Maimonides Moses - The Essential Maimonides

TRANSLATIONS OF THE RAMBAM

Avraham Yaakov Finkel

This book was set in 11 pt. Palacio by Aerotype Inc., Amherst, NH.

First Jason Aronson Inc. edition1996

Copyright 1993, 1994 by Yeshivath Beth Moshe, Scranton, Pa.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from Jason Aronson Inc. except in the case of brief quotations in reviews for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, or broadcast.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Maimonides, Moses, 1135-1204.

[Selections. English. 1996]

The essential Maimonides : translations of the Rambam / Avraham Yaakov Finkel.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-56821-464-1

1. Rabbinical literatureTranslations into English. 2. JudaismApologetic worksEarly works to 1800. 3. IslamControversial literatureEarly works to 1800. 4. JewsYemenEarly works to 1800. 5. Martyrdom (Judaism)Early works to 1800. 6. MishnahCriticism, interpretation, etc. 7. Ethics, JewishEarly works to 1800. I. Finkel, Avraham Yaakov. II. Title.

BM545.A2513 1996

296.1'72dc20

96-4766

Manufactured in the United States of America. Jason Aronson Inc. offers books and cassettes. For information and catalog write to Jason Aronson Inc., 230 Livingston Street, Northvale, New Jersey 07647.

Dedicated to the memory of my father and teacher

HeChaver Reb Yehoshua Mattisyahu Finkel

Beloved by my mother , five generations of his offspring,

and a host of students and friends.

He embodied the teachings of the Rambam

each day of his fruitful life.

10 Nissan, 5753/1993

First and foremost, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Hashem Yisbarach for enabling me to be instrumental in making the wisdom inherent in the fundamental teachings of the Rambam accessible to a wide audience of English-speaking readers.

I am thankful to Rabbi Yaakov Shnaidman, Rosh Yeshivah of Yeshivath Beth Moshe of Scranton who suggested the idea of creating the present translation, and to Rabbi Shmuel Flam of Yeshivath Beth Moshe for his valued assistance.

I am indebted to my friend Mr. Arthur Kurzweil, vice-president of Jason Aronson Inc. and the motivating force of this outstanding publishing company, for producing this volume. With vision and boldness he disseminates a large number of oustanding works of Torah and tradition to the thinking Jewish public. In a sense, this makes him a true marbitz Torah (one who teaches Torah to the multitudes).

Many thanks to Mr. Anthony Rubin for meticulously copyediting this book, to Judie Tulli for creating the artistic and distinctive cover design, and to the entire dedicated staff of Jason Aronson Inc., for their unfailing courtesy and cooperation whenever called upon.

Most importantly, I want to express my sincere gratitude to my dear wife, Suri, for her encouragement, enthusiasm, and sage advice, always given with a smile.

Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon (Maimonides), better known as Rambam (the acronym of his name) is universally recognized as the greatest codifier of Torah law and the foremost Jewish thinker. His influence remains unabated until the present time. The committed leader of his generation, he made the study of Torah Shebeal Peh (the Oral Torah) accessible to the masses and enunciated the principles that form the bedrock of hashkafah , the Torah viewpoint. A compassionate leader of his fellow Jews, he commiserated with their suffering and offered them sage guidance and encouragement. He wrote the classic Guide for the Perplexed for students of philosophy who were bewildered by seeming contradictions between the teachings of the Torah and prevailing secular philosophical theory. The greatest testimony to the unsurpassed genius of the Rambam is the fact that today, as in the past, his works are avidly studied by scholars, laymen and students as indispensable aids to understanding Torah law and the Torah outlook on life.

After the decline of the great Talmudic centers of Babylonia in the 10th century, Jewish culture began to flourish in Spain and North Africa under the benevolent rule of the Moslem caliphs. The next two centuries were the Golden Age of Spanish Jewry, an epoch during which Torah scholarship rose to extraordinary heights. This is exemplified by the towering figures of that time such as the scholar-statesmen Chisdai ibn Shaprut (c.915c.990) and Shmuel HaNagid (9331055), as well as the brilliant poet-philosopher Shlomoh ibn Gabirol (10211050). Other spiritual giants of that epoch were Rabbi Bachya ibn Pakudah (c.1000c.1065), author of Chovot HaLevavot , (Duties of the Heart), the seminal work on Torah ethics, and the illustrious Talmudist Rabbi Yitzchak Alfasi (the Rif, 10131103). His successor as rosh yeshivah (dean) of the Talmudic academy of Lucena was the young Rabbi Yosef ibn Migash (10771141), who in turn became the inspiration of the young Moshe ben Maimon (Maimonides). Other famous personalities of that time were the poet Rabbi Yehudah HaLevi (c.1080c.1145), author of the philosophical book The Kuzari , and the great Torah commentator Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra (10891164).

The Golden Age was a period during which Sephardic Jewry reached unprecedented levels of learning, morality and observance of Torah. It was a time when the Jewish community enjoyed a spiritual climate of love of Torah learning and unquestioning respect of its scholars.

The Golden Age began to wane, however, when the Almohads, a fanatical Moslem sect from northern Africa, invaded southern Spain. They took the city Cordova in 1148, and drove out the reigning Almoravids with much violence and bloodshed. Abd-al-Mumin, the implacable leader of the Almohads, offered the Jews under his control the sad choice of conversion to Islam, exile, or a martyrs death. Many Jews pretended to accept Islam while inwardly remaining faithful to the beliefs of their ancestors. Others fled to foreign countries like France or Italy, or settled in northern Christian Spain. Many escaped to northern Africa, Egypt and Asia Minor. Some died a martyrs death.

It was during those dismal days that there emerged one man who lit up the gloom and darkness and spread soothing balm on the wounded souls of his fellow Jews. That man was Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, Maimonides.

Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon was born on the eve of Passover in 1135, in Cordova, a thriving center of Jewish life during the Sephardic Golden Age in Spain. He was a scion of a prominent rabbinical family that traced its ancestry to Rabbi Yehudah HaNassi, the compiler of the Mishnah, and further back to King David. His principal mentor was his father, Rabbi Maimon ben Yosef, the dayan (religious judge) of Cordova, from whom he received a wide-ranging proficiency in the Talmud. He also received a thorough understanding of the fundamentals of mathematics, astronomy, and philosophy.

When young Moshe was only thirteen years old, his tranquil adolescent life was disrupted by the conquest of Cordova by the Almohads, an extremist militant Moslem sect from Morocco. When the Almohads forced the Jews to convert to Islam, under the banner of the ancient Moslem doctrine, The Koran or the Sword, Rabbi Maimon and his family went into exile to Andalusia and from there to Christian northern Spain. After wandering from place to place for almost twelve years, the Maimon family left Spain for the city of Fez in North Africa. After a brief stay in Jerusalem, they finally made their home in Fostat, a suburb of Cairo, Egypt, in 1165.