Who is moses maimonides

By continuing to use our site, or clicking "Continue," you are agreeing to our Cookie Policy Continue. Twitter Facebook. This Issue. Citations View Metrics. Special Article.

September 13, Steven R. So problematic was the afterlife controversy for Maimonides that he eventually c. Maimonides died in and was buried in Tiberias, in the north of Israel, in accordance with his wishes.

Halbertal, Moshe, trans. Joel A. Maimonides: Life and Thought. Kraemer, Joel L. New York: Doubleday, Maimonides, Moses Isadore Twersky, ed. A Maimonides Reader. New York: Behrman House, Stroumsa, Sarah. The most widely read Jewish Bible commentator, he also wrote a running commentary to the Babylonian Talmud.

Sephardic Jews. We use cookies to improve your experience on our site and bring you ads that might interest you. A Man of the World Moshe ben Maimon was born in or late The treatise contained an introduction and was divided into two main parts.

In the introduction, Maimonides praised Al Fafhil for his virtues and deeds and noted that Al Fafhil instructed him to import as remedies drugs that were not found in Egypt.

Maimonides was also asked to write on what to do after being bitten by a dog or snake, while waiting for the physician. Part I was divided into six chapters. The topics were concerned with bites from mad dogs rabies was not yet understood in a scientific way and snakes. Also covered were stings of scorpions, bees, wasps, and spiders. For snake bites, he taught the use of tourniquets and the importance of sucking out the venom. Included in this section was information on which herbs were to be used as antidotes and which herbs draw out poisons from stings.

Another topic was the effects of diet on the person who had been bitten. It is interesting that he also described the long latent period following the bite of a rabid dog and the fatal outcome. Part II, composed of four chapters, dealt with poisons in food and minerals. Remedies for poisons were also discussed. In Chapter I, he suggested that one should be alerted to peculiar colors, tastes, and odors in food, as poison was the standard means of removing rivals and enemies.

Any food or beverages with altered tastes or peculiar color should be shunned. He listed antidotes for many common poisons. Chapter II discussed actions to be taken after any poison was ingested; emesis was emphasized.

Chapter III dealt with simple and complex remedies for general poisons, and Chapter IV, the last chapter, suggested remedies for one who knew what specific poison was ingested. Examples included such agents as belladonna. Even in this modern day, Maimonides's Treatise can be considered contemporary.

For example, the scorpion produces a cold poison, whereas the snake produces a hot poison. Fax: E-mail: artfurst aol. Rosner, Fred Maimonides ' Medical Writings.

Not only does this work systematize all the commandments of the Torah, it tries to show that every part of Jewish law serves a rational purpose and nothing is given for the sake of mere obedience. Of particular note are Book One The Book of Knowledge , which sets forth the philosophic foundations of Jewish belief, a theory of moral traits or dispositions, the need to study the Torah, the laws concerning idolatry, and the importance of repentance.

Also of note is Book Fourteen Judges , which ends by arguing that a Messiah will come, restore sovereignty to Israel, establish peace with the other nations, and lead the world in the study of science and philosophy. By contrast, the Messiah will not make people rich, introduce changes in the Torah, or be required to perform miracles. Ostensibly a letter written to an advanced student who cannot decide whether to follow philosophy or the teachings of his religion, it is in reality much more: a commentary on biblical terms that appear to ascribe corporeal qualities to God, an uncompromising defense of negative theology, an extended critique of the kalam, a systematic treatment of creation, prophecy, and providence, and a theory of jurisprudence.

According to Maimonides, all of Jewish law aims at two things: the improvement of the body and the improvement of the soul. The former is in every case a means to the latter.

The soul is improved by acquiring correct opinions and eventually knowledge on everything humans are capable of knowing. The more knowledge the soul acquires, the more it is able to fulfill the commandment Deuteronomy to love God. The biggest stumbling block to love of God is the belief that the only way to remain true to the Bible is to interpret it literally. The Guide has long been considered a controversial work and in some rabbinic circles was originally banned.

It also raises the question of whether the real meaning of the Torah is too controversial to be taught to the average worshipper and should be restricted to the educated few; in short the question of esotericism.

He defends himself by saying that the important issue is not whether and how resurrection will occur but whether it is possible for it to occur. As for the latter, once one accepts belief in creation, the possibility of bodily resurrection follows immediately. The Letter on Astrology was written at a time when many people believed that the heavenly bodies exert influence over human events.

Nevertheless, he argues that there is no scientific basis for this belief and that it should be abandoned even if support for it can be found in the sacred literature. Facing ever-growing demands on his time, Maimonides worked himself into a state of exhaustion and died in Fostat in An old saying has it that from Moses to Moses, there was none like Moses. Maimonides presents a challenge to the modern reader because his view of truth is totally unhistorical. We saw that he was guided by the need to systematize.

Given original commandments, he argues that all are means to the fulfillment of the first two, which he interprets as belief in the existence of God and rejection of idolatry. To satisfy the first two commandments, one must believe in a timeless, changeless, immaterial deity who is one in every respect and unlike anything in the created order.

A person who fails to recognize such a deity is accorded the status of an idolater no matter how many other commandments she may fulfill or how fervently she may fulfill them. Simply put, to worship God under a false description is not to worship God at all. Not only is this true at present, as Maimonides sees it, it has been true since God first spoke to Adam. Early in the Guide 1. By necessity this would have to include belief in a timeless, changeless, immaterial deity.

Again Maimonides thinks he is justified in saying that Abraham discovered proofs for the existence of a God who is neither a body nor a force in a body even though the Bible is silent on such matters. These proofs were supposedly passed down to Isaac and Jacob but lost during the Egyptian captivity when the Israelites adopted the pagan beliefs of their captors. When Moses arose to lead the people out of captivity, he faced a serious problem.

If all he did were to offer philosophic proofs again, the people would forget them just as they had forgotten before. So instead of offering proofs alone, he offered the blueprint for a social order that would help the people remember their history and the principles on which it is founded.

That is why in addition to the first two commandments, there are others designed to create an environment in which people will have the time, health, and mental facility needed to grasp the truth of monotheism GP 3. Judaism then is based on a particular philosophy. Maimonides GP 1. To someone who asks why we have no explicit record of their philosophy, Maimonides answers that any record of such teaching was destroyed when Israel went into exile and suffered persecution.

So despite the appearance of a split between Jerusalem and Athens, Maimonides thinks there is only one tradition worth preserving: that which affirms the truth. In short, Jewish tradition has always been philosophical. The problem is that these subjects are too difficult for the average worshipper to grasp and must be expressed as parables or metaphors that the educated few will interpret at one level and the average worshipper at another Stern Looking at his own situation, Maimonides concludes that the tradition of learning that began in Israel has been lost once again.

People pray to a material God and justify their actions on the basis of literal interpretation. Someone was needed to reverse this situation and reintroduce Jews to the teachings of their own tradition.

Strictly speaking, such truths are Jewish only in the sense that Jews were the first to discover them. From an ethnic standpoint, they are no more Jewish than the Pythagorean theorem is Greek. All this goes to show that Maimonides did not conceive of progress as we do. Although he regarded mastery of science and philosophy as essential parts of human perfection, he did not view them as cumulative. Rather than take us into new territory, his goal was to reacquaint us with the territory that Moses and the patriarchs had already staked out.

The important truths do not change. Human progress is measured by the degree to which they are identified and understood. That is why the primary function of the Messiah will be to teach these truths and help create conditions in which more people are able to reflect on them. It is clear that the religion Maimonides envisions is not the normal kind.

He recognizes that when one is first exposed to Bible stories and the ritual of daily prayer, one may need anthropomorphic descriptions of God and promises of material reward. As he points out time and again, the Torah speaks in the language of ordinary people. If it did not, its appeal would be greatly reduced. But, Maimonides continues, the purpose of the religion is to get one to the point where these things cease to matter and are eventually overcome.

To take a few examples, the Bible often suggests that a prophet, or in one case the elders of Israel, saw God e. Maimonides counters GP 1. By the same token, when God is described as near or close, the Bible is not talking about physical location but intellectual apprehension — as when scientists say they are close to finding a cure for a disease GP 1. The many places where the Bible says that God spoke to a prophet do not indicate that God has vocal cords that produce sound but that the prophet came to understand what God wants GP 1.

Again one is inclined to ask: Is this the religion of the prophets or a philosophically sanitized religion concocted by a medieval thinker under the sway of Aristotle? Maimonides would reply that there is no difference. The highest human achievement is the perfection of the intellect GP 3.

As a sacred document, the Bible is a source of truth. While the truths contained in the Bible may not always be apparent, we know in principle that they are there if one wishes to dig deeply enough. Should human knowledge advance and come up with demonstrations it previously lacked, we would have no choice but to return to the Bible and alter our interpretation to take account of them GP 2. Anything else would be intellectually dishonest.

Where does this take us? In the Parable of the Palace GP 3. This is not just an intellectual achievement but a spiritual one as well. Maimonides offers several proofs for the existence of God, all of which are versions of the cosmological argument GP 2.

According to one such argument, we assume that the heavenly bodies are engaged in eternal motion. We then recognize that it is impossible for there to be an infinite body or an infinite number of finite bodies.

So every corporeal thing is finite. If it is finite, it can only contain a finite amount of power. If it can only contain a finite amount of power, it can only explain motion over a finite period of time. Because the heavenly bodies are always moving, the only thing that can explain that motion is an infinite power. Because an infinite power cannot be contained in a finite thing, it cannot be corporeal.

If it is not corporeal, it is not subject to division or change. Seeing that its power is infinite, it cannot derive that power from something else.

Thus the only way to explain the motion of the heavenly bodies is to posit the existence of a being that is neither a body nor a force in a body. Although Maimonides thinks this argument gives us sufficient grounds for saying that God is, he does not think it provides any grounds for saying what God is.

To see why not, we have to recognize that God is not one in a way comparable to anything else: one person, one number, one idea. According to Guide 1. If Maimonides is right, there can be no plurality of faculties, moral dispositions, or essential attributes in God.

Even to say that God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-good is to introduce plurality, if one means thereby that these qualities are separate attributes. The same is true if we say that God is a composite of matter and form, genus and specific difference, or essence and accident. All introduce plurality where none can be tolerated. Aside from religious considerations, plurality is objectionable because it compromises logical priority.

If God were a composite of F and G , some reason would have to be found for what brought them together and keeps them together. In short, if God were a composite, there would have to be a cause prior to God, which is absurd GP 2. For the same reason, God cannot be subsumed under a wider concept as man is subsumed under animal GP 1.

Once God fell under a genus, there would be something prior to or more inclusive than God, either of which is absurd. Without a genus or a minimal form of composition, there is no possibility of defining God and thus no possibility of saying what God is.