Joel L. Kraemer - Maimonides: The Life and World of One of Civilizations Greatest Minds

MAIMONIDES

CONTENTS

PART ONE
ANDALUSIA

PART TWO
FEZ TO ACRE

PART THREE
EGYPT
THE EARLY YEARS

PART FOUR
EGYPT
THE MIDDLE YEARS

PART FIVE
EGYPT
THE LATE YEARS

This book is dedicated to my wife, Aviva Wilkov Kraemer, who shared it all and whose dedication made this dedication possible.

PREFACE

I began to study Maimonides in 1947, when I was fourteen, at a Hebrew summer camp in Wisconsin. Some years later Professor Louis Finkelstein, chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, where I was then studying, established the Herbert Lehman Institute of Talmudic Ethics and offered fellowships to students. I, however, was more interested in Jewish thought. When Professor Finkelstein failed to convince me, he suggested that I speak with the eminent Talmudist Saul Lieberman.

The only way I dared take up Professor Liebermans time was to walk home with him after he finished his day at 1:00 A.M. As we were passing Columbia University, I told him that my main interest was Maimonides philosophy. He asked me, For whom did Maimonides write the Moreh nevukhim [Guide of the Perplexed]? For the nevukhim, I responded. Kraemer, he asked, do you want to be a navokh? No, Professor. Then he said, I dont agree with Strauss, going on to say that, contrary to the view of philosopher Leo Strauss, Maimonides defining work was his code of law, Mishneh Torah, based on the Talmud, and that The Guide of the Perplexed was an act of benevolence for the unfortunate nevukhim.

The next day I went to a bookstore and bought Leo Strauss Persecution and the Art of Writing. I learned how to read with meticulous care and absolute seriousness The Guide of the Perplexed and other texts I had been studying. As Strauss constantly cited the Arabic texts of medieval Islamic and Jewish philosophical books, as well as the Greek texts of Plato and Aristotle, I realized that I had to learn these languages. Professor Gerson D. Cohen of the seminary suggested that I go up to Yale to study Arabic with Professor Franz Rosenthal, who concentrated on Arabic, Islam, Semitic languages, and Greco-Arabic studies, namely, the transmission of the Greek philosophical heritage to the world of medieval Islam.

In the 1960s, as a graduate student at Yale, I twice visited the University of Chicago and met with Leo Strauss. I attended his class, which was an exhilarating experience. During this period I also met two other scholars who had a profound impact on me, Shelomo Dov Goitein and Shlomo Pines. Professor Goiteins specialty was the Cairo Genizah, the precious repository of manuscripts from the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Old Cairo. He was also an expert on Maimonides life and career. I remained in touch with him over the years and went to Cambridge University every summer to pore over Genizah documents.

Professor Pines, of Hebrew University, had an incredible familiarity with languages and a command of philosophy and the history of science. He had translated The Guide of the Perplexed for the well-known University of Chicago Press edition of 1963. Shlomo Pines and Leo Strauss were the foremost interpreters of Maimonides in the twentieth century.

My concentrated, almost exclusive, study of Maimonides began soon after the signing of the peace treaty between President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Prime Minister Menahem Begin of Israel on March 26, 1979. President Sadat spoke of a spirit of amity and friendship between Arabs and Jews and noted that Maimonides wrote his great works in Arabic, and that some scholars linked his writings with those of the Muslim philosopher Abu Nasr al-Farabi. President Navon observed that Arabic and Hebrew are sister languages with similar vocabularies, symbols, and concepts, and a common origin. He presented to President Sadat a copy of The Guide of the Perplexed in Judeo-Arabic. They agreed that Maimonides was the main cultural and intellectual bridge between the two countries.

I traveled to Egypt several times and was captivated by it. I visited Old Cairo, or Fustat, with its ancient Coptic churches and the Ben Ezra Synagogue, which housed the Genizah. I viewed the peace treaty as an opportunity to form ties with Egyptian colleagues and to help create a new cultural, social, and political reality based on cooperation and mutual understanding.

When I invited Professor Goitein to give a lecture on Maimonides life at a conference on Maimonides in Egypt, he excused himself for health reasons, suggesting that I give the lecture instead. He had uncanny insight into what people should be doing, and his idea inspired me to write this biography.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I was fortunate to be at Tel Aviv University when I began work on Maimonides. Itamar Rabinovich, former Israel ambassador to Washington and head of the Israeli negotiating team at peace talks with Syria, who was then Dean of Humanities, supported me in every way possible. Shimon Shamir, former ambassador to Egypt and Jordan, founder and director of the Israel Academic Center in Cairo, and director of Tel Aviv Universitys Tami Steinmetz Center of Peace Research, took my Maimonides project under his wing, introduced me to Egypt, and taught me more about the country and its people than I ever learned in books.

Moshe Gil, whose prodigious writings on Jewish cultural, economic, and social history, based mainly on Genizah documents, fill a shelf, was a guiding light at Tel Aviv University and at Cambridge. Mordechai Akiba Friedman, friend and colleague, Genizah scholar and Maimonides expert, studied manuscripts with me and read and corrected what I wrote over the years. Joseph Sadan energized me with his phenomenal knowledge of Arabic and Islamic culture and with his perpetual sense of humor. Ilai Alon was sustaining with his buoyant optimism and idealism. I first met Hagar Kahana Smilansky when she was a graduate student and over the years gained from her advice and criticism.

Stefan Reif, director of the Genizah Research Unit, and his wife, Shulie, were gracious hosts at Cambridge and imparted precious information and guidance. Geoffrey Khan answered my queries about decipherment of manuscripts. Godfrey Waller, Superintendent of the Manuscripts Reading Room, made sure that I got the manuscripts I needed. Patricia Crone was at Cambridge when I was a frequent summer visitor. I benefited from her keen mind and vast knowledge and learned not to argue with her. Elizabeth Ramsden made stays at Clare Hall memorable.

Benjamin Richler and Abraham David, of the Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts at the Jewish National and University Library, made my work pleasant and profitable. There, I first met Tzvi Langermann, now teaching at Bar Ilan University, from whom I learn every time I see him.

No one can approach medieval Islamic and Jewish thought and the study of Judeo-Arabic without being in touch with professors at the Hebrew University, first the fountainheads D. H. Baneth (of blessed memory) and Shlomo Pines (of blessed memory) and then following generations, including Joshua Blau, magister of Judaeo-Arabic. I enjoyed walks with him by the willows at Cambridge, where he turned my mind from the beautiful trees to Torah. Haggai Ben-Shammai, Sarah Stroumsa, and Warren Z. Harvey, disciples of Shlomo Pines and Joshua Blau, enhance the field with their enthusiasm and learning. Hava Lazarus-Yafeh (of blessed memory) organized a seminar at the Hebrew University Institute for Advanced Studies on the intertwined worlds of medieval Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.