Maimonides

Do not confuse with Ramban, acronym known to Nahmanides.

Moisés ben Maimón, better known as Maimónides (Córdoba, al-Andalus, Almoravid Empire, March 30, 1138 - Cairo, Ayyubid Egypt, December 12 1204), was a Sephardic Jew considered one of the greatest Torah scholars in medieval times. Known in Judaism, and therefore in Hebrew, by the acronym Rambam (רמב"ם< /span>), worked as a doctor, philosopher, astronomer and rabbi in al-Andalus, Morocco and Egypt.

Most Jews were familiar with Maimonides' writings on law and ethics during his lifetime, and they came to be greeted with praise and gratitude as far away as present-day Iraq and Yemen. In addition, Maimonides became the leader of the Jewish community in Egypt during the rule of Sultan Saladin and was posthumously recognized as one of the most important rabbinic philosophers in Jewish history, his extensive works being the cornerstone of any school. talmudic This is the case of his Mishneh Torah, which currently remains a benchmark in canonical authority and Jewish laws, also collecting oral tradition.

Beyond appearing in Jewish historical works, Maimonides also appears in Islamic texts dealing with science and is heavily mentioned in multiple investigations and studies. Influenced by Al-Farabi, Avicenna and his contemporary Averroes, he himself became a reference for Muslim philosophers and scientists.

Biography

Córdoba

Maimónides was born in Córdoba at the end of the so-called golden age of Jewish culture in al-Andalus, in the bosom of a distinguished family, through his father, of rabbinical judges, scholars and community leaders, documented since the 18th century. X and claimed descent from Rabbi Yehudah Hanasi of the second half of the II, redactor of the Mishnah. His maternal family, on the contrary, was of humble condition; his mother, who died giving birth to him, was a butcher's daughter; and his father remarried.

He began his Biblical and Talmudic studies in the city of Córdoba as a child, as well as philosophy and science, especially the classical Greek authors from the hands of Arabic translations, and became intensely interested in learning the science of Islamic culture. Maimonides denied mysticism, despite the fact that some kind of mysticism can be seen in his philosophy. He declared that poetry was not useful to human beings, since it was taken from the imaginary. Maimonides studied the Torah thanks to the education of his father Maimon of him, who in turn was a student of the Rabbi Joseph ibn Migash trained in Lucena.

Exile

The Almohad Caliphate conquered Córdoba in 1148 and ended all the privileges of the dhimmis, all those who were not Muslims and who enjoyed protection thanks to the payment of the jizia. The loss of these rights led to the conversion of the Jewish and Christian communities to Islam, to their exile or death penalty. Many Jews were accused of being false converts and forced to wear distinctive clothing to keep them under continual scrutiny.

After the Maimonides family wandered through various provinces in the south of the peninsula, in 1153/1154 they most likely settled in Almería, where they would have resided until 1157, at which time the city was taken over by the Almohads. Like most Jews, they then chose exile. Some historians suggest that Maimonides faked a false conversion while he was escaping, and that it was invalidated once it came to light in Egypt. After leaving the peninsula, it is very possible that he moved to French Provence (although it is not known for sure) before heading to the Maghreb. After five years living in Fez, today Morocco, Maimonides had to emigrate again due to the Almohad intolerance towards the Jews at that time. It is after the exile from Fez that his acclaimed commentary on the Mishnah was published, between the years 1166-68.

After leaving Fez, she traveled with her two children by boat from Morocco to Acre, which was dominated by the crusaders of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and traveled through the holy cities of Hebron and Jerusalem. Furthermore, during this trip he visited the Temple Mount, the day of which was considered holy by him and his descendants.

Egypt

Finally, after a brief stay in Alexandria, he settled in 1168 in Cairo, capital of the Fatimid Caliphate, and continued his studies in a yeshiva attached to a small synagogue that currently bears his name. -Andalus and living in Egypt, Maimonides insisted on describing himself as a "Sephardic".

Maimonides was instrumental in rescuing Jews held captive during Christian King Amalric I's siege of the Egyptian city of Bilbays, as he sent numerous letters to Jewish communities in Lower Egypt requesting them to raise money to pay for the rescue. The payment was administered by two judges who sent the money to the Kingdom of Jerusalem to negotiate with the crusaders, and the prisoners were finally released.

Death of his brother

The Almohad Caliphate from which Maimonides had to flee in its maximum extent around the centuryXII.

As a consequence of his fame, the Maimonides family, wanting to increase their wealth, gave part of it to his brother, the young merchant David ben Maimon. Maimonides instructed his brother to only march to the Red Sea port of Aidhab. However, David was not impressed by the goods offered there and decided, against his brother's wishes, to go by boat to India, since there was great wealth in the East. Before he could reach his destination, David drowned in the Indian Ocean sometime between the years 1169-77. His death was devastating for Maimonides, who even became ill.

In a letter, found in the Cairo Genizah, he wrote:

"The great misery that has fallen upon me for the rest of my life, worse than anything else, was the loss of the saint, be his praised memory, who drowned in the Indian Ocean and carried in his power money that belonged to me, to him, to many others, and left me with a little girl and a widow. The day I received the news I fell ill and I was in bed over a year, with sores, fever and depression and almost gave up. It's been almost eight years and I'm still mourning and consoling. And how could I comfort myself? He grew up on my knees, he was my brother and my student. "

Maimonides

Leader of the Jewish communities and physician to Saladin

Relieve of Maimonides in the United States House of Representatives.

In 1171, Maimonides was appointed nagid (leader) of the Jewish community in Egypt. The Arabist Goitein believes that his role in rescuing Jewish captives from the Crusaders led to this recognition. With the loss of funds from his brother's business trip, Maimonides assumed his vocation as a doctor for which he was also highly acclaimed and whose technique he had already applied in Córdoba and Fez. His successes in this field led him to become personal physician to the Grand Vizier Al-Qadi al-Fadil, and later to Sultan Saladin and the entire royal family.

Maimonides' medical works contain great descriptions of asthma, diabetes, hepatitis, and pneumonia, as well as his emphasis on moderation and a healthy lifestyle. His treatises became highly influential to many generations of physicians. He was instructed in both classical Greek and contemporary Islamic medicine, and followed the principles of Galen's humoralism. He did not blindly accept authority, but applied his own with observation and experience.Maimonides displayed in his interactions with patients characteristics that would now be called intercultural care and respect for patient autonomy. Despite the fact that he wrote on multiple occasions about solitude as a method to get closer to God and broaden his reflections, he dedicated most of his life to caring for others.In a famous letter, he describes the daily routine of he.

After visiting the sultan palace, he arrived exhausted and hungry at home where he “found the chambers full of Gentiles and Jews... I cured them and prescribed them for their diseases until night and found me extremely weak.”

Maimonides

Even on the Sabbath he would receive members of the community, so it is quite remarkable that he could write extensive treatises, not only on medicine and other scientific disciplines, but also on halaka, or rabbinic law, and medieval Judaic philosophy. Rabbi Joseph Caro later praised him, noting that "Maimonides is the best administrator of Jewish law and all the communities of Israel, Arabia and the Maghreb based their practices on him and considered him their own rabbi." In 1173 Maimonides wrote his famous Epistle to Yemen.

Death

Statue of Maimonides in his hometown, Cordoba, performed in 1964 by Amadeo Ruiz Olmos.

Maimonides died on December 12, 1204 in Cairo. Tradition maintains that he was buried for a brief time in a study room (bet midrash) in the courtyard of the synagogue before being exhumed and his remains transferred to Tiberias, where he was reinterred. Today this place is known as the Tomb. of Maimonides located on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in Israel.

Maimonides and his wife, the daughter of Mishael ben Yeshayahu Halevi, had a son who survived to adulthood named Abraham, who was recognized as a great student. He succeeded Maimonides as nagid and court physician at the age eighteen years old. Throughout his career, he defended his father's writings against critics. The title of nagid was held by the Maimonides family for four generations until the end of the 14th century.

Some traditions say that Maimonides is descended from King David, although he never made such a claim.

Thirteen principles of faith

In his Commentary on the Mishnah (Sanhedrin Treatise, chapter 10), Maimonides formulates his "thirteen principles of faith". It summarizes all the precepts that he saw necessary to be a good Jew.

1. The existence of God.
2. The uniqueness and indivisibility of God.
3. The spirituality of God and His embodiment.
4. The eternity of God.
5. Only God must be the object of worship.
6. Revelation of God through the prophets.
7. The preeminence of Moses among the prophets.
8. The Torah was delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai.
9. The immutability of the Torah as the Law of God.
10. God's consciousness of human actions.
11. The reward of good deeds and the punishment of evil.
12. The coming of the Jewish Messiah.
13. The resurrection of the dead.

Although there are several theories, these principles could be the origin of the expression "continue in your thirteen," which the Holy Inquisition expressed when judging Jews who continued to practice their religion clandestinely after their expulsion in 1492.

Work

Sephardic art. Mishne Torah (Maimonides, 1180), Hebrew manuscript copied in Sefarad, c. 1340, and illuminated by Matteo di Ser Cambio in Perugia in 1400. Pages of the Sefer Ahavah (Book of Love [God]), with a Jewish believer bearing the Torah and covered by its talit. Jerusalem, National Library of Israel, Ms. Heb. 4*1193.

Jewish art. Manuscript sefarado-asquenazí. Mishne Torah carried out c. 1457. Pages of the Sefer Mishpatim (Book of Laws). Semi-cursive ascenazí calligraphy. Museum of Israel (Jerusalem).

Israeli stamp with portrait of Maimonides, issued following the Seventh International Congress of Science History (Jerusalem, 1953).

In his youth he wrote religious poetry and an epistle in Arabic.

On his knowledge of medicine he wrote a good number of treatises, such as the one he dedicated to the sultan Saladin, the Treatise on poisons and their antidotes in the year 1199, to the sultan's son, Al-Fadl, Guide to good health (1198) and the Explanation of alterations (1200).

His major works on rabbinic (Talmudic) themes are two: a commentary in Arabic on the Mishnah, The Luminar (1168), also titled Book of Elucidation, and the Second Law or Repetition of the Law of the year 1180, which constitutes his magnum opus and consists of a broad and meticulous compilation by subject of all laws and religious norms and juridical aspects of Jewish life (that is, from the Talmud). These works were very famous and gave him numerous disciples.

He is also the author of philosophical works of great weight in medieval thought, written during the last years of his life, such as the Treatise on the Resurrection of the Dead (1191). The Guide for the Perplexed (1190), incorrectly nicknamed Guide for the Misguided , is the key to his philosophical thought and exerted a strong influence in both Jewish and Christian circles and especially scholastics. In it he establishes a reconciliation between faith and reason addressed to those who vacillate between the teachings of the Jewish religion and the doctrines of Aristotelian philosophy that prevailed at that time, demonstrating that there is no contradiction in the points where faith and reason seem to oppose each other. That is, a reconciliation between the literal meaning of the scriptures and rational truths, resorting to the allegorical interpretation in cases of conflict.

It was thus that controversies arose on the part of "antimaemonists" —basically, by a group of Muslims who wanted a literal reading of the Koran, the mutallajim— who branded him a rationalist. Despite this, it was a highly commented work and highly influential in the Muslim world and Christian scholasticism, for example in Saint Thomas Aquinas.

As a Jew in Islamic territory, he had extensive training in both cultures: the traditional Jewish and the profane Arab (with its additions of the Greek), from the teachings of his erudite father Maimum, for which he wrote works both in Hebrew as in Arabic, in a prose that is characterized above all by its systematization and expository clarity.

From Maimonides arises the Jewish intellectual movement of the 13th and 14th centuries that spread through Spain and southern France. A supporter of theological realism, he has come to be considered a precursor of Spinoza's ideas, but philosophically he is not considered very original because he basically follows Aristotle, departing from him on points that seem contradictory to Jewish beliefs and traditions. Therefore, his character is conciliatory.

Versions of the Mishneh Torah, Maimonides' code

In the text of Mishneh Torah numerous errors were added over the years, such as in the text of each precept, in its divisions or in comments. The reasons for the errors are from transcription, which were fixed in the text. Editions in which some of the transcribers “corrected” the text according to their understanding and the censorship of the Church in certain European nations (Hashkenaz) that altered all references to it and its views (for example in marital relations) from the original text. If we add to this the fact that Maimonides himself corrected the text on several occasions, we find that the current text does not represent the original written by Maimonides.

In order to elucidate the correct and exact text, it is necessary to rely on manuscripts and exact editions, which were not influenced by transcribers or censorship. On numerous occasions, incorrect versions were the cause of questions about Maimonides' words in his work Maimonides' Code , and as soon as the error in the text was clarified, the questions became irrelevant.

Since the mid-XX century, four scientific editions of the work have been printed:

• The edition of Sabetai Frenkel. Edition in which there are classic commentators together with others, and also a complex set of indexes. So far all books have been printed (the work is divided into 14 parts according to themes. Each is called “book”) except the book of Love (Ahava).

• The edition of Rabino Iosef Kapaj. Edition based primarily on Yemeni manuscripts to which a summary of the clarifications of the commentators of Maimonides was added during the generations.

• The edition “Mano Simple” (Yad Pshuta) of Rabbi Nahum Eliezer Rabinovich. Editing based on several manuscripts (which change volume according to accuracy) with an addition of original comments. So far approximately half of the work has been printed.

• The edition “The Code of Maimonides Exactly” by Rabino Itzjak Shilat. Edition without comments in which are the best known counterposed and revised versions. So far four tomos were edited. The original plan is to edit two volumes per year.

The edition that presents the versions based on manuscripts without any commentary, with numerous indexes and in a single volume (1000 pages), was edited by "Yeshivat Or VeYeshua". The edition presents the exact and revised version of the text based on the edition of Rabbi Yosef Kapaj and includes the most important version differences from the most renowned editions.

In the framework of the "Mishne Torah Project (The Code of Maimonides)" of the Yeshivat Or VeYeshua, the edition of a pocket version is planned, commented according to different works of Maimonides. So far, the Book of Knowledge has been published.

Guide for the perplexed

Maimonid tomb.

In Guide for the Perplexed you will find all his philosophical thought, and responses to the peripatetic school. The ideas influenced Thomas Aquinas and the scholastic universities. Probably the ones that influenced Alfonso de la Torre in Visión delectable are:

• Maimonides distinguishes three groups of created beings:
  • minerals, plants and living beings (including man), composed of matter and perishable form.
  • The spheres and stars, in which the form is permanent.
  • Formed beings, but without matter, as angels are.
• It admits creation as an act according to the divine essence, which encompasses all beings, has no other purpose than itself and therefore its duration is unlimited.
• He says to prove God's existence from aristotelian arguments, and affirms his unity and embodiment.
• The soul is one in essence, but has five faculties: life force, senses, imagination, appetite (passions and will) and reason (freedom and understanding).
• Understanding is the faculty that characterizes man, but others are common to most animals. This can be passive (material understanding that suffers the action of organic life, is inseparable from the body and individual) or active (acquired or communicated, separated from the body).
• It speaks of the prophetic state, constituted by a enlightenment superior to what each one can aspire that produces the maximum of science and bliss, understanding prophecy as an emanation of God that extends through the intellect to the rational faculty and then on the imaginative faculty.
• Man is free and freedom is a function of intelligence, and this intellect, as a form of the human soul, is immortal because it does not need the soul for its operations, but understands completely separated from the body.
• The resurrection of the bodies is due to faith but reason cannot prove it even though it does not deny it and admits it as a miracle compatible with creation.
• Understanding constitutes the true background of our being, the immortal part of man, and therefore man must direct all his acts to obtain the supreme perfection of this faculty through the knowledge of God; to know and love God is the ultimate end of life.
• Man is free and this freedom, acting as such, can by his own strength perform good unselfishly.

Medicine

Maimonides' exploits in the field of medicine are well known and cited by many medieval authors. One of his most important medical works is his Guide to Good Health (Regimen Sanitis) which he wrote in Arabic for Sultan al-Afdal, son of Saladin, who suffered depression. The work was translated into Latin and published in Florence in 1477, the first work on medicine to be printed there. Although its prescriptions have become obsolete, "his ideas on preventive medicine, public hygiene, patient approach and the preservation of the health of the soul continue in force." Maimonides wrote ten works on medicine in Arabic that have been translated by the Jewish moralistic physician Fred Rosner into English. Lectures and research on Maimonides have been held, even in the < century span style="font-variant:small-caps;text-transform:lowercase">XXI, in some Moroccan universities.

• Regimen Sanitatis, Suessmann Muntner (ed.), Mossad Harav Kook: Jerusalem 1963 (translated to Hebrew by Moshe Ibn Tibbon) (OCLC 729184001)
• The art of healing – Galen Extracts (Barzel, 1992, Vol. 5).
• Commentary on the aphorisms of Hippocrates (Rosner, 1987, Vol. 2; in Hebrew: מוווווווווווווווה.
• Medical aphorisms of Moses (Rosner, 1989, Vol. 3) entitled Fusul Musa in Arabic ("Chapter of Moses," in Hebrew: מה ה) houses 1500 aphorisms and many medical conditions are described.
• Hemorrhoid Treaty (in Rosner, 1984, Vol. 1; in Hebrew: لوان منان من منان مان مان مان مان also talks about digestion and food.
• Cohabitation Treaty (in Rosner, 1984, Vol. 1) contains recipes with aphrodisiacs and anti-aphrodisiacs.
• Asthma Treaty (Rosner, 1994, Vol. 6) talks about climate and diet and its effect on asthma, as well as emphasizing the need for pure air.
• Poisons and Antidotes Treaty (in Rosner, 1984, Vol. 1) in an early book on toxicology that was popular for centuries.
• Health Regime (in Rosner, 1990, Vol. 4; in Hebrew: أعربية أعربية is a discourse on healthy life and body-soul connection.
• Address on the Explanation of Attacks advocates for healthy life and the absence of overabundance.
• Glossary of drug names (Rosner, 1992, Vol. 7) represents a pharmacist with 405 paragraphs with the names of medicines in Arabic, Greek, Syriac, Persian, Berber and Spanish.

Influence and legacy

The Mishneh Torah of Maimonides is considered even today by Jews as one of the masterpieces codifying Jewish laws and ethics. It is considered exceptional due to its concise, logical construction and clear expression, which is why it has become a standard against other later codifications, and is even still studied in rabbinic yeshivas. The first person to compile an understandable, alphabetically arranged lexicon of Maimonides' Mishneh Torah was Tanhum ha-Yerushalmi (1220–1291). A popular medieval saying also displayed on his epitaph reads: "From Moses [of the Torah] to Moses [Maimonides] there was no other Moses."

Furthermore, Maimonides was also one of the most influential figures in medieval Jewish philosophy. His brilliant adaptation of Aristotelian thought to the Hebraic faith greatly impressed later Jewish thinkers, and had an immediate historical impact. Jews who lived a century after his death, especially in Spain, attempted to apply Maimonides' Aristotelianism in ways that clash with traditionalist thought and observance, giving rise to intellectual controversy in Jewish circles in Spain and southern France. The intensity of the debate led to interventions by the Catholic Church against "heresy" and a general confiscation of the texts. rabbinical As a consequence, the most radical interpretations of Maimonides failed, especially among Ashkenazi Jews, where there was a tendency to ignore his philosophical works and insist on rabbinical texts. These works often include philosophical chapters or discussions supporting the observance of Halakha; David Hartman writes that Maimonides clearly expressed "the traditional support of the philosophical understanding of God both in the Aggadah of the Talmud and in the conduct of Hasidic Judaism." Maimonides' thought continues to influence traditionalist Jews.

Because of his search for a synthesis between Aristotle and biblical faith, Maimonides had a great influence on the Christian theologian Saint Thomas Aquinas, who mentions Maimonides in several of his works, including the Libri quattuor sententiarum.

Tributes and homages

Maimonides has been honored on numerous occasions. In Córdoba, his hometown, a statue of him by Amadeo Ruiz Olmos was inaugurated in 1964, next to the Córdoba Synagogue. Also, in this city is the Maimonides Institute of Biomedical Research of Córdoba.

In the United States, a relief of him is found in the House of Representatives, while several universities and hospitals are named after him, including the Maimonides School in Brookline, Massachusetts, the Maimonides Academy School in Los Angeles, the Brauser Maimonides Academy in Hollywood, Florida, the Maimonides Medical Unit in Brooklyn, New York, and a learning area at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston.

In Israel, several streets bear his name, the Hebrew acronym Rambam, as well as the Rambam University Hospital in Haifa. In 1953, the Israel Postal Company issued a stamp with the face of Maimonides. On the one-shekel bills, the official currency in Israel, an illustration appeared in its A series with the face of Maimonides on the obverse and his tomb in Tiberias on the reverse.

Other institutions in various countries have honored Maimonides by awarding his name. In Morocco there is the Maimonides Institute in Casablanca, in Buenos Aires, Argentina the Maimonides University and in Montreal, Canada, one of the main geriatric centers in the region. The University of Hamburg inaugurated in 2015 the Maimonides Center for Advanced Studies.

In 2004, conferences on her were held at Yale University, Florida International University, Pennsylvania State University, and Rambam Hospital in Israel. On the occasion of the celebrations of the 800th anniversary of his death, Harvard University published a commemorative volume.

In March 2008, during the Euromed conference, the Ministers of Tourism of Israel, Morocco and Spain agreed to work together on a common project to follow in the footsteps of Maimonides and create a tourist route in the cities of Córdoba, Fez and Tiberias.

Between December 2018 and January 2019, the Israel Museum held a special exhibition dedicated to the writings of Maimonides.