59 Facts About Maimonides

Moses ben Maimon, commonly known as Maimonides and referred to by the acronym Rambam, was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars of the Middle Ages.

Yet, while Maimonides rose to become the revered head of the Jewish community in Egypt, his writings had vociferous critics, particularly in Spain.

Maimonides was born 1138 in Cordoba, Andalusia, in the Muslim-ruled Almoravid Empire, during what some scholars consider to be the end of the golden age of Jewish culture in the Iberian Peninsula, after the first centuries of the Moorish rule.

Maimonides's father Maimon ben Joseph, was a Spanish dayyan, whose family claimed direct paternal descent from Simeon ben Judah ha-Nasi, and thus from the Davidic line.

Maimonides later stated that there are 38 generations between him and Judah ha-Nasi.

Maimonides's ancestry, going back four generations, is given in his, as Moses son of Maimon the Judge, son of Joseph the Wise, son of Isaac the Rabbi, son of Obadiah the Judge.

Maimonides studied Torah under his father, who had in turn studied under Rabbi Joseph ibn Migash, a student of Isaac Alfasi.

At an early age, Maimonides developed an interest in sciences and philosophy.

Maimonides read those Greek philosophers accessible in Arabic translations, and was deeply immersed in the sciences and learning of Islamic culture.

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.

The question whether Maimonides himself was among those who had to convert to Islam in order to save his life prior to fleeing the area, has been the subject of scholarly debate.

Maimonides wrote that this day of visiting the Temple Mount was a day of holiness for him and his descendants.

Maimonides sent five letters to the Jewish communities of Lower Egypt asking them to pool money together to pay the ransom.

The death of his brother caused Maimonides to become sick with grief.

Around 1171, Maimonides was appointed the of the Egyptian Jewish community.

Maimonides had trained in medicine in both Cordoba and in Fez.

Maimonides was knowledgeable about Greek and Arabic medicine, and followed the principles of humorism in the tradition of Galen.

Maimonides did not blindly accept authority but used his own observation and experience.

Maimonides displayed in his interactions with patients attributes that today would be called intercultural awareness and respect for the patient's autonomy.

Maimonides succeeded Maimonides as Nagid and as court physician at the age of eighteen.

Maimonides is sometimes said to be a descendant of King David, although he never made such a claim.

Maimonides composed works of Jewish scholarship, rabbinic law, philosophy, and medical texts.

The Oath of Maimonides is a document about the medical calling and recited as a substitute for the Hippocratic Oath.

Until very recently, it was accepted that Maimonides wrote the Treatise on Logic in his twenties or even in his teen years.

Maimonides 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.

Maimonides strove to reconcile Aristotelianism and science with the teachings of the Torah.

Maimonides is said to have been influenced by Asaph the Jew, who was the first Hebrew medical writer, and has been under major influence by Al-Ghazali, a prominent Persian philosopher.

Maimonides is said to have compiled the principles from various Talmudic sources.

Maimonides equated the God of Abraham to what philosophers refer to as the Necessary Being.

Maimonides primarily relied upon the science of Aristotle and the teachings of the Talmud, commonly claiming to find a basis for the latter in the former.

Maimonides insisted that all of the anthropomorphic phrases pertaining to God in sacred texts are to be interpreted metaphorically.

Maimonides argued that God embodied reason, intellect, science, and nature, and was omnipotent and indescribable.

Maimonides said that science, the growth of scientific fields, and discovery of the unknown by comprehension of nature was a way to appreciate God.

Maimonides agreed with "the Philosopher" that the use of logic is the "right" way of thinking.

Maimonides claimed that in order to understand how to know God, every human being must, by study, and meditation attain the degree of perfection required to reach the prophetic state.

Maimonides teaches that prophecy is the highest purpose of the most learned and refined individuals.

Maimonides took the premise that an omnipotent and good God exists.

Maimonides says that there are people who are guided by higher purpose, and there are those who are guided by physicality and must strive to find the higher purpose with which to guide their actions.

Maimonides believes that there are three types of evil in the world: evil caused by nature, evil that people bring upon others, and evil man brings upon himself.

Maimonides writes that the second type of evil is relatively rare, and that humanity brings it upon itself.

Maimonides answered an inquiry concerning astrology, addressed to him from Marseille.

Maimonides responded that man should believe only what can be supported either by rational proof, by the evidence of the senses, or by trustworthy authority.

Maimonides affirms that he had studied astrology, and that it does not deserve to be described as a science.

Maimonides uses as an example the notion that God becomes "angry" with people who do wrong.

Maimonides conceived of an eight-level hierarchy of tzedakah, where the highest form is to give a gift, loan, or partnership that will result in the recipient becoming self-sufficient instead of living upon others.

Maimonides wrote much on this topic, but in most cases he wrote about the immortality of the soul for people of perfected intellect; his writings were usually not about the resurrection of dead bodies.

Maimonides asserts that belief in resurrection is a fundamental truth of Judaism about which there is no disagreement.

However, Spinoza teaches that the way to attain the knowledge which confers immortality is the progress from sense-knowledge through scientific knowledge to philosophical intuition of all things, while Maimonides holds that the road to perfection and immortality is the path of duty as described in the Torah and the rabbinic understanding of the oral law.

Maimonides describes the world to come as the stage after a person lives their life in this world as well as the final state of existence after the Messianic Era.

Maimonides was not known as a supporter of Kabbalah, although a strong intellectual type of mysticism has been discerned in his philosophy.

Some academics hold that Maimonides' project fought against the Proto-Kabbalah of his time.

Maimonides expressed disapproval of poetry, the best of which he declared to be false, and which he considered to be a waste of time, and conducive to linguistic ambiguity and thus intellectual error.

Maimonides' is considered by Jews even today as one of the chief authoritative codifications of Jewish law and ethics.

The first to compile a comprehensive lexicon containing an alphabetically arranged list of difficult words found in Maimonides' was Tanhum ha-Yerushalmi.

However, Maimonides was one of the most influential figures in medieval Jewish philosophy.

The most rigorous medieval critique of Maimonides is Hasdai Crescas's.

Maimonides's combined abilities in the fields of theology, philosophy and medicine make his work attractive today as a source during discussions of evolving norms in these fields, particularly medicine.

Maimonides remains one of the most widely debated Jewish thinkers among modern scholars.

Maimonides has been adopted as a symbol and an intellectual hero by almost all major movements in modern Judaism, and has proven important to philosophers such as Leo Strauss; and his views on the importance of humility have been taken up by modern humanist philosophers.