Moses Ben Maimon (Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה בֶּן־מַיְמוֹן, Moshe Ben Maimon, died 12 December 1204), commonly known as Maimonides and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam, was a Sephardic Jewish rabbi who is widely acknowledged as one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars of the Middle Ages.
Originally from Córdoba, where he was born on Passover Eve of 1135 or 1138, his family was exiled from Muslim-ruled Spain when they refused to convert to Islam shortly after the Almohad Caliphate conquered the Almoravid dynasty in 1148.Joel E. Kramer, "Moses Maimonides: An Intellectual Portrait", p. 47 note 1. In 1138 in Stroumsa, Maimonides in His World: Portrait of a Mediterranean Thinker, Princeton University Press, 2009, p. 8Sherwin B. Nuland (2008), Maimonides, Random House, p. 38 Over the course of the next two decades, Maimonides resided in Fez, Acre, Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Cairo before finally settling in Fustat between 1168 and 1171. During this period, he advanced his vocations and became renowned for his achievements as an astronomer, philosopher, and physician—even being appointed to serve as personal physician to Saladin of the Ayyubid Sultanate.
Most contemporary Jews as far as Iraq and Yemen acclaimed Maimonides' writings on halakha and Jewish ethics. Yet, while he rose to lead the Jewish community in Egypt, he also had many loud critics, particularly in Spain. He continued to live in Fustat until his death in 1204 and is said to have been buried in Tiberias. Accordingly, the Tomb of Maimonides in Tiberias holds importance as a Jewish pilgrimage site.
To date, Maimonides is recognized as one of the foremost rabbinic decisors and his copious work comprises a cornerstone of Jewish scholarship. His fourteen-volume still carries significant canonical authority in Judaism as a codification of halakha, as do his thirteen principles of faith. Maimonides' era is considered by many to mark the end of the Jewish Golden Age in Spain, owing to the ubiquitous persecution of his family and the Sephardic Jewish community in general, though others assert that it lasted until the Christian Reconquista concluded in the 15th century.
Aside from being revered by Jewish historians, Maimonides features very prominently in the history of Islamic science. Influenced by Aristotle, al-Farabi, ibn Sina, and his contemporary ibn Rushd, his work as a polymath contributed to the Islamic Golden Age and was regarded highly in many parts of the Muslim world.
Name Maimonides' Arabic name was (, Moses "son of Amram" son of Maymun, son of Obadiah the Cordoban), or oftentimes more simply, as Moses son of Maymun (). His Hebrew name was Moses son of Rabbi Maimon the Spaniard (). In Medieval Hebrew, he was usually called (Ram), which is short for "our Rabbi Moshe"; he is oftentimes referred to as (Rambam), which is short for "our Rabbi, Moshe son of Maimon".
In Greek, the Hebrew () becomes the patronymic suffix (), forming "Mōusēs Maimōnidēs".
He is sometimes known as "The Great Eagle" ().
Biography
Early life
Maimonides was born 1138 (or 1135) in Córdoba in the Muslim-ruled Almoravid dynasty, at the end of the Golden Age of Jewish culture in Spain after the first centuries of Muslim rule. His father, Maimon ben Joseph, was a dayyan or rabbinic judge.
Maimonides studied Torah under his father, who had in turn studied under Joseph ibn Migash, a student of Isaac Alfasi. At an early age, Maimonides developed an interest in contemporary science and philosophy. He read ancient Greek philosophy accessible via Arabic translations and was deeply immersed in the sciences and learning of Islamic culture.Stroumsa, Maimonides in His World: Portrait of a Mediterranean Thinker, Princeton University Press, 2009, p.65
Exile from Spain
A Berber dynasty, the Almohads, conquered Córdoba in 1148 and abolished dhimmi status (i.e., state protection of non-Muslims ensured through payment of the jizya tax) in some territories. The loss of this status forced Jewish and Christian communities to choose between conversion to Islam, martyrdom, or exile.1954 Encyclopedia Americana, vol. 18, p. 140. Many Jews were forced to convert, but due to suspicion by the authorities of fake conversions, the new converts had to wear identifying clothing that set them apart and made them subject to public scrutiny.
Maimonides' family, along with many other Jews, chose exile. For the next ten years, Maimonides moved about in southern Spain and North Africa, eventually settling in Fas. Some say that his teacher in Fez was Yehuda Ha-Cohen Ibn Susan, until the latter was killed in 1165.See for example: Solomon Zeitlin, "MAIMONIDES", The American Jewish Year Book, Vol. 37, pp 65 – 66.
During this time, he composed his acclaimed commentary on the Mishnah during 1166–1168.
Sojourn to the Holy Land Following this sojourn in Morocco, he lived in Acre with his father and brother, arriving on May 16, 1165. They lived there for five months. In October, he visited Jerusalem, where he prayed at the Temple Mount. He wrote that this day of visiting the Temple Mount was a day of holiness for him and his descendants. He then visited the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron.
Settlement in Egypt He and his family settled in Fustat in Fatimid Caliphate-controlled Egypt by 1168.Davidson, p. 28. There is mention that Maimonides first settled in Alexandria, and moved to Fustat only in 1171. While in Cairo, he studied in a yeshiva attached to a small synagogue, which now bears his name.Goitein, S.D. Letters of Medieval Jewish Traders, Princeton University Press, 1973 (), p. 208
Maimonides was soon instrumental in helping rescue Jews taken captive during the Christian Amalric of Jerusalem's siege of the southeastern Nile Delta town of Bilbeis. He sent five letters to the Jewish communities of Lower Egypt asking them to pool money together to pay the ransom. The money was collected and then given to two judges sent to the Kingdom of Jerusalem to negotiate with the Crusaders. The captives were eventually released.Cohen, Mark R. Poverty and Charity in the Jewish Community of Medieval Egypt. Princeton University Press, 2005 (), pp. 115–116
Death of his brother David
Following this success, the Maimonides family, hoping to increase their wealth, gave their savings to his brother, the youngest son David ben Maimon, a merchant. Maimonides directed his brother to procure goods only at the port of ʿAydhab along the Red Sea. After a long, arduous trip through the desert, however, David was unimpressed by the goods on offer there. Against his brother's wishes, David boarded a ship for India, since great wealth was to be found in the East. Before he could reach his destination, David drowned at sea sometime between 1169 and 1177. The death of his brother caused Maimonides to become sick with grief.
In a letter discovered in the Cairo Geniza, he wrote:
Leadership of Egypt's Jewish community
Around 1171, Maimonides was appointed the nagid of the Egyptian Jewish community. Shelomo Dov Goitein believes the leadership he displayed during the ransoming of the Crusader captives led to this appointment.Cohen, Poverty and Charity in the Jewish Community of Medieval Egypt, p. 115 However, he was replaced by Sar Shalom ben Moses in 1173. Over the controversial course of Sar Shalom's appointment, during which Sar Shalom was accused of tax farming, Maimonides excommunicated and fought with him for several years until Maimonides was appointed Nagid in 1195. Abraham bar Hillel wrote a scathing description of Sar Shalom in his Megillat Zutta while praising Maimonides as "the light of east and west and unique master and marvel of the generation."
Physician for the Ayyubid dynasty
With the loss of the family funds tied up in David's business venture, Maimonides assumed the vocation of physician, for which he was to become famous. He had trained in medicine in both Spain and in Fez. Gaining widespread recognition, he was appointed court physician to Qadi al-Fadil, the chief secretary to Sultan Saladin, then to Saladin himself; after whose death he remained a physician to the Ayyubid dynasty.
In his medical writings, Maimonides described many conditions, including asthma, diabetes, hepatitis, and pneumonia, and he emphasized moderation and a healthy lifestyle. His treatises became influential for generations of physicians. He was knowledgeable about Greek and Arabic medicine, and followed the principles of humorism in the tradition of Galen. He did not blindly accept authority but used his own observation and experience. Julia Bess Frank indicates that Maimonides in his medical writings sought to interpret works of authorities so that they could become acceptable. Maimonides displayed in his interactions with patients attributes that today would be called intercultural awareness and respect for the patient's autonomy. Although he frequently wrote of his longing for solitude in order to come closer to God and to extend his reflections—elements considered essential in his philosophy to the prophetic experience—he gave over most of his time to caring for others.Abraham Heschel, Maimonides (New York: Farrar Straus, 1982), Chapter 15, "Meditation on God," pp. 157–162, and also pp. 178–180, 184–185, 204, etc. Isadore Twersky, editor, A Maimonides Reader (New York: Behrman House, 1972), commences his "Introduction" with the following remarks, p. 1: "Maimonides' biography immediately suggests a profound paradox. A philosopher by temperament and ideology, a zealous devotee of the contemplative life who eloquently portrayed and yearned for the serenity of solitude and the spiritual exuberance of meditation, he nevertheless led a relentlessly active life that regularly brought him to the brink of exhaustion." In a famous letter, Maimonides describes his daily routine. After visiting the Sultan's palace, he would arrive home exhausted and hungry, where "I would find the antechambers filled with gentiles and Jews I would go to heal them, and write prescriptions for their illnesses until the evening and I would be extremely weak."Responsa Pe'er HaDor, 143.
As he goes on to say in this letter, even on Shabbat he would receive members of the community. Still, he managed to write extended treatises, including not only medical and other scientific studies but some of the most systematically thought-through and influential treatises on halakha (rabbinic law) and Jewish philosophy of the Middle Ages.
In 1172–74, Maimonides wrote his famous Epistle to Yemen.Click to see full English translation of Maimonides' "Epistle to Yemen" It has been suggested that his "incessant travail" undermined his own health and brought about his death at 69 (although this is a normal lifespan).The comment on the effect of his "incessant travail" on his health is by Salo Baron, "Moses Maimonides", in Great Jewish Personalities in Ancient and Medieval Time, edited by Simon Noveck (B'nai B'rith Department of Adult Jewish Education, 1959), p. 227, where Baron also quotes from Maimonides' letter to Ibn Tibbon regarding his daily regime.
Death and burial place