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MAIMONIDES

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 431 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MAIMONIDES , the See also:

common name of See also:RABBI See also:MOSES See also:BEN See also:MAIMON (1135-1204), also known from the See also:initials of these last words as RAMBAM, Jewish philosopher. His See also:life falls into three epochs, which may be typified by the towns in which they were passed, viz. See also:Cordova, See also:Fez and See also:Cairo. He was See also:born in Cordova on the loth of See also:March 1135, the See also:eve of See also:Passover; he had a See also:brother, See also:David, and one See also:sister. His See also:early years were spent in his native See also:town, which had then just passed the See also:zenith of its See also:glory. The Arab rulers had fostered the development of See also:science, See also:art, See also:medicine, See also:philosophy, literature and learning. All these influences played their See also:part in the See also:education of Maimonides, whose See also:father, besides training him in all branches of See also:Hebrew and Jewish scholarship, implanted in the youth a See also:sound knowledge of these See also:secular studies as well. In 1148 Cordova was taken from the last Fatimite See also:caliph by the victorious See also:Almohades, who had spread over See also:Spain from N. See also:Africa. These militant revivalists strove to re-establish See also:Islam in what they considered its See also:primitive simplicity. They laid See also:great stress on the unity of See also:God, and tolerated neither See also:schism within the faith nor dissent without. The position of the orthodox See also:Spanish See also:Jews became intolerable, and Maimon, after ten years of hard-See also:ships, wanderings and escapes, decided to take his See also:family out of the See also:country.

He settled in Fez. The years which Maimonides spent there (116o—1165) were memorable for his friendship with Abdul Arab See also:

Ibn Muisha—a Moslem poet and theologian—and for the commencement of his See also:literary activity. His energies were diverted towards stimulating the religious feelings of his brethren and combating assimilation. In consequence he became alarmed for his own safety, and in 1165 See also:left for See also:Egypt, where he settled after a passing visit to the See also:Holy See also:Land. Cordova taught him the humanities; Fez humanity. Cairo, besides giving him prominence at See also:court and in the Jewish community, was the centre of the almost See also:world-wide See also:influence which he exercised over Jewry by his monumental writings and dominant See also:personality. By 1177 Maimonides was the recognized See also:chief of the Cairene See also:congregation and consulted on important matters by communities far and wide. Here he was joined by his most famous See also:disciple, See also:Joseph Aknin. But his early life in Egypt was fraught with deep sorrow. His father died soon after their arrival, and Maimonides himself suffered severely from prostration and sickness. His brother David, jointly with whom he carried on a See also:trade in gems, was shipwrecked in the See also:Indian Ocean. With him perished the entire See also:fortune of the family.

Forced to See also:

earn a livelihood, Maimonides turned to medicine. The fame of his skill eventually brought him the See also:appointment of See also:body physician to See also:Saladin, to whom, it is said, he was so attached that when See also:Richard I. wrote from See also:Ascalon, offering him a similar See also:post at the See also:English court, Maimonides refused. He married the sister of Ibn al Mali, one of the royal secretaries. In 1186, his son See also:Abraham was born. His remaining years were spent in ceaseless activity and in controversy, which he sought to avoid. He died amidst universal sorrow and veneration. The See also:works of Maimonides fall into three periods: (a) To the Spanish See also:period belong his commentary on the whole See also:Talmud (not fully carried out), a See also:treatise on the See also:calendar (Maamar ha-ibbur), a treatise on See also:logic (Milloth Higgayon), and his commentary on the Mishnah (this was called Siraj or Maor, i.e. " See also:Light ": begun 1158, completed 1168 in Egypt). (b) While he was in Fez, he wrote an See also:essay on the Sanctification of the Name of God (Maamar Kiddush Hashem, Iggereth Hashemad). (c) The works written in Egypt were: See also:Letter to the Yemenites (Iggereth Teman or Pethah Tiqvah) ; Responsa on questions of See also:law; Biblical and Rabbinical See also:Code (Misnheh Torah or Yad Hahazaka, completed 118o) ; Sepher hamitzvoth, an abbreviated handbook of the preceding; and his great philosophical See also:work Moreh Nebuhim or " the See also:guide of the perplexed " (119o). To these must be added certain portions of the Mishnah commentary, such as the " Eight Chapters," the discussion on See also:reward and See also:punishment and See also:immortality, the Jewish Creed, which have acquired fame as See also:independent works. The influence of Moses ben Maimon is incalculable.

" From Moses unto Moses there arose not one like Moses," is the See also:

verdict of posterity. Maimonides was the great exponent of See also:reason in faith and See also:toleration in See also:theology. One of the See also:main services to See also:European thought of the " Guide" was its independent See also:criticism of some of See also:Aristotle's principles. His codification of the Talmud was equally appreciated in the study of the See also:scholar and in See also:practical life. See also:Christian See also:Europe owed much to Maimonides. Not only did his " Guide " influence See also:scholasticism in See also:general, but it was from his Code that the See also:Church derived its See also:medieval knowledge of the See also:Synagogue. A See also:complete bibliography will be found in Maimonides, by David Yellin and See also:Israel Abrahams (See also:London, 1903); the final See also:chapter of that work gives a See also:summary of the influence of Maimonides on Christian philosophers such as See also:Aquinas, and Jewish such as See also:Spinoza. The " Guide " has been translated into English by M. Friedlander (1881–1885; new ed., 1905). See also Jewish Encyclopedia, articles s.v., and the volumes edited by Guttmann, Moses ben Maimon (See also:Leipzig, 1908, &c.). (H.

End of Article: MAIMONIDES

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