“Aware of how easily governments and peoples, and with them individuals, can be brought to ruin, Maimonides held aloft, amid the chaos and turmoil of his epoch, a love of order, restraint, and moderation…If people live by reason and in harmony with nature, following ethical and religious precepts and adhering to a regimen of health, they can escape the ‘sea of chance’ as far as humanly possible.”
— Joel Kraemer
Moses Maimonides (ca. 1138-1204), Musa ibn Maymun ‘Ubaydallah al-Qurṭubi al-Andalusi al-Isra’ili in Arabic and Mosheh ben Maimon ha-Sefaradi in Hebrew, was born in what is now Cordoba, Spain (Qurṭuba, Andalusia), to a distinguished family of Jewish scholars and judges. Called by the Hebrew acronym RaMBaM or by the epithet “the Great Eagle” (Ha-Nesher Ha-Gadol, after… [Read More]
Moses Maimonides’ (1138-1204) numerous writings in Arabic and Hebrew include legal treatises and opinions on Jewish religious Law, a text on logic, works exploring the connection between philosophy and Judaism, and medical treatises. He is best known for three monumental, nearly encyclopedic works, the Commentary on the Mishnah, the Mishneh Torah and the Guide of the Perplexed. From the standpoint of political philosophy, it is what Maimonides says or suggests about the relationship between the Law and philosophy that is especially significant. [Read More]
Menachem Kellner of the University of Haifa explores Maimonides’ interpretation and re-interpretation of Rabbinic thought.