Maimonides: Life and Thought
ISBN: 9781400848478
Platform/Publisher: JSTOR / Princeton University Press
Digital rights: Users: unlimited; Printing: chapter; Download: chapter
Subjects: Maimonides Moses 1135–1204;

Maimonides, also known in Hebrew as Rambam, was a great Jewish philosopher and physician. Born in Andalusia, Spain, in 1138, he was forced to flee after the intolerant Almohad dynasty gained power. After years of wandering in North Africa, he finally reached Egypt in 1166, where he became a leader of the Egyptian Jewish community until his death in 1204. Many commentators have written about Maimonides's contributions, especially about his work on Jewish law. This new book adds the ideas of author Halbertal, a philosopher who teaches at Hebrew University and New York University, to scholarly understanding of Maimonides. His work, originally in Hebrew, is difficult to follow. Readers need to be well-versed in Jewish philosophy and the writings of Maimonides to comprehend Halbertal's analysis. Many others, some cited in a lengthy bibliography organized by chapters, have written clearer analyses of Maimonides's contributions. This is a book that will be useful only for those who are well-versed in Jewish philosophy and especially in the books written by Maimonides. (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Moshe Halbertal is the Gruss professor of Law at New York University, professor of Jewish thought and philosophy at the Hebrew University, and professor of law at IDC Herzliya in Israel. His books include On Sacrifice and Concealment and Revelation: Esotericism in Jewish Thought and Its Philosophical Implications (both Princeton).

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