Moses ben Maimon was the greatest Jewish thinker of the Middle Ages, philosopher, Talmudist, and physician.
Background
He was born in Cordova, Spain, into an illustrious family; his father was a noted Talmudist as well as a mathematician and astronomer. When Maimonidcs was thirteen, Cordova was captured by a fanatical Islamic sect and to escape persecution the family fled, wandering for ten years in Spain, and eventually reaching Fez in Morocco (1160).
Education
At the age of sixteen, Maimonidcs had already written a treatise on logical terminology and in Fez he devoted himself to studies in theology and medicine.
Career
Fez was also under the rule of Islamic zealots and Maimonides had to be extremely circumspect, although allegations that he became a nominal Muslim have never been proved. The situation became so hazardous that in 1165 the family sailed for Eretz Israel, then in Christian hands. They lived for several months in Acre, visited Jerusalem and Hebron, but conditions were too oppressive for permanent settlement. The family moved on to Egypt, where Maimonides was to spend the rest ot his life.
In Cairo, he went into business in precious stones with his brother David but when David was drowned — with the family fortune — in the Indian Ocean on a business trip, Maimonides abandoned commerce and earned his living as a physician. His reputation spread and he was appointed physician to the grand vizier. He has left a description of his grueling daily life, which included attending court and attending to patients, returning home to his hours of private practice, and then devoting his Sabbaths to community affairs as the recognized leader of Egyptian Jewry. He also had to find time for his studies and writing his classic comprehensive code of Jewish law, his philosophical masterpiece, and his widely acclaimed medical tractates. His death was marked by public mourning throughout the Jewish world, which regarded him as the outstanding Jew of his time. For three days both Jews and Muslims mourned in Fustat. near Cairo, where he had lived. His body was taken to the Holy Land and buried in Tiberias, where his grave has been a site of pilgrimage ever since. The tombstone reads “From Moses [of the Bible] to Moses [Maimonides], there never arose another like Moses.”
In preparation for his great work of codification, he wrote The Book of the Commandments in which he lists the 613 commandments derived by the rabbis from the Mosaic Law. His codification, completed about 1178, was called Mishneh Torah (“Repetition of the Law,” that is, Deuteronomy), also known as Yad Hazakah (“Strong Hand,” because the numerical value of the word “Yad" is fourteen, corresponding to the fourteen divisions of the book). This was an epoch-making composition as it was the first attempt to organize the diffuse laws of the Talmud in a logical code. It was an original synthesis, based on a clear systemization, written in a lucid Hebrew. Its scope was all inclusive, embracing all Talmudic legislation and not only those sections which remained immediately relevant after the destruction of the Temple; he codified laws concerning sacrifices, agriculture, and the coming of the Messiah with the same attention as he devoted to laws of the synagogue and business relations.
He also wrote a number of pastoral letters which were widely regarded. One of these, sent to the Jews of Yemen who had been swept by belief in a pseudomessiah, warns against messianic pretenders and unwarranted expectations.
Views
Quotations:
MAIMONIDES' THIRTEEN PRINCIPLES OF FAITH
1. The existence of God, which is perfect and sufficient unto itself and which is the cause of the existence of all other beings.
2. God’s unity, which is unlike all other kinds of unity.
3. God must not be conceived in bodily terms, and the anthropomorphic expressions applied to God in scripture have to be understood in a metaphorical sense.
4. God is eternal.
5. God alone is to be worshiped and obeyed. There are no mediating powers able freely to grant man’s petitions, and intermediaries must not be invoked.
6. Prophecy.
7. Moses is unsurpassed by any other prophet.
8. The entire Torah was given to Moses.
9. Moses’ Torah will not be abrogated or superseded by another divine law nor will anything be added to or taken away from it.
10. God knows the actions of men.
1 1. God rewards those who fulfill the commandments of the Torah, and punishes those who transgress them.
12. The coming of the Messiah.
13. The resurrection of the dead.
Personality
Maimonides’ authority was recognized by Jewish communities that turned to him for his advice and rulings. The Egyptian community formalized his leadership by giving him the title of nagid (leader) and the regard in which he was held was so high that this title was made hereditary and his descendants remained the leaders of Egyptian Jewry for several generations.
At the same time some of his views aroused controversy in the Jewish world, and the more traditional contested his reinterpretations and rationalizations, leading to bans on the study of his works in certain places. For over a century the controversy between the Maimonists and anti-Maimonists split the Jewish world, but eventually the views of Maimonides were accepted by all.