Introduction
Moses Maimonides was known to be the greatest philosopher among the Jews in the middle ages. He lived during the Spain’s ‘Golden Age’ in the 12th century where Christians and Jews lived peacefully under the rule of the Muslim. Maimonides was born into a rabbinic family made up of scholars and he was first taught by his father. Maimonides displayed a lot of interest in theology whereby he wrote a paper on proper usage of linguistic of theological terms. Due to political conflicts in Spain, Maimonides together with his family escaped to Egypt after facing persecution from the puritanical Almohades. In Egypt, he was the great leader of the Jews, but he later trained to become an influential physician since rabbis were not paid. Maimonides is one of the most important individuals in the history of Torah scholarship.
Maimonides, who was a spiritual leader and prolific writer, contributed a lot to Judaism by trying to strengthen and support the Jewish communities as a result of double risks of persecution they were facing from Muslim communities as well as the problems related to classical philosophy. He accomplished this through his three major essays relating to Jewish law. The first work done by Maimonides was codifying the Talmud in his work ‘Mishneh Torah’ in order to speed up the study of Torah. The second work by Maimonides was ‘Guide for the Perplexed’ which brought together religion and philosophy showing the compatibility of faith and reason. This was as a response to the dangers posed by the classical philosophy. The third one was his commentary for Mishnah ‘13 Principle of Faith’ that is important because it is the basic foundation for many creedal statements of the Jewish people today. All the three literacy works outlined above have greatly impacted the Judaism as discussed below.
Secondly, the other influence by Maimonides on the Judaism came from his work on ‘Commentary on the Mishnah’ that gives a broader commentary on each of the Mishnah’s tractates. This means that Maimonides planned to use this work to emphasize the relevance of Judaism to those average Jews who were residing within a society dominated by the Islam. Furthermore, in his commentary, Maimonides gives the connection between the act of learning from the Torah and the act of putting what is learnt into practice through the provision of a broader commentary on each of the Mishnah’s tractates. Maimonides wrote this commentary using a simple style and also gives an explanation for every mitzvah that is not contained in the rabbinic discussion and moved directly to the halakhic decision. Therefore, this contribution by Maimonides becomes important because it goes beyond the complicated rabbinic discussion in providing the halakhic decision.
Thirdly, Maimonides’ formulation of the ‘13 Principles of Faith’ found in his work on ‘Commentary on the Mishnah’ impacted a lot on the Judaism. This is because, today, the creedal statements that are made by the Jews are founded on this basis. This formulation point out the core components of the Jewish faith, and therefore, assisting to strengthen Judaism by clearly stating its main beliefs.
The other contribution made by Maimonides was through his literacy works on ‘Guide for the Perplexed’ in which he used it to facilitate the integration of science, philosophy and religion. This essay was intended to rationalize the relationship between Judaism religion and the classical philosophy to show that the basis of Judaism had rational thought. Through this writing, he provided some solution to resolve the contradictions that exists in the Jewish religion (the contradictions perplexed the community of the Jews, particularly those Jews who learnt in Aristotelian school of thought). This action taken by Maimonides has received support from the people that were genuinely perplexed, due to contradictions, because it helps a lot in preserving the faith proclaimed in Judaism. In addition, Maimonides greatly assisted in assuring the unlearned Jews that their religion is well grounded, in order for them not to change from the Judaism religion.
However, the main concern of ‘Guide for the Perplexed’ is God’s anthropomorphic depictions, despite the belief on God’s undefined nature. He made conclusion that because the practice of believing in God’s hand cannot be sustained rationally, then nobody should believe that way. Actually, Maimonides can be said to be a religious rationalist that tried to rationalize religion so as to save it from being declared irrelevant by the rationalist philosophy.
The importance of Maimonides’ work is acknowledged by very many traditions of Judaism. Despite this, different traditions of Judaism put more emphasis on different parts of these literacy works that adds more value to them. The Zionists regarded Maimonides greatly because he stated that it is a mitzvah that would take Israel’s possession and reside in it. Moreover, the Orthodox Jews place more effort on studying the writings of Maimonides in their religious institutions simply because it acts as a study guide in order to deeply understand what the Jews are required to do on their daily basis. On the other hand, despite the critics from Reform and Liberal Jews, they also do hold Maimonides’ philosophical works with greater acknowledgement.
Conclusion
Works cited
Zaklikowski, Dovid. Maimonides: His Life and Works. Chabad.Org, n. d. Web. 4 Nov. 2013. <http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/75991/jewish/Maimonides-His-Life-and-Works.htm>.
