Maimonides: the Genius who Reshaped Judaism

Introducing the genius philosopher, torah scholar and physician, the man whose books were banned and burned and still went on to change the face of Judaism; Moses Maimonides, the Rambam.

Maimonides timeline:  

1138 Born in Cordoba, Spain under Almoravid rule. 

1148 Cordoba invaded by the Almohades. Maimonides flees. 

1158 Maimonides starts work on intercalation and Astronomy

1160 Family surfaces in Fez, the Almohad capital in Morocco. 

1165 Family spends 6 months in Acre before leaving for Cairo 

1168 Maimonides finishes his commentary on the Mishna  

1170 Writes the Sefer haMitzvot on the 613 commandments. 

1171 He is appointed the Head of Jews in Fostat, Cairo.  

1171 Saladin/Ayyubids replace the Fatimid dynasty in Egypt. 1180 Finishes the Mishneh Torah, his legal magnum opus. 

1185? Maimonides becomes doctor of al-Fadil, Saladin’s vizier. 

1190 Finishes the Moreh Nevuchim (Guide for the Perplexed). 

1204 Maimonides passes away.

Maimonides works (selection):  

Treatise on Logic, Millot ha-Higayon 

Commentary on the Mishna, Pirush HaMishnayot 

Book of the Commandments, Sefer haMitzvot  

Mishneh Torah, Yad HaChazakah 

The Guide for the Perplexed, Moreh Nevuchim 

Letter to the Jews of Yemen, Iggeret Teiman 

Treatise on Resurrection, Maamar Tekhiyat HaMetim 

Iggeret HaShmad, Maamar Kiddush HaShem  

Mark Daniels, The Perplexing Nature of the Guide for the Perplexed, Philosophy Now, Issue 50