Editing Maimonides (section)

===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>