Editing Maimonides (section)

==Biography==
{{further|History of the Jews in Egypt#Arab rule (641 to 1250)}}

===Early years===
[[File:Almohads1200.png|thumb|The dominion of the [[Almohad Caliphate]] at its greatest extent, {{c.}} 1200]]
Maimonides was born 1138 (or 1135) in Córdoba in the [[Muslim]]-ruled [[Almoravid Caliphate]], at the end of the [[golden age of Jewish culture in Spain|golden age of Jewish culture in the Iberian Peninsula]] after the first centuries of Muslim rule. His father, [[Maimon ben Joseph]], was a [[Beth din#Officers of a beth din|dayyan]] or rabbinic judge. [[Aaron ben Jacob ha-Kohen]] later wrote that he had traced Maimonides' descent back to [[Simeon ben Judah ha-Nasi]] from the [[Davidic line]].<ref>Joel L. Kraemer, [https://books.google.com/books?id=aFgCIvDv-JEC ''Maimonides:The Life and World of One of Civilization's Greatest Minds,'']  [[Crown Publishing Group]] 2008 {{isbn|978-0-385-52851-1}} p.486  n.6.</ref> His ancestry, going back four generations, is given in his ''[[Epistle to Yemen]]'' as Moses ben Maimon ben Joseph ben Isaac ben Obadiah.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sefaria.org/Iggerot_HaRambam,_Iggeret_Teiman|title=Iggerot HaRambam, Iggeret Teiman|website=sefaria.org|access-date=31 March 2021|archive-date=23 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423164402/https://www.sefaria.org/Iggerot_HaRambam%2C_Iggeret_Teiman|url-status=live}}</ref> At the end of his commentary on the [[Mishnah]], however, a longer, slightly different genealogy is given: Moses ben Maimon ben Joseph ben Isaac ben Joseph ben Obadiah ben Solomon ben Obadiah.{{efn|name=e}}

Maimonides [[Torah study|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 sciences and philosophy. He read [[ancient Greek philosophy]] accessible via Arabic translations and was deeply immersed in the sciences and learning of [[Islamic culture]].<ref>Stroumsa, ''Maimonides in His World: Portrait of a Mediterranean Thinker'', Princeton University Press, 2009, p.65</ref>

Maimonides, who was revered for his personality as well as for his writings, led a busy life, and wrote many of his works while travelling or in temporary accommodation.<ref name="Americana 18 140">1954 ''Encyclopedia Americana'', vol. 18, p. 140.</ref>

===Exile===
[[File:Maimonides house in Fes.JPG|thumb|upright|left|Maimonides' house in [[Fez, Morocco]], according to local tradition. It is now occupied by the ''[[Dar al-Magana]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FTbdBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT185 |title=Andalusian Morocco: A Discovery in Living Art |last1=Touri |first1=Abdelaziz |last2=Benaboud |first2=Mhammad |last3=Boujibar El-Khatib |first3=Naïma |last4=Lakhdar |first4=Kamal |last5=Mezzine |first5=Mohamed |publisher=Ministry of Cultural Affairs of the Kingdom of Morocco & Museum With No Frontiers |year=2010 |isbn=978-3-902782-31-1 |edition=2 |location= |pages= |language=en}}</ref>]]
A [[Berbers|Berber]] dynasty, the [[Almohad Caliphate|Almohads]], conquered Córdoba in 1148 and abolished {{transliteration|ar|[[dhimmi]]}} status (i.e., state protection of non-Muslims ensured through payment of a tax, the {{transliteration|ar|[[jizya]]}}) in some{{which|date=May 2018}} of their territories. The loss of this status forced the [[History of the Jews in Spain|Jewish]] and Christian communities to choose between [[Forced conversion to Islam|conversion to Islam]], [[martyrdom|death]], or [[exile]].<ref name="Americana 18 140"/> 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.<ref name="EI2-Libas">{{Cite encyclopedia |edition=2nd |publisher=Brill Academic Publishers |volume=5 |page=744 |editor=Y. K. Stillman |title=Libās |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia of Islam]] |isbn=978-90-04-09419-2 |year=1984}}</ref>

Maimonides' family, along with many other [[Jews]],{{dubious|date=May 2018}} chose exile. For the next ten years, Maimonides moved about in southern Spain and North Africa, eventually settling in [[Fez, Morocco]]. Some say that his teacher in Fez was Rabbi [[Yehuda Ha-Cohen Ibn Susan]], until the latter was killed in 1165.<ref>See for example: [https://www.jstor.org/stable/23601542 Solomon Zeitlin, "MAIMONIDES", '''The American Jewish Year Book''', Vol. 37, pp 65 – 66.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211225011719/https://www.jstor.org/stable/23601542 |date=25 December 2021 }}</ref>

During this time, he composed his acclaimed commentary on the [[Mishnah]], during the years 1166–1168.{{efn|''[[Seder HaDoroth]]'' (year 4927) quotes Maimonides as saying that he began writing his commentary on the Mishna when he was 23 years old, and published it when he was 30. Because of the dispute about the date of Maimonides' birth, it is not clear which year the work was published.}}

Following this sojourn in Morocco, he lived in [[Acre, Israel|Acre]] with his father and brother, before settling in [[Fustat]] in [[Fatimid Caliphate]]-controlled Egypt by 1168.<ref>Davidson, p. 28.</ref> There is mention that Maimonides first settled in Alexandria, and moved to Fustat only in 1171.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davidson |first=Herbert A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qnw8DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA32 |title=Moses Maimonides: The Man and His Works |date=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |isbn=978-0-19-517321-5 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kraemer |first=Joel L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nG1vEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA305 |title=Perspectives on Maimonides: Philosophical and Historical Studies |date=1991-01-01 |publisher=Liverpool University Press |isbn=978-1-909821-43-9 |language=en}}</ref> While in [[Cairo]], he studied in a [[yeshiva]] attached to a small [[Maimonides Synagogue|synagogue]], which now bears his name.<ref name=S.D.>[[S.D. Goitein|Goitein, S.D.]] ''Letters of Medieval Jewish Traders'', Princeton University Press, 1973 ({{ISBN|0-691-05212-3}}), p. 208</ref> In [[Jerusalem]], 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishmag.com/169mag/rambam_temple_mount/rambam_temple_mount.htm|title=No Jew had been permitted to enter the holy city which has become a Christian bastion since the Crusaders conquered it in 1096|last=Loewenberg |first=Meir |date=October–November 2012 |website=Jewish Magazine|access-date=9 February 2018|archive-date=3 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181103105017/http://www.jewishmag.com/169mag/rambam_temple_mount/rambam_temple_mount.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Maimonides shortly thereafter was 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 Palestine to negotiate with the Crusaders. The captives were eventually released.<ref>Cohen, Mark R. ''Poverty and Charity in the Jewish Community of Medieval Egypt''. Princeton University Press, 2005 ({{ISBN|0-691-09272-9}}), pp. 115–116</ref>

===Death of his brother===
[[File:Ben Maimónides. Córdoba, España-eue.jpg|thumb|200px|Monument in [[Córdoba, Andalusia|Córdoba]]]]
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 [[Sudan]]ese port of [[ʿAydhab]]. 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.{{efn|The "India Trade" (a term devised by the Arabist S.D. Goitein) was a highly lucrative business venture in which Jewish merchants from Egypt, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East imported and exported goods ranging from pepper to brass from various ports along the [[Malabar Coast]] between the 11th–13th centuries. For more info, see the "India Traders" chapter in Goitein, ''Letters of Medieval Jewish Traders,'' 1973 or Goitein, ''India Traders of the Middle Ages,'' 2008.}} 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:

{{blockquote|The greatest misfortune that has befallen me during my entire life—worse than anything else—was the demise of the saint, may his memory be blessed, who drowned in the Indian sea, carrying much money belonging to me, to him, and to others, and left with me a little daughter and a widow. On the day I received that terrible news I fell ill and remained in bed for about a year, suffering from a sore boil, fever, and [[depression (mood)|depression]], and was almost given up. About eight years have passed, but I am still mourning and unable to accept consolation. And how should I console myself? He grew up on my knees, he was my brother, [and] he was my student.<ref>Goitein, ''Letters of Medieval Jewish Traders'', p. 207</ref>}}

===Nagid===
[[File:Maimonides bas-relief in the U.S. House of Representatives chamber cropped.jpg|thumb|left|[[Bas relief]] of Maimonides in the [[United States House of Representatives]]]]
Around 1171, Maimonides was appointed the {{transliteration|he|[[Nagid]]}} of the Egyptian Jewish community.<ref name=S.D./> Arabist [[Shelomo Dov Goitein]] believes the leadership he displayed during the ransoming of the Crusader captives led to this appointment.<ref>Cohen, ''Poverty and Charity in the Jewish Community of Medieval Egypt'', p. 115</ref> 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 [[Farm (revenue leasing)|tax farming]], Maimonides excommunicated and fought with him for several years until Maimonides was appointed Nagid in 1195. A work known as "Megillat Zutta" was written by [[Abraham ben Hillel]], who writes a scathing description of Sar Shalom while praising Maimonides as "the light of east and west and unique master and marvel of the generation."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Baron|first=Salo Wittmayer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0E_jEhTQpGkC&q=Megillat+Zutta&pg=PA215|title=A Social and Religious History of the Jews: High Middle Ages, 500–1200|date=1952|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-08843-5|page=215|language=en|access-date=16 November 2020|archive-date=25 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211225011741/https://books.google.com/books?id=0E_jEhTQpGkC&q=Megillat+Zutta&pg=PA215|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rustow|first=Marina|date=1 October 2010|title=Sar Shalom ben Moses ha-Levi|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-jews-in-the-islamic-world/sar-shalom-ben-moses-ha-levi-SIM_0019250|journal=Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World|language=en|access-date=17 June 2020|archive-date=18 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200618184702/https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-jews-in-the-islamic-world/sar-shalom-ben-moses-ha-levi-SIM_0019250|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Physician===

[[File:Commentary on the Mishnah Torah (52050395658).jpg|thumb|right|Commentary on the [[Mishneh Torah]], Maimonides, [[12th century]]. Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris]]

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 [[al-Qadi al-Fadil]], the chief secretary to Sultan [[Saladin]], then to Saladin himself; after whose death he remained a physician to the [[Ayyubid dynasty]].<ref name=frank>{{cite journal |author=Julia Bess Frank |title=Moses Maimonides: rabbi or medicine |journal=The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine |year=1981 |volume=54 |pages=79–88 |pmid=7018097 |issue=1 |pmc=2595894}}</ref>
[[File:T-S_NS_163.57.jpg|thumb|An [[Autograph (manuscript)|autograph]] from the [[Cairo Geniza]] with words in Arabic and their Romance translations, both written in Hebrew script<ref>{{Cite web |last=Schmierer-Lee |first=Melonie |date=2022-10-12 |title=Q&A Wednesday: Maimonides, hiding in plain sight, with José Martínez Delgado |url=https://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/genizah-fragments/posts/qa-wednesday-maimonides-hiding-plain-sight-jose-martinez-delgado |access-date=2023-05-31 |website=lib.cam.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref>]]
In his medical writings, Maimonides described many conditions, including [[asthma]], [[diabetes]], [[hepatitis]], and [[pneumonia]], and he emphasized moderation and a healthy lifestyle.<ref name=rosner>{{cite journal |url=http://www.aecom.yu.edu/uploadedFiles/EJBM/19Rosner125.pdf |author=Fred Rosner |title=The Life of Moses Maimonides, a Prominent Medieval Physician |journal=Einstein Quart J Biol Med |year=2002 |volume=19 |issue=3 |pages=125–128 |author-link=Fred Rosner |access-date=14 January 2009 |archive-date=5 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090305065423/http://www.aecom.yu.edu/uploadedFiles/EJBM/19Rosner125.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> 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.<ref name=rosner/> Julia Bess Frank indicates that Maimonides in his medical writings sought to interpret works of authorities so that they could become acceptable.<ref name=frank/> Maimonides displayed in his interactions with patients attributes that today would be called [[Intercultural communication|intercultural awareness]] and respect for the patient's [[autonomy]].<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Gesundheit B, Or R, Gamliel C, Rosner F, Steinberg A |title=Treatment of depression by Maimonides (1138–1204): Rabbi, Physician, and Philosopher |journal=Am J Psychiatry |date=April 2008 |volume=165 |issue=4 |pages=425–428 |url=http://www.jewishmedicalethics.org/data/treatment%20of%20depression%20by%20maimonides%20rabbi%20physician%20and%20philosopher.pdf |doi=10.1176/appi.ajp.2007.07101575 |pmid=18381913 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090305065423/http://www.jewishmedicalethics.org/data/treatment%20of%20depression%20by%20maimonides%20rabbi%20physician%20and%20philosopher.pdf |archive-date=5 March 2009 }}</ref> 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.<ref>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."</ref> 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."<ref>''Responsa Pe'er HaDor'', 143.</ref>

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.{{efn|Such views of his works are found in almost all scholarly studies of the man and his significance. See, for example, the "Introduction" sub-chapter by Howard Kreisel to his overview article "Moses Maimonides", in ''History of Jewish Philosophy'', edited by Daniel H. Frank and Oliver Leaman, Second Edition (New York and London: Routledge, 2003), pp. 245–246.}}

In 1172–74, Maimonides wrote his famous ''[[Epistle to Yemen]]''.<ref>[[s:Epistle to Yemen|Click to see full English translation of Maimonides' "Epistle to Yemen"]]</ref> 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).<ref>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.</ref>

===Death===
{{See also|Tomb of Maimonides}}[[File:Keverambam.jpg|thumb|The [[Tomb of Maimonides]] in [[Tiberias]]]]
Maimonides died on 12 December 1204 (20th of [[Tevet]] 4965) in Fustat. A variety of medieval sources beginning with [[Al-Qifti]] maintain that his body was interred near [[Lake Tiberias]], though there is no contemporary evidence for his removal from Egypt. [[Gedaliah ibn Yahya ben Joseph|Gedaliah ibn Yahya]] records that "He was buried in the [[Upper Galilee]] with elegies upon his gravestone. In the time of [[David Kimhi|[David] Kimhi]], when the sons of [[Belial]] rose up to besmirch [Maimonides] . . . they did evil. They altered his gravestone, which previously had been inscribed 'choicest of the human race (מבחר המין האנושי)', so that instead it read 'the excommunicated heretic (מוחרם ומין)'. But later, after the provocateurs had repented of their act, and praised this great man, a student repaired the gravestone to read 'choicest of the Israelites (מבחר המין הישראלי)'".<ref>''Shalshelet haQabbalah'' (Venice, 1587) f. 33b, MS Guenzberg 652 f. 76a.</ref> Today, Tiberias hosts the [[Tomb of Maimonides]], on which is inscribed "From [[Moses]] to Moses arose none like Moses."<ref name="epitaph">{{cite web |url=https://he.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1187235 |title=Maimonides |website=he.chabad.org |language=Hebrew |access-date=2 August 2021 |archive-date=1 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210801223206/https://he.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1187235 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Maimonides and his wife, the daughter of Mishael ben Yeshayahu Halevi, had one child who survived into adulthood,<ref>אגרות הרמב"ם מהדורת שילת</ref> [[Abraham Maimonides]], who became recognized as a great scholar. He succeeded Maimonides as Nagid and as court [[physician]] at the age of eighteen. Throughout his career, he defended his father's writings against all critics. The office of Nagid was held by the Maimonides family for four successive generations until the end of the 14th century.

A [[:es:Estatua de Maimónides (Cordoba)|statue of Maimonides]] was erected near the [[Córdoba Synagogue]].

Maimonides is sometimes said to be a descendant of [[King David]], although he never made such a claim.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Sarah E. Karesh |author2=Mitchell M. Hurvitz |title=Encyclopedia of Judaism |year=2005 |publisher=Facts on File |isbn=978-0-8160-5457-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z2cCZBDm8F8C&pg=PA305 |page=305 |access-date=20 September 2020 |archive-date=25 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211225011734/https://books.google.com/books?id=Z2cCZBDm8F8C&pg=PA305 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=H. J. Zimmels |title=Ashkenazim and Sephardim: Their Relations, Differences, and Problems as Reflected in the Rabbinical Responsa |edition=Revised |year=1997 |publisher=Ktav Publishing House |isbn=978-0-88125-491-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Svzf3uUCFToC&pg=PA283 |page=283 |access-date=20 September 2020 |archive-date=25 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211225011743/https://books.google.com/books?id=Svzf3uUCFToC&pg=PA283 |url-status=live }}</ref>