Capturing the vast influence of Moses Maimonides — the twelfth-century philosopher, physician, theologian, and community leader — in just over one hundred pages is the challenge Ross Brann takes up in his newest book. An intellectual historian of Judeo – Islamic studies at Cornell University, Brann analyzes Maimonides through an integrative lens that emphasizes “the interrelatedness of all Maimonides’ intellectual, literary, professional, and communal ventures,” rather than separating his analysis into the disciplines that characterize much modern Maimonidean scholarship. In six chapters, the author provides us with a 360-degree understanding of the transformative power of Maimonides’s work on nearly all areas of human endeavor.
The first chapter of Brann’s book, titled “Maimonides and His World,” situates the scholar’s life in the larger context of Islamic Spain. The region, known as al-Andalus, was a center for intellectual and artistic life in medieval Europe, but one that became hostile to the non-Muslim community with the rise of the Almohad dynasty in 1148. This transition forced Maimonides and his family to leave al-Andalus and move throughout North Africa, ultimately settling in Egypt. Despite the challenges that come with persecution and forced migration, Maimonides was a prolific writer during this period. He lived in Egypt under Fatimid rule and led the Egyptian Jewish community until his death in 1204. Brann demonstrates that Maimonides was universally recognized as a leading intellectual of his time both within and outside the Jewish community.
The second through fifth chapters of Brann’s book consider Maimonides’s achievements through his writings, including seminal Jewish works such as the Mishneh Torah and The Guide to the Perplexed as well as his letters to communities in need, his personal correspondence, and his essays on medicine. In a letter to Joseph ibn Jabir Maimonides comforts the recipient, who feels self-loathing because of his inability to read the Mishneh Torah in Hebrew. Usually characterized as an elitist, Maimonides response shares his alternate persona as the “sensitive teacher-educator who always meets those who seek his guidance and support with understanding, compassion, and encouragement,” calling ibn Jabir a “beloved pupil.”
The book’s final chapter considers Maimonides’s influence long after his death, recognizing that his name “graces medical centers, hospitals, and educational institutions in the United States, Israel, and Europe.” This chapter also traces the writings that both build upon Maimonides’s thinking and those that include Maimonides as a character in popular culture, including Dara Horn’s novel Guide for the Perplexed, which takes the reader on a voyage across history with the medieval scholar as a central figure in the journey.
Moses Maimonides: A Very Short Introduction offers an accessible, incisive, and thought-provoking entry point into the life and thought of a figure who stands among Judaism’s — and indeed world history’s — most consequential thinkers.
