321Moses ben Maimon, or Maimonides (referred to by Jewish scholars as
“Rambam” for “Rabbi Moses ben Maimon”), was born at 1:00 P.M. on March 30,
1135, and died on December 13, 1204. The fact that we have such precise dates
indicates the esteem with which he was held in his lifetime. As a boy in Córdoba,
Spain, he was taught the Torah and the Talmud by his father, along with philoso-
phy and science. At age 13, Maimonides and his family were forced to flee Spain
after a time of peaceful coexistence between Jews and Muslims came to an end.
Following a period of travel, which included a stay in Palestine, Maimonides and
his family settled in Cairo, Egypt. There, Maimonides and his brother David
became jewel merchants. Within a few years, Maimonides lost both his father and
David, the latter killed in a shipwreck in the Indian Ocean during a business trip.
Maimonides gave up the jewel business and turned to medicine. His expertise as
a doctor eventually led to his appointment as a court physician for the ruler
Saladin (the same Saladin who defeated Richard the Lionhearted in the Third
Crusade). Maimonides’ spiritual insights led to his being named the head of the
Egyptian Jewish community. While serving both his religion and the state, he still
found time to write extensively. His death in 1204 was mourned by Jews through-
out the Mediterranean region, and his remains were taken from Cairo to Tiberias,
on the Sea of Galilee, where his tomb is still visited today.
Maimonides’ philosophical fame rests squarely on his major work,The
Guide for the Perplexed. This work was written not for the majority of believ-
ers, but for those who knew both Jewish Law and Greek philosophy and were
perplexed on how to harmonize the two. Though his religion was different,
Maimonides faced questions similar to those of his neighboring Muslims and
Christians: how to reconcile faith and reason. In the Guide,Maimonides
asserts that there can be no conflict between faith and reason. Using Aristotle’sMOSES MAIMONIDES
1135–1204