Information AboutMaimonides |
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Moses Maimonides ( March 30 1135 Córdoba, Spain – December 13 1204 Fostat, Egypt ) was a Jew ish Rabbi , Physician , and Philosopher in Andalusia , Morocco and Egypt during the Middle Ages . He was one of the various medieval Jewish philosophers who also influenced the non-Jewish world. Although his copious works on Jewish law and ethics were initially met with opposition during his lifetime, he was posthumously acknowledged to be one of the foremost rabbinical Arbiters and philosophers in Jewish history. Today, his works and his views are considered a cornerstone of Jewish thought and study. Maimonides' full name was ''Moshe ben Maimon'' ( name was أبو عمران موسى بن ميمون بن عبد الله القرطبي الإسرائيلي (''Abu Imran Mussa bin Maimun ibn Abdallah al-Qurtubi al-Israili''). However, he is most commonly known by his Greek name, Moses Maimonides (Μωυσής Μαϊμονίδης), which literally means, "Moses, son of Maimon", like his name in Hebrew and Arabic . Several Jewish works call him Maimoni, מימוני. However, more Jewish works refer to him by the Hebrew acronym of his title and name — '''R'''abbi '''M'''oshe '''b'''en '''M'''aimon — calling him the '''RaMBaM''' or the '''Rambam''' (רמב"ם). BIOGRAPHY Maimonides was born in 1135 in Córdoba , during what some scholars consider to be the end of the Golden Age Of Jewish Culture In Spain , after the first centuries of the Moorish rule. At an early age, he developed a taste for the exact sciences and for philosophy. He read with zeal not only the works of Muslim scholastics, but also those of the Greek philosophers in such dress as they had been made accessible by their Arabian translators. In this way, his mind, which by nature ran in logical and systematics grooves, was strengthened in its bent; and he acquired that distaste for mysticism and vagueness so characteristic of his literary labors. He went so far as to abhor poetry, the best of which he declared as false, since it was founded on pure invention - and this too in a land which had produced such noble expressions of the Hebrew and Arabic muse. It is strange that this man, whose character was that of a sage, and who was revered for his person as well as for his books, should have led such an unquiet life, and have written his works so full of erudition with the staff of the wanderer in his hand (1954 Encyclopedia Americana, vol. 18, p. 140). Maimonides Studied Torah under his father Maimon who had in turn studied under Rabbi Joseph Ibn Migash . The Almohades from Africa conquered Córdoba in 1148 , and threatened the Jewish Community with the choice of Conversion To Islam , Death , or Exile . They not only captured Córdoba, but set up a form of religious persecution (1954 Encyclopedia Americana, vol. 18, p. 140). Maimonides' family, along with most other Jews , chose exile. For the next ten years they moved about in southern Spain , avoiding the conquering Almohades , but eventually settled in Fez in Morocco , where Maimonides acquired most of his secular knowledge, studying at the University Of Al Karaouine . During this time, he composed his acclaimed Commentary on the Mishnah . Following this sojourn in . He died in Fostat , and was buried in Tiberias (today in Israel ). His son Avraham , recognized as a great scholar, succeeded Maimonides as '' Nagid '' (head of the Egypt ian Jewish Community ); he also took up his father's role as court Physician , at the tender age of eighteen. He greatly honored the memory of his father, and throughout his career defended his father's writings against all critics. The office of '' Nagid '' was held by the Maimonides family for four successive generations until the end of the 14th Century . He is widely respected in Spain and a statue of him was erected in Córdoba by the only Synagogue in that city which escaped destruction, and which is no longer functioning as a Jewish house of worship but is open to the public. There is no Jewish Community in Córdoba now, but the city is proud of its historical connection to Rambam. |
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