Yeshiva University - Masmid Yearbook (New York, NY)

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M A S M I D unlike our (iwn ol Jtwisli pris( i iinun, ol di luiiu i.ilioii .mil ' ililii .iiiciii ul JuiLiisni .iiul Kijci, of biul.il h.uh.iriMii in ilic ruthless pcrscculioii ol Judaism, which led lo despair and spiritual stagna- tion within Israel. The ancient centers of Jewish life and learning, Palestine and Babylonia, were, as he graphically describes them, hovering between life and death; the old scats of learning, outside of Provence, were hut reminders of a spiritual grandeur that was no more. Maimonidcs blessed by heredity, — scion of an illustrious family claim- ing descent from the House of D.ivid, favored by environment, intellect and training, saw, like Moses, the suffering of his people and tiieir broken spirit. He considered his superior en- dowments as a grave responsibility. He set out to dedicate his vast erudition, deep insight and outstanding position to the service of his people, to help save the ship of Israel then tossing in the stormy sea of the religious fanaticism of the Cross and the Crescent, to help strengthen the faith of his people in God, in themselves, in their higher destiny, in the ultimate triumph of Israel and the Torah. He consecrated his life to strengthening their will to live, to teaching them to understand the Torah and to suffer and sacrifice for it, to bringing solace and peace to their bleeding hearts, and to protecting them against religious aberra- tions, particularly the then powerful Karaite schism, and the alluring, but dangerous, hopes of false Messiahs. Every phase of his life and ac- tivity tended to comfort his people, inspire them, teach them the truth of faith purified by reason and the fundamental verity that the test and value of spiritual knowledge lies in follo ing it. in liv- ing it. These aims Maimonides sought to achieve mainly through his halakic works and his Epistles of counsel and comfort to the near and far Jewish communities. Most of his literary efforts — as all his life — he devoted to the needs of the people at large, and only the Guide he wrote for the chosen few. Of the Guide, his philosophic Magnum Opus. 1 1 II first .systematic presentation of Jewi l) belief and Jewish hope, suffice it to say, in the words of Dr. Wolfson, that it is the most excellent de- pository of medieval philosophic lore, where one finds the most concise analysis of philosophic problems, the most complete summaries of phil- osophic opinions, the clearest definitions of terms expressed in clear quotable phrases, that the works and views of Maimonides determined the philosophic training of Spinoza and helped guide him in the formation of his own philosophy. Nor is it necessary to dwell upon the influence of Mai- monides on Albertus Magnus and Thomas Atjuinas, the greatest of Latin Scholastics, and on the lesser lights of the scholastic period, who represent the union of Aristotelianism and Chris- tian dogma. Maimonides placed reason above all other hu- m,m qualities and considered its exercise the acme of human attainment and the source of eternal life. But he also taught that moral perfection must precede intellectual perfection, and that the life of reason can flourish only in an orderly society. True wisdom is founded upon moral perfection ; they must ever go hand in hand. Moral perfection can be attained only through the study of the Torah and the faithful obser -ance of its precepts. For, according to Maimonides, the Law is not imposed upon man arbitrarily as something which is foreign to his nature, as the imposed will of God, but is based upon reason; and all its commands have a threefold purpose. It aims first at the establishment of good mutual relations among men by removing injustice and by the acquisition of moral virtues, so that the orderly life of the people of a country may con- tinue uninterruptedly and every individual may acquire his first perfection, his physical and social well-being; secondly, it aims to train us in cor- rect beliefs and to impart to us true opinions whereby we may attain the highest perfection. Maimonides makes the moral virtues, to be ac- quired by following the dictates of the Torah, a condition prerequisite to the blessing of the im- Eleier.

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M A SM I D of sciencist and saint, of the consummate ra- tionalist and the Torah-intoxicated man, of the cold lot;ician and the warm pietist. He was the rare combination of profound insight, crystal-like clearness and charm of expression. Stoic poise, incisive thinking and indomitable energy; humility and full recognition of the worth of his ideas and ideals; broad and deep humanity and boundless and self-sacrificing love for his people; high idealism and profound common sense and prac- ticability, were fused in this complete man. He arrived upon the arena of history in a period of great crisis in the life of his people. He placed all his gifts of heart and mind upon the altar of God, Israel and humanity. Complete master of the culture of the two worlds, the Jewish and the Arabic, each then in its golden age, and of all accumulated knowledge of the Torah, in all its fulness and depth, master of self-mastery and systematic genius, he became the architect who built for the ages, brought order and, like Moses, made a path in the stormy sea of the Talmud. He bridged — though but for a time — the chasm between Judaism and the best thought of the day. Rightly called the purest mono- theist, he ascended to the heaven of spirituality by the ladder of faith, supported by reason, puri- fied by spiritual insight. The works of Maimonides became new heavens, — studded with guiding stars of deep enlightened faith and morality, of love of truth and humanity, of deep faith in the ultimate destiny of man, and of a loyalty to Israel, of which there was never greater exemplar. He understood human nature at its highest and lowest, and did not close his eyes to human frailties. All-absorbing study of the Torah, con- templation of the infinite and metaphysical thought were to him the supreme goal of existence, the royal road to immortality and eternal bliss. Never- theless, cognizant of the various gradations of the human intellect and character and aware of the fact that the gift of contemplation of, and communion with, the Infinite is given to but a tew chosen souls, he counseled the average man, particularly in his later work, against the quest of God by way of reason, against delving into the mysteries of what precedes and what follows, what is above and what below, but rather to fol- low the proven road of the righteous, in his faith, shall live. He did not aim to disturb sturdy faith with foreign doctrines. He taught that the Torah and its precepts, and the concepts rooted in the soul of Universal Israel are the cornerstone of sound fruitful Jewish life ' . The heroic stature of Maimonides and his people and his people ' s boundless love for him have not caused his personaility to be lost in a cloud of legend or hero-worship, as is the case with many of the elite of the spirit in Israel. His lovable personality stands out against the can- vas of time. Maimonides is more often misunder- stood by his admirers than by his opponents. Maimonides did not proclaim the exclusive sovereignty of reason as some of his admirers of even this generation would have us think. No mere master or servant of reason, of metaphysical speculation, could become the lasting object of deep love and affection of a whole people, par- ticularly a people of spiritual bent as Israel. Maimonides sought to prove — as was vital in the exigency of his time — that the scientific and philosophic teachings of his day were in harmony with what was to him — as to all Israel of his day — the only fountain of eternal truth and life — the Torah. He aimed to prove that the Torah is a Torah of Truth, which will forever stand the test of reason. The Torah was his first and last love, notwithstanding the platonic love he confessed for Aristotle. While he raised religious speculation to a high plane, thereby widening the horizon of Jewish thought, making it more articu- late, the teachings and commands of the Torah were his chief concern. In his mind faith and philosophy met in amity from the different start- ing points, attaining the single goal — the love of God. The age of Maimonides was an age — not much

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M A SM ID mortal soul and its happiness and delit;lu in the knowledge and love of God. The fulfillment of the Biblical commandments inculcate fear of God, whereas true knowledge of His nature, as far as it is attainable, leads to love of God. For, as Maimonides says, One cannot love God except through the knowledge with which one knows Him; and love is in proportion with such knowl- edge. Thus love must by its ■e y nature occupy man ' s entire mind, so that no room is left for any other desire. It is well known, says Mai- monides elsewhere, and quite evident that the love of God cannot strike deep root in the heart of man unless it occupies his mind constantly so that nothing in the world really matters to him except the love of God. The general object of the Law is twofold; the well-being of the body and the well-being of the soul. The first con- sists in being healthy and in the best possible physical condition. The second perfection of man consists in his becoming an actually intelli- gent being; knowing about things in existence all that a person most perfectly developed may know. It is evident that this second perfection does not include any actions and moral virtues, but only intellectual conceptions, which are ar- rived at by speculation, and are the result of rea- soning. It is also evident that the second and superior kind of perfection can only be attained when the first perfection had been acquired. To help man attain this first perfection Maimonides dedicated his great halakic trilogy. In his early manhood he composed his Com- mentary on the Mishna. The Mishna, the basic and authoritative code of the Oral Law, edited by Judah Hanasi, with whom Maimonides claimed relationship, with whom indeed he felt a spiritual kinship, became after a millennium a work al- most unintelligible by itself and inaccesible to the average student because of the maze of the tal- mudic and post-talmudic literature, which in time had been grouped around it. Maimonides, through his Commentary written in Arabic, — then the language of the people — endeavored to restore the Mishna to its historic place as the fount.iin head of the Halakah. What his Code is to the discursory literature, his Commentary is to the Mishna. Every division of the Mishna is pre- ceded, in his Commentary, by a comprehensive, and often exhaustive, introduction, revealing the underlying principles of the Mishnaic laws. The text and context of every Mishna are properly analyzed and interpreted, and where several opinions are offered, the final decision is made clear. The moral, theological, and scientific ref- erences are made subject to lengthy discussions, displaying the impact of Maimonides ' incisive and systematic mind. The Commentary is still in- valuable to the student as a scientific introduction to the study of Jewish belief and Law. This first resume by Maimonides of the Oral Law, while revealing him as the undisputed master of his subject and his method, is not so all-inclusive as the source-material used by him in the Code. This is particularly true of his use of the Palestinian Talmud. Some of the views expressed in the Commentary, particularly in matters of religious speculation, are somewhat modified in his later works, and we are thus granted a glimpse of the unfolding of his creative mind and vigorous spirit. The Book of Precepts, the second in the halakic trilogy, serves as an introduction to his monu- mental work, the Code. It enumerates and classi- fies the laws of the Torah, which, according to an old tradition considered by Maimonides to be authentic, number 613, in accordance with new and precise criteria and principles. The revela- tion of the Torah to Moses on Sinai is to Mai- monides one of the cardinal principles of Judaism, upon which rests the authenticity of the Torah ; this serves as the basis of his conception of the Torah. The supremacy and uniqueness of the prophecy of Moses is the key to many views of Maimonides. In the 14 Principles in his Book of Precepts he established criteria to distinguish between the Scriptural laws given to Moses on Sinai, laws that are immutable and eternal, to be numbered among the 613 Precepts, and the tem- Twelve