1992, Vol. 7)[107] represents a pharmacopeia with 405 paragraphs with the
names of drugs in Arabic, Greek, Syrian, Persian, Berber, and Spanish.
Treatise on logic
The Treatise on Logic (Arabic: Maqala Fi-Sinat Al-Mantiq) has been printed 17 times, including editions in Latin
(1527), German (1805, 1822, 1833, 1828), French (1935), and English (1938), and in an abridged Hebrew form. The
work illustrates the essentials of Aristotelian logic to be found in the teachings of the great 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's birthdate of 14 Nissan. The number 14
recurs in many of Maimonides's 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.
Until very recently, it was accepted that Maimonides wrote the Treatise on logic in his twenties or even in his
teen[108] years. Herbert Davidson has raised questions about Maimonides's 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.[109] Rabbi
Yosef Kafih maintained that it is by Maimonides and newly translated it to Hebrew (as Beiur M'lekhet HaHiggayon)
from the Judeo-Arabic.[110]
See also
Iggeret Teman (Epistle to Yemen)
Al-Farabi
Thomas Aquinas
Averroes
Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain
Golden mean (Judaism)
15 of 24 07/08/2019 08:30
Maimonides Foundation
Mishne Torah
Notes
1. Hebrew: ‫ן־מיְ מוּן‬
ַ ֶ‫ מ ֶֹשׁה בּ‬Mōšeh ben-Maymūn; Arabic: ‫ ﻣوﺳﻰ ﺑن ﻣﻳﻣون‬Mūsā bin Maymūn), Greek: Μαϊµωνίδης
Maïmōnídēs; Latin: Moses Maimonides
2. /ˌrɑːmˈbɑːm/, for Rabbeinu Mōšeh bēn Maimun, "Our Rabbi Moses, son of Maimon"
References
1. "Moses Maimonides – Jewish philosopher, scholar, and physician" (https://www.britannica.com/biography
/Moses-Maimonides).
2. "Hebrew Date Converter – 14th of Nisan, 4895 – Hebcal Jewish Calendar" (http://www.hebcal.com/converter
/?hd=14&hm=Nisan&hy=4895&h2g=1).
3. "Hebrew Date Converter – 14th of Nisan, 4898 – Hebcal Jewish Calendar" (http://www.hebcal.com/converter
/?gd=4&gm=4&gy=1138&g2h=1).
4. Goldin, Hyman E. Kitzur Shulchan Aruch – Code of Jewish Law, Foreword to the New Edition. (New York:
Hebrew Publishing Company, 1961)
5. "H-Net" (http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=227091077594594).
6. "The Influence of Islamic Thought on Maimonides" (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/maimonides-islamic/).
Maimonides Islamic Influences. Plato. Stanford. 2016.
7. "Isaac Newton: "Judaic monotheist of the school of Maimonides" " (http://www.achgut.com/dadgdx/index.php
/dadgd/article/issac_newton_judaic_monotheist_of_the_school_of_maimonides/). Achgut.com. 2007-06-19.
Retrieved 2010-03-13.
8. Maimonides: Abū ʿImrān Mūsā [Moses] ibn ʿUbayd Allāh [Maymūn] al-Qurṭubī www.islamsci.mcgill.ca
(http://islamsci.mcgill.ca/RASI/BEA/Maimonides_BEA.htm)
9. A Biographical and Historiographical Critique of Moses Maimonides (http://www.med.uottawa.ca
/historyofmedicine/hetenyi/levinoff.htm) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20130524172551/http:
//www.med.uottawa.ca/historyofmedicine/hetenyi/levinoff.htm) May 24, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
10. S. R. Simon (1999). "Moses Maimonides: medieval physician and scholar". Arch Intern Med. 159 (16): 1841–5.
doi:10.1001/archinte.159.16.1841 (https://doi.org/10.1001%2Farchinte.159.16.1841). PMID 10493314
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10493314).
11. Athar Yawar Email Address (2008). "Maimonides's medicine". The Lancet. 371 (9615): 804.
doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(08)60365-7 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2FS0140-6736%2808%2960365-7).
12. Davidson, pp. 6–9, 18. If the traditional birth date of 14 Nisan is not correct, then a date in 1136 or 1137 is also
possible.
13. Joel E. Kramer, "Moses Maimonides: An Intellectual Portrait," p. 47 note 1. In Kenneth Seeskin, ed. (September
2005). The Cambridge Companion to Maimonides. ISBN 9780521525787.
14. 1138 in Stroumsa, Maimonides in His World: Portrait of a Mediterranean Thinker, Princeton University Press,
2009, p. 8
15. Sherwin B. Nuland (2008), Maimonides, Random House LLC, p. 38
16. "Moses Maimonides | biography – Jewish philosopher, scholar, and physician" (http://www.britannica.com
/EBchecked/topic/358539/Moses-Maimonides). Retrieved 2015-06-04.
17. Gedaliah ibn Yahya ben Joseph, Shalshelet Ha-Kabbalah (http://www.hebrewbooks.org/6618) Jerusalem 1962,
p. ‫ ;ק‬but in PDF p. 109 (Hebrew)
16 of 24 07/08/2019 08:30
18. Abraham Zacuto, Sefer Yuchasin (http://www.hebrewbooks.org/11550), Cracow 1580 (Hebrew), p. 261 in PDF,
which reads: "… I saw in a booklet that the Ark of God, even Rabbi Moses b. Maimon, of blessed memory, had
been taken up (i.e. euphemism for "had died"), in the year [4],965 anno mundi (= 1204/5 CE) in Egypt, and the
Jews wept for him – as did [all] the Egyptians – three days, and they coined a name for that time of year,
[saying], 'there was wailing,' and on the seventh day [of his passing], the news reached Alexandria, and on the
eighth day, [the news reached] Jerusalem, and in Jerusalem they made a great public mourning [on his behalf]
and called for a fast and public gathering, where it was that the prayer precentor read out the admonitions, 'If you
shall walk in my statutes [etc.]' (Leviticus 26:3-ff.), as well as read the concluding verse [from the Prophets], 'And
it came to pass that Samuel spoke to all of Israel [etc.],' and he then concluded by saying that the Ark of God
had been taken away. Now after certain days they brought up his coffin to the Land of Israel, during which
journey thieves encountered them, causing those who had gone up to flee, leaving there the coffin. Now the
thieves, when they saw that they had all fled, they desired to have the coffin cast into the sea, but were unable
with all their strength to uproot the coffin from the ground, even though they had been more than thirty men, and
when they considered the matter, they then said to themselves that he was a godly and holy man, and so they
went their way. However, they gave assurances to the Jews that they would escort them to their destination, and
so it was that they also accompanied him and he was buried in Tiberias."
19. Stroumsa, Maimonides in His World: Portrait of a Mediterranean Thinker, Princeton University Press, 2009, p.65
20. Abraham Heschel, Maimonides (New York: Farrar Strauss, 1982), Chapter 15, "Meditation on God," pp.
157–162.
21. 1954 Encyclopedia Americana, vol. 18, p. 140.
22. Y. K. Stillman, ed. (1984). "Libās". Encyclopaedia of Islam. 5 (2nd ed.). Brill Academic Publishers. p. 744.
ISBN 978-90-04-09419-2.
23. "Jewish Virtual Library" (https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0001_0_00857.html).
Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 2012-09-19.
24. Stroumsa (2009), Maimonides in His World, p.59
25. A.K. Bennison; M.A. Gallego García (2008). "Jewish Trading in Fez on the Eve of the Almohad Conquest"
(http://www.ugr.es/~estsemi/miscelanea/57/3.Gallego.08,33-51.pdf) (PDF).
26. Seder HaDoros (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's birth, it is not clear which year the work was published.
27. Davidson, p. 29.
28. Goitein, S.D. Letters of Medieval Jewish Traders, Princeton University Press, 1973 (ISBN 0-691-05212-3), p. 208
29. Magazine, rambam_temple_mount, Jewish. "No Jew had been permitted to enter the holy city which has
become a Christian bastion since the Crusaders conquered it in 1096" (http://www.jewishmag.com/169mag
/rambam_temple_mount/rambam_temple_mount.htm). www.jewishmag.com. Retrieved 2018-02-09.
30. 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
31. 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.
32. Goitein, Letters of Medieval Jewish Traders, p. 207
33. Cohen, Poverty and Charity in the Jewish Community of Medieval Egypt, p. 115
34. Julia Bess Frank (1981). "Moses Maimonides: rabbi or medicine" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles
/PMC2595894). The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine. 54 (1): 79–88. PMC 2595894
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2595894). PMID 7018097 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed
/7018097).
35. Fred Rosner (2002). "The Life of Moses Maimonides, a Prominent Medieval Physician"
(http://www.aecom.yu.edu/uploadedFiles/EJBM/19Rosner125.pdf) (PDF). Einstein Quart J Biol Med. 19 (3):
125–128.
17 of 24 07/08/2019 08:30
36. Gesundheit B, Or R, Gamliel C, Rosner F, Steinberg A (April 2008). "Treatment of depression by Maimonides
(1138–1204): Rabbi, Physician, and Philosopher" (https://web.archive.org/web/20090305065423/http:
//www.jewishmedicalethics.org
/data/treatment%20of%20depression%20by%20maimonides%20rabbi%20physician%20and%20philosopher.pdf
) (PDF). Am J Psychiatry. 165 (4): 425–428. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2007.07101575 (https://doi.org
/10.1176%2Fappi.ajp.2007.07101575). PMID 18381913 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18381913).
Archived from the original (http://www.jewishmedicalethics.org
/data/treatment%20of%20depression%20by%20maimonides%20rabbi%20physician%20and%20philosopher.pdf
) (PDF) on 2009-03-05.
37. Abraham Heschel, Maimonides (New York: Farrar Strauss, 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's 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."
38. Responsa Pe’er HaDor, 143.
39. 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.
40. Click to see full English translation of Maimonides's "Epistle to Yemen"
41. 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's letter to Ibn Tibbon
regarding his daily regime.
42. The Life of Maimonides jnul.huji.ac.il (http://www.jnul.huji.ac.il/v-exhibitions/rambam/eng/life.html) Archived
(https://web.archive.org/web/20101120223728/http://jnul.huji.ac.il/v-exhibitions/rambam/eng/life.html) 2010-11-20
at the Wayback Machine, Jewish National and University Library
43. hsje.org Amiram Barkat, "The End of the Exodus from Egypt" (http://www.hsje.org
/The%20end%20of%20the%20Exodus%20from%20Egypt.pdf) Archived (https://web.archive.org
/web/20110717004152/http://www.hsje.org/The%20end%20of%20the%20Exodus%20from%20Egypt.pdf)
2011-07-17 at the Wayback Machine, Haaretz (Israel), 21 April 2005
44. ‫אגרות הרמב"ם מהדורת שילת‬
45. Sarah E. Karesh; Mitchell M. Hurvitz (2005). Encyclopedia of Judaism (https://books.google.com
/?id=Z2cCZBDm8F8C&pg=PA305). Facts on File. p. 305. ISBN 978-0-8160-5457-2.
46. H. J. Zimmels (1997). Ashkenazim and Sephardim: Their Relations, Differences, and Problems as Reflected in
the Rabbinical Responsa (https://books.google.com/?id=Svzf3uUCFToC&pg=PA283) (Revised ed.). Ktav
Publishing House. p. 283. ISBN 978-0-88125-491-4.
47. Dogma in Medieval Jewish Thought, Menachem Kellner
48. "The Thirteen Principles of Jewish Faith" (http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/332555/jewish
/Maimonides-13-Principles-of-Faith.htm). www.chabad.org.
49. See, for example: Marc B. Shapiro. The Limits of Orthodox Theology: Maimonides' Thirteen Principles
Reappraised. Littman Library of Jewish Civilization (2011). pp. 1–14.
50. Siegelbaum, Chana Bracha (2010) Women at the crossroads : a woman's perspective on the weekly Torah
portion (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) Gush Etzion: Midreshet B'erot Bat Ayin.
ISBN 9781936068098 page 199
51. Last section of Maimonides's Introduction to Mishneh Torah
18 of 24 07/08/2019 08:30
52. "Avkat Rochel ch. 32" (http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=636&pgnum=70).

53. Moses Maimonides, The Commandments, Neg. Comm. 290, at 269–71 (Charles B. Chavel trans., 1967).
54. Leslie, Donald. The Survival of the Chinese Jews; The Jewish Community of Kaifeng. Tʻoung pao, 10. Leiden:
Brill, 1972, p. 157
55. Pollak, Michael. Mandarins, Jews, and Missionaries: The Jewish Experience in the Chinese Empire. The Jewish
Publication Society of America, 1980, p. 413
56. Pollak, Mandarins, Jews, and Missionaries, pp. 297–298
57. "Hebrew Source of Maimonides's Levels of Giving with Danny Siegel's translation" (http://www.dannysiegel.com
/maimonides_8_degrees.pdf) (PDF). Retrieved 2012-09-19.
58. "The Guide to the Perplexed" (http://www.wdl.org/en/item/3963/). World Digital Library. Retrieved 22 January
2013.
59. Kraemer, 326-8
60. Kraemer, 66
61. Robinson, George. "Maimonides’ Conception of God/" (https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/maimonides-
conception-of-god/) My Jewish Learning. 30 April 2018.
62. Telushkin, 29
63. Commentary on The Ethics of the Fathers 1:15. Qtd. in Telushkin, 115
64. Kraemer, 332-4
65. MT De'ot 6:1
66. "Maimonides believed that women were capable of being instructed in Talmud and even that women can be
prophetesses." Kraemer, 336
67. Moses Maimonides (2007). The Guide to the Perplexed. BN Publishers.
68. Joseph Jacobs. "Moses Ben Maimon" (http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=905&letter=M&
search=maimonides#ixzz1GVE5kJqV). Jewish Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2011-03-13.
69. Shlomo Pines (2006). "Maimonides (1135–1204)". Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 5: 647–654.
70. Isadore Twersky (2005). "Maimonides, Moses". Encyclopedia of Religion. 8: 5613–5618.
71. Joel E. Kramer, "Moses Maimonides: An Intellectual Portrait," p. 45. In Kenneth Seeskin, ed. (September 2005).
The Cambridge Companion to Maimonides. ISBN 9780521525787.
72. Rudavsky, T. (March 2010). Maimonidies. Singapore: Wiley-Blackwell. p. 10. ISBN 978-1-4051-4898-6.
73. "Guide for the Perplexed, on" (http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/gfp/gfp164.htm). Sacred-texts.com. Retrieved
2010-03-13.
74. See: Maimonides's Ma'amar Teḥayyath Hamethim (Treatise on the Resurrection of the Dead), published in Book
of Letters and Responsa (‫)ספר אגרות ותשובות‬, Jerusalem 1978, p. 9 (Hebrew). 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 Hil. Teshuvah, chapter 8, and how that some persons in Yemen had
begun to instruct, based on Maimonides's 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.
75. Kraemer, 422
76. Commentary on the Mishna, Avot 5:6
77. Within [the Torah] there is also another part which is called ‘hidden’ (mutsnaʿ), and this [concerns] the secrets
(sodot) which the human intellect cannot attain, like the meanings of the statutes (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)
78. 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.
79. Menachem Kellner, Maimonides' Confrontation With Mysticism, Littman Library, 2006
19 of 24 07/08/2019 08:30
80. Maimonides: Philosopher and Mystic (http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/107784/jewish/Philosopher-

and-Mystic.htm) from Chabad.org
81. 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
82. The first comprehensive systemiser of Kabbalah, Moshe 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 back 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
83. 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"
84. "Oath and Prayer of Maimonides" (https://web.archive.org/web/20080629222954/http://www.library.dal.ca/kellogg
/Bioethics/codes/maimonides.htm). Library.dal.ca. Archived from the original (http://www.library.dal.ca/kellogg
/Bioethics/codes/maimonides.htm) on 2008-06-29. Retrieved 2010-03-13.
85. 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. 515–538.
86. 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.
87. D.J. Silver, Maimonidean Criticism and the Maimonidean Controversy, 1180–1240 (Leiden: Brill, 1965), is still the
most detailed account.
88. David Hartman, Maimonides: Torah and Philosophic Quest (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America,
1976), p. 98.
89. On the extensive philosophical aspects of Maimonides's 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.
90. 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.
91. Mercedes Rubio (2006). "Aquinas and Maimonides on the Divine Names". Aquinas and Maimonides on the
possibility of the knowledge of god. Springer-Verlag. pp. 65–126. doi:10.1007/1-4020-4747-9_2 (https://doi.org
/10.1007%2F1-4020-4747-9_2). ISBN 978-1-4020-4720-6.
92. Vivian McAlister, Maimonides's cooling period and organ retrieval (Canadian Journal of Surgery 2004; 47: 8 – 9)
93. "Maimonides – His Thought Related to Ecology in The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature" (http://neohasid.org
/torah/rambam/).
94. David MOrris. "Major Grant Awarded to Maimonides" (https://web.archive.org/web/20070730212312/http:
//www.floridajewishnews.com/site/a/major_grant_awarded_to_maimonides/). Florida Jewish Journal. Archived
from the original (http://www.floridajewishnews.com/site/a/major_grant_awarded_to_maimonides/) on July 30,
2007. Retrieved 2010-03-13.
95. "Harvard University Press: Maimonides after 800 Years : Essays on Maimonides and his Influence by Jay M.
Harris" (http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/HARMAM.html). Hup.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2010-03-13.
96. Shelly Paz (8 May 2008) Tourism Ministry plans joint project with Morocco, Spain (https://web.archive.org
/web/20110718101800/http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1209627041328&
pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull). The Jerusalem Post
97. "The Israel Museum, Jerusalem" (https://www.imj.org.il/en/exhibitions/maimonides). www.imj.org.il. Retrieved
2019-07-11.
98. Kehot Publication Society, Chabad.org.
20 of 24 07/08/2019 08:30
99. Volume 5 translated by Barzel (foreword by Rosner).

100. Title page (https://web.archive.org/web/20160128032218/http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/6/6/4/2/3/0/webimg
/873411911_o.jpg), TOC (https://web.archive.org/web/20160128032227/http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/6/6/4
/2/3/0/webimg/873411923_o.jpg).
101. "‫תש"ב – אוצר החכמה‬-‫ ת"ש‬/ (‫ משה בן מימון )רמב"ם‬/ (‫( "כתבים רפואיים – ג )פירוש לפרקי אבוקראט‬https://www.otzar.org
/wotzar/Book.aspx?155175&lang=eng).
102. Maimonides. Medical Aphorisms (Treatises 1–5 6–9 10–15 16–21 22–25), Brigham Young University, Provo –
Utah
103. "‫תש"ב – אוצר החכמה‬-‫ ת"ש‬/ (‫ משה בן מימון )רמב"ם‬/ (‫( "כתבים רפואיים – ב )פרקי משה ברפואה‬https://www.otzar.org
/wotzar/Book.aspx?155174&lang=eng).
104. "‫תש"ב – אוצר החכמה‬-‫ ת"ש‬/ (‫ משה בן מימון )רמב"ם‬/ (‫( "כתבים רפואיים – ד )ברפואת הטחורים‬https://www.otzar.org/wotzar
/Book.aspx?155176&lang=eng).
/2/3/0/webimg/873411751_o.jpg).
106. "‫תש"ב – אוצר החכמה‬-‫ ת"ש‬/ (‫ משה בן מימון )רמב"ם‬/ (‫( "כתבים רפואיים – א )הנהגת הבריאות‬https://www.otzar.org/wotzar
/Book.aspx?155173&lang=eng).
/2/3/0/webimg/873412019_o.jpg).
108. Abraham Heschel, Maimonides. New York: Farrar Strauss, 1982 p. 22 ("at sixteen")
109. Davidson, pp. 313 ff.
110. "‫ תשנ"ז – אוצר החכמה‬/ (‫ משה בן מימון )רמב"ם‬/ ‫( "באור מלאכת ההגיון‬https://www.otzar.org/wotzar
/book.aspx?149870&lang=eng).
See also
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Joseph Jacobs, Isaac Broydé, The
Executive Committee of the Editorial Board, and Jacob Zallel Lauterbach (1901–1906). "Moses Ben Maimon"
(http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=905&letter=M). In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish
Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
Bibliography
Uriel Barzel (1992). Maimonides's Medical Writings: The Art of Cure Extracts (https://books.google.com
/books?id=PPraAAAAMAAJ). 5. Galen: Maimonides Research Institute.
Davidson, Herbert A. (2005). Moses Maimonides: The Man and his Works. Oxford University Press.
Feldman, Rabbi Yaakov (2008). Shemonah Perakim: The Eight Chapters of the Rambam. Targum Press.
Fox, Marvin (1990). Interpreting Maimonides. Univ. of Chicago Press.
Julius Guttman (1964). David Silverman (ed.). Philosophies of Judaism. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society
of America.
Moshe Halbertal (2013). Maimonides: Life and Thought (http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10093.html). Princeton
University Press.* David Hartman (1976). Maimonides: Torah and Philosophic Quest. Philadelphia: Jewish
Publication Society of America.
Abraham Joshua Heschel (1982). Maimonides: The Life and Times of a Medieval Jewish Thinker. New York:
Farrar Strauss.
Isaac Husik (2002) [1941]. A History of Jewish Philosophy. Dover Publications, Inc. Originally published by the
Jewish Publication of America, Philadelphia.
Aryeh Kaplan (1994). "Maimonides Principles: The Fundamentals of Jewish Faith". The Aryeh Kaplan Anthology.
I.
Leaman, Daniel H.; Leaman, Frank; Leaman, Oliver (2003). History of Jewish Philosophy (Second ed.). London
and New York: Routledge. See especially chapters 10 through 15.
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Kellner, Menachem (1986). Dogma in Medieval Jewish Thought. London: Oxford University press.
Kohler, George Y. (2012). "Reading Maimonides's Philosophy in 19th Century Germany". Amsterdam Studies in
Jewish Philosophy. 15.
Kraemer, Joel L. (2008). Maimonides: The Life and World of One of Civilization's Greatest Minds. Doubleday.
Fred Rosner (1984–1994). Maimonides's Medical Writings. 7 Vols. Maimonides Research Institute. (Volume 5
translated by Uriel Barzel; foreword by Fred Rosner.)
Seidenberg, David (2005). "Maimonides – His Thought Related to Ecology" (http://neohasid.org/torah/rambam/).
The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature.
Shapiro, Marc B. (1993). "Maimonides Thirteen Principles: The Last Word in Jewish Theology?". The Torah
U-Maddah Journal. 4.
Shapiro, Marc B. (2008). Studies in Maimonides and His Interpreters. Scranton (PA): University of Scranton
Press.
Sirat, Colette (1985). A History of Jewish Philosophy in the Middle Ages. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press. See chapters 5 through 8.
Leo Strauss (1988). Persecution and the Art of Writing. University of Chicago Press. reprint
Strauss, Leo (1974). Shlomo Pines (ed.). How to Begin to Study the Guide: The Guide of the Perplexed –
Maimonides (in Arabic). 1. University of Chicago Press.
Hart Green, Kenneth (2013). Leo Strauss on Maimonides: The Complete Writings. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press.
Stroumsa, Sarah (2009). Maimonides in His World: Portrait of a Mediterranean Thinker (https://www.h-net.org
/reviews/showrev.php?id=26207). Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-13763-6.
Telushkin, Joseph. A Code of Jewish Ethics: Volume 1 - You Shall Be Holy. New York: Bell Tower, 2006.
Isadore Twersky (1980). "Introduction to the Code of Maimonides (Mishneh Torah". Yale Judaica Series. New
Haven and London. XII.
Twersky, Isadore (1972). I Twersky (ed.). A Maimonides Reader. New York: Behrman House.
Gerrit Bos (2007). Maimonides. Medical Aphorisms Treatise 1–5 (6–9, 10–15, 16–21, 22–25). Provo, Utah:
Brigham Young University Press.
Gerrit Bos (2002). Maimonides. On Asthma (vol.1, vol.2). Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press.
External links
About Maimonides
Video lecture on Maimonides (http://jewishhistorylectures.org/2013/11/15/rabbi-moshe-ben-maimon-

maimonides/) by Dr. Henry Abramson
Maimonides entry in Jewish Encyclopedia (http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=905&letter=M)
Maimonides entry in the Encyclopædia Britannica (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/358539/Moses-
Maimonides)
Maimonides entry in the Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd edition (http://www.encyclopaediajudaica.com/sample-
articles/article_view.php?sid=moses-ben-maimon)
Seeskin, Kenneth. "Maimonides" (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/maimonides/). In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.).
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
"Maimonides entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy" (http://www.iep.utm.edu/maimonid/)
Maimonides, a biography (http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/People/Maimonides/YAAMAI
/home.html) — book by David Yellin and Israel Abrahams
Maimonides as a Philosopher (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/maimonides)
The Influence of Islamic Thought on Maimonides (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/maimonides-islamic)
"The Moses of Cairo," (https://web.archive.org/web/20090218232603/http://www.hoover.org/publications
/policyreview/38243009.html) Article from Policy Review
Rambam and the Earth: Maimonides as a Proto-Ecological Thinker (http://www.neohasid.org/torah/rambam/) –
reprint on neohasid.org from The Encyclopedia of Religion and Ecology
Anti-Maimonidean Demons (http://faur.derushah.com/articlesbyhakhamjosefaur.html#anti) by Jose Faur,
describing the controversy surrounding Maimonides's works
David Yellin and Israel Abrahams, Maimonides (http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/People
/Maimonides/YAAMAI/home.html) (1903) (full text of a biography)
Y. Tzvi Langermann (2007). "Maimonides: Abū ʿImrān Mūsā [Moses] ibn ʿUbayd Allāh [Maymūn] al-Qurṭubī"
(http://islamsci.mcgill.ca/RASI/BEA/Maimonides_BEA.htm). In Thomas Hockey; et al. (eds.). The Biographical
Encyclopedia of Astronomers. New York: Springer. pp. 726–7. ISBN 978-0-387-31022-0. (PDF version
22 of 24 07/08/2019 08:30
(http://islamsci.mcgill.ca/RASI/BEA/Maimonides_BEA.pdf))
Maimonides at intellectualencounters.org (http://intellectualencounters.org)
Kriesel, Howard (2015). Judaism as Philosophy: Studies in Maimonides and the Medieval Jewish Philosophers
of Provence. Boston: Academic Studies Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctt21h4xpc (https://doi.org
/10.2307%2Fj.ctt21h4xpc). JSTOR j.ctt21h4xpc (https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt21h4xpc).
Friedberg, Albert (2013). Crafting the 613 Commandments: Maimonides on the Enumeration, Classification, and
Formulation of the Scriptural Commandments. Boston: Academic Studies Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctt21h4wf8
(https://doi.org/10.2307%2Fj.ctt21h4wf8). JSTOR j.ctt21h4wf8 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt21h4wf8).
Yahoo Maimonides Discussion Group (https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/maimonides/info)
The Guide: An Explanatory Commentary on Each Chapter of Maimonides' Guide of The Perplexed
(https://www.maimonides-guide.com/) by Scott Michael Alexander (covers all of Book I, currently)
Maimonides's works
Complete Mishneh Torah online, halakhic work of Maimonides (http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo

/aid/682956/jewish/Mishneh-Torah.htm)
Sefer Hamitzvot, English translation (http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/940209/jewish/Sefer-
Hamitzvot-Translation.htm)
Oral Readings of Mishne Torah (http://www.torahforme.com/files/Rambam/) — Free listening and Download, site
also had classes in Maimonides's Iggereth Teiman
Maimonides 13 Principles (http://www.aish.com/spirituality/philosophy/Maimonides_13_Principles_-
_Part_1_God_as_Creator.asp)
Intellectual Encounters – Main Thinkers – Moses Maimonides (http://www.intellectualencounters.org/KotarApp
/BrowseBooks.aspx?ExpandNodeID=2442$2443$2446&bAsImage=False), in intellectualencounters.org
(http://www.intellectualencounters.org/)
Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Autograph Draft (http://bodleian.thejewishmuseum.org/?p=21), Egypt, c. 1180
Maimonides, Commentary on the Mishnah, Autograph Manuscript (http://bodleian.thejewishmuseum.org/?p=15),
Egypt, c. 1167–68
Texts by Maimonides
Siddur Mesorath Moshe (https://web.archive.org/web/20080703012045/http://www.derushapublishing.com

/siddur-mesorath-moshe.shtml), a prayerbook based on the early Jewish liturgy as found in Maimonides's
Mishne Tora
Rambam's introduction to the Mishneh Torah (English translation (http://www.mechon-mamre.org/e/e0000.htm))
Rambam's introduction to the Commentary on the Mishnah (Hebrew language|Hebrew Fulltext)
(http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/mahshevt/hakdama/tohen-m-2.htm)
The Guide For the Perplexed by Moses Maimonides translated into English by Michael Friedländer
(http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/gfp/index.htm)
Writings of Maimonides; manuscripts and early print editions. Jewish National and University Library
(https://web.archive.org/web/20061212182013/http://jnul.huji.ac.il/dl/mss/html/rambam_l.htm)
Facsimile edition of Moreh Nevukhim/The Guide for the Perplexed (illuminated Hebrew manuscript, Barcelona,
1347–48). The Royal Library, Copenhagen (http://www.kb.dk/permalink/2006/manus/293/)
University of Cambridge Library collection (http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/Taylor-Schechter/maimonides-
exhibition.html) 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.
A. Ashur, A newly discovered medical recipe written by Maimonides (http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/Taylor-Schechter
/fotm/march-2014/)
M.A Friedman and A. Ashur, A newly-discovered autograph responsum of Maimonides (http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk
/Taylor-Schechter/fotm/may-2012/)
Works by Maimonides (http://www.prdl.org/author_view.php?a_id=2127) at Post-Reformation Digital Library
23 of 24 07/08/2019 08:30
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Maimonides - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.

During his lifetime, most Jews greeted Maimonides' writings on Jewish

Era Medieval philosophy

Death of his brother

In a letter (discovered later in the Cairo Geniza), he wrote:

The greatest misfortune that has befallen me during my entire

In his medical writings, Maimonides described many conditions,

Maimonides is widely respected in Spain, and a statue of him was erected

Maimonides is sometimes said to be a descendant of King David, although

1. The existence of God.

by Asaph ha-Jehoudi, who was the first Hebrew medical writer.

The problem of evil

True beliefs versus necessary beliefs

The World to Come

The Messianic era

Full text of Maimonides on the Messianic Era

Maimonides on the Messianic Era

a. Rabban Gamliel; see: Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 30b

Maimonides and Kabbalah

The Oath of Maimonides

sought to apply Maimonides's Aristotelianism in ways that undercut

The most rigorous medieval critique of Maimonides is Hasdai Crescas's

Maimonides and the Modernists

Tributes and memorials

Academy in Hollywood, Florida,[94] and Maimonides Medical Center in

In 2004, conferences were held at Yale, Florida International University,

In March 2008, during the Euromed Conference of Ministers of Tourism,

Works and bibliography

Judaic and philosophical works

Commentary on the Mishna (Hebrew Pirush Hamishnayot, Arabic

52. "Avkat Rochel ch. 32" (http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=636&pgnum=70).

80. Maimonides: Philosopher and Mystic (http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/107784/jewish/Philosopher-

99. Volume 5 translated by Barzel (foreword by Rosner).

Video lecture on Maimonides (http://jewishhistorylectures.org/2013/11/15/rabbi-moshe-ben-maimon-

Complete Mishneh Torah online, halakhic work of Maimonides (http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo

Siddur Mesorath Moshe (https://web.archive.org/web/20080703012045/http://www.derushapublishing.com

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Maimonides&oldid=907728646"

This page was last edited on 24 July 2019, at 21:39 (UTC).

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