Why were the Works of Maimonides Burned in 1232?

[@yetanotherjohn]

As a gentile-atheist who learned about Rambam from a Christopher Hitchens lecture on politics, I really enjoyed this fantastic lecture! I am fascinated with the great tradition of intellectual development in the Jewish community.

[@bernardzsikla5640]

Hi Jack! I thought I was the only one! I was incorrect in my assumption. I am also on the same journey of intellectual curiosity. Good luck to you.

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Glad you enjoyed the lecture!

[@firstlast1357]

I think it was Newton who said - we are standing on shoulders of giants …

[@susanadiasjohnson457]

👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿 EXCELLENT LESSON. THANK YOU SO MUCH. IT IS WONDERFUL.

[@Joefest99]

I’m a follower of Yeshua (please don’t hold that against me) but I just love Dr Rabbi Abramson! Intelligent, wise and, you can tell, a TRULY caring soul. Thank you for all that you do!

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Glad you find the videos useful!

[@dr.edwardpeters7344]

A few days ago I was given Volume One of the Mishneh Torah as a gift, the introduction to which mentions the burning of the Mishneh by Jews. I was quite startled to read that and wanted more information on the episode, when lo!, the inestimable Dr. Abramson posts a lecture on that very topic! Again, thank you, Professor.

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Glad you found it useful!

[@moraemepasikhani9153]

This was a privilege to hear this.

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Thank you!

[@foxtrottingzombie]

Just finished reading the yad three weeks ago. I'm over 40 and just made Tshuva a couple of years ago, and this book series got me pretty much up to speed with my own religion.

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

I'm so glad that you are finding the lectures to be meaningful in your life!

[@giffica]

Wow 16 seconds from premiere. I timed this perfect. Thank you dr.

[@ethanstiles948]

Just picked up a beautiful two volume set of Moses Maimonedes’ Guide for the perplexed

[@gregcollins7602]

This is incredibly fascinating. I had just read a book called "A History of Medieval Spain" by Joseph F. O'Callaghan. It mentions Maimonides and the tensions of the invading north Africa Muslims.

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@zafirjoe18]

According to Sadia Ibn Danan , R’ Maimon and his two sons learned under R’ Yehuda Hakohen Ibn Susan HY”D , chief Rabbi of Fez after fleeing Córdoba . In 1165 R’ Yehuda was killed by the Almohads for refusing to convert to Islam. It was at this time that the Maimon family fled in haste . It was in Fez that he published his Perush Hamishnah and the Igeret hashmad .

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Thanks for the contribution

[@somedude5951]

Asking the Dominicans to settle a dispute in a Jewish community? What a terrible thing to do! Thank you again, for this important information for our understanding.

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Sad episode in Jewish history to be sure.

[@theCordobaProject]

Thanks for sharing this professor

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

You are very welcome

[@m.c.fromnyc2187]

One of the best videos from your great series! Up to the first half of the XX century, Syrian Jewish men still used to correspond among themselves, about business and/or about private matters, in Judeo-Arabic script. The writing was similar to the Rashi typeface, but the words were in the Arabic language. Curiously, this script was called, in Arabic, "Nuss alam", meaning half a pen, or half a pencil. It is now a lost art.

[@al2lewy]

A lot of gratitude for your great work on line! שנה טובה ומתוקה וגר חתימה טובה

[@richardpage7323]

the pressures of the sanhedrin and religious courts in Spain on dayans and Torah scholars was- at times of communal stress- intense towards a kind of orthodoxy that would reject the rationalism of Maimonides. Many of the jews of Spain would not be treated by Jews as fellow Jews not just maimonides, and to fix that, we still need to change the way we treat one another today.

[@ancienbelge]

A doctor of my acquaintance attended Semmelweis Medical School in Budapest. If only he could have known in his lifetime how he’d be vindicated.

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Interesting

[@lilafeldman8630]

Yes, if he only knew :)

[@thetransplanter3337]

Professor Abramson: You neglected to mention that, in Morocco, the Rambam succumbed to pressure and converted to Islam. The locals regarded him as one of the greatest scholars of all time and his 500th anniversary was celebrated just a few years ago.

[@lilafeldman8630]

That is so sad about Dr. Semmelweis! I remember learning that story in nursing school. Someone once told me (a Christian, actually) that he was Jewish, and got his ideas about cleanliness from the hand washing rituals in the Torah. I guess that might not be entirely true. We don't know his origins.

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Correct

[@camillecastorina9225]

Very interested in this.

[@infinitelink]

You mention of Semmelweiss reminds me: (1) an even (slightly) earlier proponent of proper washing who discovered the connection and who was also denounced is Oliver Wendell Holmez, Sr. of America; (2) of the story from the civil war: one of the (?) medical officers (?) managed, despite the controversy, proper washing (hot water, soap etc) between surgeries and between surgeries and other medical care--and drastically reduced deaths of soldiers, women in child beating, etc... The latter I've seen mentioned only several times, one in documentary, and absent resources online as apparently uninteresting--because as I recall though likely a Christian man he cited the law of God rather than studies, which would have made his orders likely doubly controversial but showed he wasn't an American "don't legalism me!" doink. I've seen references and knowledge of this elsewhere, including one Catholic historian and professor at a University (took her class)--that if you read the Hebrew Torah sans any interpretative glosses or traditions (i.e. grammatically) in various points it works as sanitary "advice" to rival any modern green theory in practical terms for normal people (and sometimes even more than that). But nobody wants to talk about that "cause the couldn't have!" while actual persons who bring the modern practices into use in critical moments seen to be ignored to re-base history into the poor (ignored, denounced, destroyed, one literally beaten to death) pair in North America and Europe who tried but, as oxygen is the case, were out of line with "consensus."

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Hope you enjoyed the video.

[@benavraham4397]

Thank you! Isn't it interesting, how the Ashkenazim have become the rationalists, and the Sephardim have become the community of amulates?

[@carolreid4821]

Yes

[@brucelevine6517]

yes it is an interesting turn of events

[@rafisanders]

At the time, rambams views we're quite heretical. Trying to add Plato and the Socratic method to his teachings. Didn't go over very well

[@piscagherila9981]

No they weren’t

[@piscagherila9981]

Rambam’s views weren’t derived from Greek philosophy but rather the Torah and Gemara. What you’ll find is that he cites Aristotle and other Greek philosophers in the guide less than 100 times, whereas he cites Jewish scriptures over 1000 times. Most of the times he’s citing Aristotle, he’s either disputing with his philosophy or saying he agreed with certain aspects of Torah. This is a misconception that his views were founded on Greek philosophy. You’re not going to find anything in the Guide which goes against Judaism.

[@mtlguy87]

Thank you for this lecture, and all your lectures which I greatly enjoy. If I’m not mistaken, Pirush HaMishnayos was written in Judaic Arabic like the Moreh. The only(?) of Rambam’s works written in classic Hebrew was the Mishna Torah. Also, Mishne Torah can also mean “Second to the Torah” like Mishne LeMelech means “Second to the King”. (Seems like it might be a sort of play on words since Devorim is called Mishne Torah in the way you translate it here). Just to add to the ways in which the Mishne Torah was broader in scope than other codes is that beyond Jewish practice, Rambam codifies Jewish Theology giving it Halachic definitions and parameters (in Hilchos Yisodei HaTorah, Teshuva, Avodas Kochavim, Deot, Melachim and elsewhere). Again, thank you!!

[@marin4311]

The Dominican anecdote made my day.

[@bentsion]

As social media and technology companies try to sensor (burn) books, videos, and posts on behalf of the ruling political regimes and PC culture, this discussion is essential for today. As great as this lecture was, it fell short of mentioning some major antagonists of Rambam, so I hope Dr. Abramson will follow up with more detailed history in the later videos. Thanks

[@kurakuson]

One meal a day; 24 hour fasting each day. Cognition "through the roof".

[@zafirjoe18]

Ramban ( Nachmanides)also tried to send letters to calm the situation. In his letter ( ספר האילים להיש״ר מקאנדיא)he writes that the Rambam was so respected by the Jews in the east and in Yemen. That the Yemenites would say in the Kaddish בחייכון וביומיכון ובחיי דרבנא משה בר מיימון. It was addressed to the Rabbis of Paris . Although he also called for the respect of Rabbeinu Shlomo of Montpelier and R’ Yonah (who was family of Ramban )the Rambam’s fiercest detractors. He also writes how the Rambam was instrumental in reducing the Karaite heresy. הכה הצדוקים אשר היו כגבורים חוסים, ונתן הביתוסים לשוסים, והוציא אדיריהם מחצר מלך מצרים, ורבים מעמי הארץ מתיהדים, כי נפל פחד הרב עליהם

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Very useful!

[@apollocreed1000]

I find it very hard to accept that large groups of holy Rabbis would burn the books of the Rambam without legitimate grounds for such behaviour. The most logical conclusion is that the Rambam failed to do a thorough job of writing his books in a clear way that would not bring suspicion upon himself. Not only did he not bring sources for his halachic rulings, but he chose minority positions on various issues without explaining his position carefully. In the same vein, the Jewish people had no need for a Moreh Nevuchim if they had the Talmud. He created more doubt in Jewish minds through the questions he raised, than he resolved by his answers. People usually take the Rambam's side in this debate, but there were "Chashuv" Rabbanim in Provence and other areas that rejected his works, so I feel that it is more appropriate to take their side.

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Hope you found the video useful

[@jengoldman261]

Great lecture. I do think that Jesus tops the Lubavitcher Rebbe as the world’s most recognized Jew (minute 13). 😉

[@moshemankoff7488]

Thanks!

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Thanks for supporting the research!

[@rafaelhakim7170]

The mishnah commentary was in arabic as well, not in Hebrew. His only work in hebrew is the Mishneh Tora

[@zafirjoe18]

וכל חכמי צרפת כקליפות השום נגדו (מהרש״ל הקדמה לים של שלמה) And all the French scholars are like peels of garlic compared to him [Rambam]. But then strongly criticises the Rambam for encouraging in a letter to his son only to study the commentary of Ibn Ezra .

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Interesting quote

[@zafirjoe18]

@@HenryAbramsonPhD חכמתו כקהלת שכלו כגחלת ולשונו אש אוכלת (ר׳ יהודה אלחריזי עי׳ מקור ברוך דף 174 במבוא)

[@charedicensorship7370]

Much more arguments he had

[@zafirjoe18]

@@charedicensorship7370 yes Maharshal was a very rigid opponent of the pilpul method introduced by R’ Yakov Pollak . Also was a בר פלוגתא of Mahram Lublin . Also didn’t believe the shulchan Aruch to be the last word in Halacha.

[@richardpage7323]

I think you'd be a great Rabbi Henry

[@zafirjoe18]

In the time of the crusaders the Renowned Yeshivat Geon Yaakov that represented the Yeshiva of Eretz Yisrael and the levant , went in exile. For a time in Tyre and Damascus. But R’ Matzliach Hakohen Gaon moved the Yeshiva to Fusfat Cairo Where they used the Ben Ezra Synagogue as their headquarters. There they followed the Al Shaami ( מנהג בני מערבא) only finishing the Torah in Three years. He was killed Al kiddush Hashem in 1139 . A few years later the Rambam took this place in Ben Ezra synagogue [ which is still open to visitors] and unified all under the dominant custom of Babylonia.

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Interesting

[@Talpiot8200]

Maimonides said some pretty controversial stuff I guess

[@piscagherila9981]

Like?

[@abdullahessa7854]

Mimonadies wrote biblos

[@patrickdeckdoctorokeano9146]

wait. Was that a tongue and cheek comment? Deny them the Aliyah? See, Henry, this is want i have been referencing for over two decades. WHO would have the authority to deny the Aliyah to any proclaimed Jew prior to 1948? ( More specifically prior to1897?) There seems to be an authorative body which supposed didn;t exist and yet would have been the only authority to make such a denial of the right. So, was there a sandherdrin or not? This appears to be extremely mystrious for reasons unknown, until one realizes that the jewish people were either united orthey weren't. I am finding there is constant theme beginning with the Maccabees and ending with the Zionsts. Could it be that Zionism has been an ever present condition of the Jews? And if so, when this one to interpret when one speaks of Judaism and when speaks of Zionism throughout history, Judaic or otherwise?

[@sheilaabrahams1322]

I think he said, "An Aliah," not "Aliyah." It was a joke a la Abrahamson.

[@jackteimani8461]

mishna commontary was written in arabic

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Yes, my error.

[@dogsbees]

those conditions seem genocidal

[@aimemann]

WOW! What a poor statements,coming from a poor Askenosis " culture!!! Are the Jews Ashkenazy from Dominican descent ? Maybe that is why it took 18 years to declare the Chabad guy a dead Mosiah ...