Maimonides
Moses ben Maimon[a] (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (/maɪˈmɒnɪdiːz/, my-MON-ih-deez)[b] and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (Hebrew: רמב״ם),[c] was a Sephardic rabbi and 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 on Passover eve 1138 or 1135,[d] and lived in Córdoba in al-Andalus (now in Spain) within the Almoravid Empire until his family was expelled for refusing forced conversion to Islam.[6][7][8] Later, he lived in Morocco and Egypt and worked as a rabbi, physician and philosopher. 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. He died in Fustat, and, according to Jewish tradition, was buried in Tiberias. The Tomb of Maimonides is a popular pilgrimage and tourist site. He was posthumously acknowledged as one of the foremost rabbinic decisors and philosophers in Jewish history, and his copious work comprises a cornerstone of Jewish scholarship. His fourteen-volume Mishneh Torah still carries significant canonical authority as a codification of halakha.[9] Aside from being revered by Jewish historians, Maimonides also figures very prominently in the history of Islamic and Arab sciences. Influenced by Aristotle, al-Farabi, ibn Sina, and his contemporary ibn Rushd, he became a prominent philosopher and polymath in the Islamic world and for Jews in general. NameMaimonides' Arabic name was أَبُو عَمْرَان مُوسَى بْن مَيْمُون بْن عُبَيْد ٱللّٰه ٱلْقُرْطُبِيّ "Abū ʿImrān Mūsā bin Maimūn bin ʿUbaydallāh al-Qurṭubī", "Moses 'son of Amram"[e] son of Maymun, of Obadiah,[f] the Cordoban", or more often simply "Moses, son of Maymun" (موسى بن ميمون). and Hebrew: משה ברבי מימון הספרדי "Moses, son of rabbi Maymun the Iberian".[g] In Medieval Hebrew, he was usually called ר״ם Ram, short for "our Rabbi Moshe", but mostly he is called רמב״ם Rambam, short for "our Rabbi, Moshe son of Maimon". In Greek, the Hebrew ben ('son of') becomes the patronymic suffix -ides, forming Μωησής Μαϊμονίδης "Moses Maimonides". He is sometimes known as "The Great Eagle" (Hebrew: הנשר הגדול, romanized: haNesher haGadol).[10] BiographyEarly years 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 after the first centuries of Muslim rule. His father, Maimon ben Joseph, was a 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.[11] His ancestry, going back four generations, is given in his Epistle to Yemen as Moses ben Maimon ben Joseph ben Isaac ben Obadiah.[12] At the end of his commentary on the Mishnah, however, a longer, slightly different genealogy is given: Moses ben Maimon ben Joseph ben Isaac ben Joseph ben Obadiah ben Solomon ben Obadiah.[g] Maimonides 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 contemporary science and philosophy. He read ancient Greek philosophy accessible via Arabic translations and was deeply immersed in the sciences and learning of Islamic culture.[13] 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.[14] Exile A Berber dynasty, the Almohads, conquered Córdoba in 1148 and abolished dhimmi status (i.e., state protection of non-Muslims ensured through payment of the jizya tax) in some territories. [which?]The loss of this status forced Jewish and Christian communities to choose between conversion to Islam, martyrdom, or exile.[14] 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.[16] Maimonides' family, along with many other Jews, chose exile. For the next ten years, Maimonides moved about in southern Spain and North Africa, eventually settling in Fas. Some say that his teacher in Fez was Yehuda Ha-Cohen Ibn Susan, until the latter was killed in 1165.[17] During this time, he composed his acclaimed commentary on the Mishnah during 1166–1168.[h] Following this sojourn in Morocco, he lived in Acre with his father and brother, before settling in Fustat in Fatimid Caliphate-controlled Egypt by 1168.[18] There is mention that Maimonides first settled in Alexandria, and moved to Fustat only in 1171.[19][20] While in Cairo, he studied in a yeshiva attached to a small synagogue, which now bears his name.[21] In Jerusalem, 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.[22] Maimonides was soon 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.[23] Death of his brother Following this success, 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 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.[i] 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 in the Cairo Geniza, he wrote:
Nagid Around 1171, Maimonides was appointed the nagid of the Egyptian Jewish community.[21] Shelomo Dov Goitein believes the leadership he displayed during the ransoming of the Crusader captives led to this appointment.[25] 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 tax farming, Maimonides excommunicated and fought with him for several years until Maimonides was appointed Nagid in 1195. Abraham bar Hillel wrote a scathing description of Sar Shalom in his Megillat Zutta while praising Maimonides as "the light of east and west and unique master and marvel of the generation."[26][27] Physician.jpg) 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 Qadi al-Fadil, the chief secretary to Sultan Saladin, then to Saladin himself; after whose death he remained a physician to the Ayyubid dynasty.[28]  In his medical writings, Maimonides described many conditions, including asthma, diabetes, hepatitis, and pneumonia, and he emphasized moderation and a healthy lifestyle.[30] 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.[30] Julia Bess Frank indicates that Maimonides in his medical writings sought to interpret works of authorities so that they could become acceptable.[28] Maimonides displayed in his interactions with patients attributes that today would be called intercultural awareness and respect for the patient's autonomy.[31] 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.[32] 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."[33] 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.[j] In 1172–74, Maimonides wrote his famous Epistle to Yemen.[34] 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).[35] Death 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 the Sea of Galilee, though there is no contemporary evidence for his removal from Egypt. Gedaliah ibn Yahya ben Joseph records that "He was buried in the Upper Galilee with elegies upon his gravestone. In the time of 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)'".[36] Today, Tiberias hosts the Tomb of Maimonides, on which is inscribed "From Moses to Moses arose none like Moses."[37] Maimonides and his wife, the daughter of Mishael ben Yeshayahu Halevi, had one child who survived into adulthood,[38] Abraham Maimonides, who became recognized as a great scholar, but his scholarship and career was overshadowed by his father's importance. 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, an. The office of Nagid was held by the Maimonides family for four successive generations, until the end of the 14th century. A statue of Maimonides was erected near the Córdoba Synagogue. Maimonides is sometimes said to be a descendant of David, although he never made such a claim.[39][40] WorksMishneh TorahWith 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 Yad ha-Chazaka or simply Yad (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. Later codes of halakha such as the Arba'ah Turim of Jacob ben Asher and Shulchan Aruch of Joseph Karo draw heavily on Mishneh Torah; both often quote whole sections verbatim. However, it met initially with much opposition.[41] 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,[42] 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 Abraham ben David (Raavad III) is printed in virtually all editions of 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. 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, Joseph Karo wrote: "Who would dare force communities who follow the Rambam to follow any other 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 Arabistan and the Maghreb practice according to his word, and accepted him as their rabbi."[43] 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 defendants would be convicted merely according to the judge's caprice.[44] Other Judaic and philosophical works.jpg)  Maimonides composed works of Jewish scholarship, rabbinic law, philosophy, and medical texts. Most of Maimonides' works were written in Judeo-Arabic. However, the Mishneh Torah was written in Hebrew. In addition to Mishneh Torah, his Jewish texts were:
Medical worksMaimonides' 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 (Regimen Sanitatis), which he composed in Arabic for the Sultan al-Afdal, son of Saladin, who suffered from depression.[49] The work was translated into Latin, and published in Florence in 1477, becoming the first medical book to appear in print there.[50] 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."[51] Maimonides wrote ten known medical works in Arabic that have been translated by the Jewish medical ethicist Fred Rosner into contemporary English.[30][52] Lectures, conferences and research on Maimonides, even recently in the 21st century, have been done at medical universities in Morocco.
The Oath of MaimonidesThe 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.[28] The Prayer appeared first in print in 1793 and has been attributed to Markus Herz, a German physician, pupil of Immanuel Kant.[61] Treatise on logicThe 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 (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 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. Until very recently, it was accepted that Maimonides wrote the Treatise on Logic in his twenties or even in his teen years.[62] 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.[63] Yosef Qafih maintained that it is by Maimonides and newly translated it to Hebrew (as Beiur M'lekhet HaHiggayon) from the Judeo-Arabic.[64] PhilosophyThrough The Guide for the Perplexed and the philosophical introductions to sections of his commentaries on the Mishna, Maimonides exerted an important influence on the 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.[47] 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 highly controversial in its day, and was banned by French rabbis, who burnt copies of the work in Montpellier.[65] Thirteen principles of faith
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