This is, what I hope to be, the beginnings of a series of a group of writings, or musings, if you will, on one of the greatest writers in Jewish history, maybe of the world, Rabbi Mosheh Ben Maimon, , or RaMBaM for short, who is often called Moses Maimonides in English. He lived from Passover Eve (erev Passover) in 1135 until 12 December 1204. In Arabic he was known as Musa Ibn Ben Maimon. He was the most preeminent medieval Spanish Jewish philosopher, medical doctor, astronomer and scientist of his time. It has been said in Judaism that, "From Moses to Moses there has never been another like Moses." Meaning, of course, that only Maimonides was anything like the original Moses, the first prophet, law-giver and brother of Aaron the High Priest. Born in Corboda (present-day Spain) he rose to be head of the Jewish community in Egypt and his writings were met with acclaim as far off a Yemen and Israel. His fourteen-volumn Mishneh Torah is still the foundation of Jewish thought and became the cornerstone of the Talmud, considered the "Oral Torah" for most of Judaism. His Thirteen Principles of faith are the foundation of the Yigdal for final part of erev Shabbos services every Friday evening services in most Synagogues.
Most in Judaism already know all of that and the first paragraph was intended for everyone else. So what I have to say now is for everyone including my fellow Jews. :-) Too often we talk of Moshe without reading his works. His most famous work is "The Guide for the Perplexed", a work that can be found in paperback from almost any bookstore, even Amazon or B&N. The one that I have is the 2nd edition and was translated from the original Arabic text by Dr. M. Friedlander back in 1956 so it is not a very modern book at all - but quite good. The first edition was in three volumes and contained many more notes and Hebrew words and translations which would have been far more helpful. The second edition is more concise and maybe more readable to the casual reader.
The first book that I read from Maimonides was "Guide for the Perplexed" and it took quite a while to absorb everything. It is dedicated to one of his students, Joseph, the son of Jehudah Ibn Aknin, a diciple of Maimonides, and it is addressed to him as an example of this kind of student. It is "for him and for those like him." RaMBaM assumed that those who would read - and understand - his work would be those who had already studied sufficiently to comprehend scientific thought, mathematical concepts and philosophical treatises. He never considered that anyone else was worthy of reading his works. To say that Maimonides was conceited would be a bit of an understatement but, all things considered, he did not want the uneducated to read his works and comment on them. The book is divided into three parts: Part I has 76 short chapters, rarely exceeding a page or so in length, dealing mostly with word definitions and explanations but also dealing with divine names, terms, emotions, heaven and earth, and the the twelve propositions of the Kalam. Part II has 47 chapters dealing with the 26 propositions employed by the philosophers to prove the existence of G-d among other things and true prophesy. Part III has 49 chapters that deal with his introduction and apology for publishing, contrary to the teaching of the Mishnah, an interpretation of Ezekiel. Since that covers, by my count, 172 chapters - I will not take an entire post for each chapter but will try and deal with several chapters with each post or I might even skip a few chapters along the way - with an explanation, of course.
So! On to Introduction to MoM 101: A Guide for the Perplexed for the Curious...
Maimonides, the son of Maimon, started his first work at the age of 23 in Spain under the tyranny of King Ibn Tamurt who proclaimed that anyone who did not accept Islam, called Muslemim by the Jews of those days, would be put to death. The Jews did everything that they could to dissuade the King but to no avail. Some died, some converted for show, some fled. Pappa Maimon chose to flee with his family to Egypt where he settled to his son's future fame and fortune. King Ibn Tamurt died within a month after the proclamation but Pappa Maimon had already fled. Moses went on board his ship on on the 4th of Iyyar, 4925 (1165) and arrived in Acco on the 3rd of Sivan and was thus rescued from apostasy. On Tuesday, the 4th of Marheshvan, 4926, he left Acco and arrived at Yirushalayim (my transliterative) spelling of Jerusalem) shortly thereafter. On the 9th he visited the cave of Machpelah in Hebron. From those accounts we know that he and his family did not seek to protect their lives nor property by abandoning their their faith. His brother David carried on the trade in precious stones while Moses occupied himself with is studies in Medicine, philosophy, mathematics and worked in the community with the other Jews.
Unfortunately, when reading Maimonides, I am reminded somewhat of the Sheldon character on the TV series, "Big Bang Theory." He is right 99% of the time but terribly conceited and unconscionably condescending to everyone else. For the purposes of these MoM blogs I shall NOT consider his scientific writings that are so terribly wrong and so terribly misguided. Neither shall I consider his writings on astronomy which, while possibly correct at the time, and I am not an authority but I do know that there are more than five or six planets to consider these days, even with the degrading of Pluto from a planet to something less. His views on Medicine are those of the 12th and 13th century so these also shall be dis regarded for this blog. However, his view on religion is far more attuned to being closer to the original Moses than anyone of today so I would like to follow those and comment on those. So, dear reader, please bear with me and we shall, in the following weeks and months, discover what RaMBaM has laid out for us in the following centuries. I think that we shall discover many wonderful things together.
Here are the questions that we shall attempt to answer as RaMBaM answered them:
- Who is G-d?
- Who are we with respect to G-d?
- What does G-d expect from us?
- What did G-d tell us to do?
Shalom,
Yaakov On
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