Maimonides (also known as Moses ben Maimon and Rambam) was one of the most important Jewish figures of the Middle Ages.
He was born in Spain in the 1130s CE, but lived across the Mediterranean, including in Morocco and Egypt.
He was a rabbinic authority, philosopher, legal scholar, community leader, and medical doctor.
One of his most impactful texts was the Mishneh Torah, the first comprehensive collection of Jewish law. Another was The Guide for the Perplexed, where he brought together the teachings of Judaism and philosophy. The Guide covers many difficult topics including the idea of revelation.
Maimonides studied widely, including Jewish, Greek, and Islamic texts, and scientific texts. He wrote in Judeo-Arabic, Arabic, and Hebrew. His work has been considered controversial by some communities.
Text adapted from Simple English Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0.
Córdoba-Judería-Maimónides by Daniel Villafruela via Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA 3.0.
