Maimonides
Medieval Jewish philosopher, legal scholar and physician
- Born
- 1135, Córdoba, Spain
- Died
- 1204, Egypt
- Works
- Mishneh Torah; Guide for the Perplexed
- Professions
- Philosopher, jurist, physician
- Languages
- Wrote in Arabic and Hebrew
The foremost thinker of medieval Judaism, who in his law code ranked the Ofanim among ten orders of angels.
What is Maimonides known for?
Moses Maimonides, known in Hebrew by the acronym Rambam, was born in Córdoba in 1135. His family left Spain after the Almohad conquest and eventually settled in Egypt, where he served as a physician at court and as a leader of the Jewish community until his death in 1204.
Britannica calls him the foremost intellectual figure of medieval Judaism. His Mishneh Torah is a systematic code of Jewish law, and his Guide for the Perplexed, written in Arabic, tries to reconcile the Bible with Aristotelian philosophy. He also wrote on logic and medicine.
In the first book of the Mishneh Torah (Foundations of the Torah, chapter 2) he lists ten ranks of angels, with the Hayyot ha-Kodesh at the top and the Ofanim second. He explained biblical angels philosophically, as intelligences or forces rather than winged bodies, and he treated the visions of Ezekiel's chariot as deep matters to be taught only privately.
He placed the Ofanim, the 'wheels' of Ezekiel's vision, high in his ranking of the angels.
Mentioned on these pages
- Rabbit holeOphanim (the wheels)
- PersonEnosh
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Moses Maimonides'Reference
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 'Maimonides'Reference
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