Moshe ben Maimon

Moses ben Maimon, known as Maimonides and by the Hebrew acronym Rambam, was one of the most influential Jewish thinkers of the Middle Ages. A physician, philosopher, astronomer and rabbi, he wrote on Jewish law, ethics and philosophy, and his work remains a reference point in the Talmudic tradition. His ideas also had a notable influence in the Islamic world.

He was born in Córdoba in 1135, near the close of the golden age of Jewish culture in al-Andalus, into a family that included rabbinic judges on his father's side. His mother died giving birth to him. He studied the Torah with his father, Maimon, and as a young man he took an interest in science and in Greek philosophy, which reached him through Arabic translations.

The Almohad conquest of Córdoba in 1148 ended the protected status of non-Muslims and forced many Jewish communities to choose between conversion, exile or death. Maimonides' family went into exile. After a period in southern Spain, probably in Almería, they settled in Fez, where he wrote his commentary on the Mishnah between 1166 and 1168. He then travelled to Acre and Jerusalem and, around 1168, settled in Egypt, first in Alexandria and later in Cairo.

In 1171 he was named nagid, or leader, of the Jewish community in Egypt, and he also served as physician to the court of Saladin and to the vizier al-Fadil. His medical writings describe asthma, diabetes, hepatitis and pneumonia, and recommend moderation and a healthy way of life. The death of his brother David, who drowned in the Indian Ocean sometime between 1169 and 1177, struck him hard. Despite a demanding schedule, he still found time to write treatises on law, ethics and philosophy.

His thought sought to reconcile revealed faith with reason. In his Commentary on the Mishnah he set out the thirteen principles of faith, beginning with the existence and unity of God, which he considered essential for any good Jew. His Mishneh Torah, a systematic codification of Jewish law in fourteen volumes, also draws on the oral tradition and still carries great canonical authority. The Guide for the Perplexed is where he most fully tries to bring the Bible and Aristotelian philosophy together.

Maimonides died in Cairo on 12 December 1204. According to tradition, his remains were later moved to Tiberias, where his tomb is now a site of pilgrimage. His son Abraham succeeded him as nagid and as court physician. His works continued to be studied in both Jewish and Islamic circles, and he is regarded as one of the great systematizers of medieval Jewish tradition.