29(5 MAIMONIDES Looks, with a view to which fact and to the author s name (Mosheh) admiring and grateful posterity called it, from Dent, xxxiv. 12, Hayyad Hahazakah. a title which has eclipsed, if it has not actually superseded, that given to it by the author himself. Great has been the success of this work. If Mairnonides has not suc ceeded in superseding by it the Babylonian Talmud (as some think was his purpose 1 ), he has certainly succeeded (probably against his will) in making of it a second Talmud of Babylon in the Talmudic acceptation of this term. 2 The Mishnch Torah has become an arena of endless, though happily bloodless, strife. It is to this day a place of tournament for all Talmudists. The hundreds of folios on Rabbinic literature, written since the author s time, constantly draw the Rambam* naturally or artificially, into the discussions they contain. To clear up a difficult Ram- bam, or to " answer a Rambam," i.e., to remove an apparent difficulty in the Mishnch Torah, is the great test of the fitness or learning of a rabbi to this day. Moreover, all Sepharadim have received its dicta, though only cum grano, whilst the congregations of Arabia (as those of Yemen and others) not only live absolutely according to its teachings, but have actually neglected the study of the Talmudim through it. The work itself is to be found in MS. in numerous libraries (probably one of the oldest MSS. lying in the University Library of Cam bridge, Add. 1564). Printed editions are also numerous, some without "strictures" (Hassagoth) and without a commentary, others with the "strictures" of the great rabbi 4 of the little town of Pesquiers (in Provence), others with commentaries varying from four to eight, and even more. The earliest edition, which has neither place nor date, appeared somewhere in Italy, about 1480 ; the second at Soncino, 1490 ; the third at Constantinople, 1509 ; the fourth, fifth, sixth (with the Sepher Hammisvoth, &c. ), and seventh editions at Venice, 1524, 1550, 1550-51, and 1574-75 respectively ; the eighth (with the Antichristiana) at Amsterdam, 1702-3, all in folio ; the most recent and incomplete edition being that of Leipsic, 1862, 8vo. The Mishneh Torah stands, and has stood for centuries, even among non-Jews, in such respeet that "parts of books" (Halakhoth) have been rendered into other languages, notably into Latin. Extracts from this work have been translated into English by the late H. H. Bernard of Cambridge (Cambridge, 1832, 8vo) and E. Soloweyczik of Poland (London, 1863, 8vo). 2. Commentary on the treatise of Rosh Hasslmnah according to the Babylonian Talmud. We know from Mairnonides himself that he commented on almost the whole of the second, third, and fourth Scdarim and on one treatise (Hulliri) of the fifth Seder of the Babylonian Talmud. But of all this none but his Rosh Hasshanah iias been preserved. This commentary is extant in four MSS., one of which, however, is a mere transcript, whilst two of the others are imperfect. The only edition existing (Hallcbanon, ii. p. 61, &c.) is from these imperfect MSS. The one perfect MS. copy known to us is preserved in the University Library of Cambridge (Add. 494). 3. Some of the numerous letters ascribed to Maimonides. These are inextricably mixed up both with letters written by him in Arabic and translated by others into Hebrew, and with letters addressed to him by others. 4. Religious poetry. There is a short liturgical piece (it is recited on the first day of New Year by the Arabic-speaking Jews of Algiers, Tunis, &c.) which begins Eth Sluiarc Ratzon, and which bears the acrostic A ni Mosheh biribbi Maimon Hazak. It is an "Akedah." But because there is a composition of the same nature and beginning, but of greater length and by another author ( Abbas Yehudah Sliemuel), this is, in contradistinction, called Akedah Kctannah. Since the name of Mosheh, however, is com mon a:nong all Jews and that of Maimon among those of the Maghrib (see Schiller-Szinessy s Cambridge Catalogue of the Hebrew Manuscripts, ii. p. 28, note 2), this little poem may, perhaps, be long to another (and inferior) rabbi of this name. If it really does belong to our Maimonides, we have a key to his contempt for the liturgical poets. 5 Being a poor poet himself, he judged them by his own merits, or rather demerits. II. IVorks composed by Maimonides in Arabic. 1. The commentary on the whole Mishnah. The author began this work whilst yet in Spain, continued it on his flight through Morocco, and finished it at his ease at Fostat (Cairo). The merit of this work is that the author explains therein the Mishnah in a very lucid and brief way ; and, having privately digested the Tal- mudical controversies regarding each paragraph, he gives the result 1 Luzzatto, Kerem Ifemed, iii. 67. 2 T. B., Synhedrin, 24a. s So this work is commonly and especially called from the author s name.
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4 R. Abraham lien J)avid (Rabad) was the author s contemporary and the only literary man who ever conquered him, according to his own confession. 8 See introduction to the Scphar Hammisvoth. of it in the decision of the HalaTchah. But this work has also its demerits. (1) It is occasionally incorrect in itself. (2) Being to most Talmudists accessible only in a translation, which they cannot gauge, the smallest clerical error produces confusion. (3) Nor were all the translators equally qualified for their task. Some were good Talmudists, but indifferent Arabic scholars ; some were good Talmudists and good Arabic scholars, but not fine Hebraists. (For the translators see Sehiller-Szinessy, ut supra, ii. pp. 16, 17.) 2. The Sepher Hammisvoth is a preliminary to the author s masterpiece, the Mishnch Torah. This small but important work has been twice translated, first by R. Mosheh b. Shemuel b. Yehudah Ibn Tibbon (Tabbon ?), and secondly by R. Shelomoh b. Yoseph Ibn Aiyub. The former translation is known by printed editions 6 and the latter by MSS. Ibn Aiyiib s, though less known, is the more correct translation. There is a copy of it in the University Library of Cambridge (Add. 676, 2). 3. But the most important and most learned and to us the most interesting of Maimonides s Arabic works is the Guide of the Per plexed (Dalalatu 1-Hairin in Arabic, and March Hannclokhim in Hebrew). It is the result of deep research in Bible and Midrash on the one hand and in Greek philosophy, as interpreted by Aristotle and his followers, together with various religious systems, on the other. The purpose of its composition and publication was to reconcile Jewish theology with refined heathen philosophy. Maimonides deservedly held Aristotle in very high estimation ; his traducers, however, said that he placed him in the Guide next to, if not above, Moses. No wonder, then, that religious Jews of a certain type in the author s lifetime took offence both at the book and the author. But serious warfare broke out only after Maimon ides s death, which raged for more than a full century, and is not entirely extinguished even at this day. His followers, chiefly in Provence at the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 14th century, some of whom had only eyes for the master s nega tions and none for his affirmations, declared the whole history of the Bible to be mere symbolism. Abraham was, according to them, the Morphe, Sarah the Hyle, and so forth. 7 These absurdities were considered by the religious as highly irreligious, and provoked active opposition and even excommunication. These, in their turn, provoked again the strong remonstrance of the moderate middle party and the ultimate excommunication of the excom- municators by the excommunicated. But long before that time the Guide had been publicly burned, an act quite un-Jewish, but in unison with an age which had more faith than knowledge, and which, dwelling in darkness, hated the light. People in our days cannot understand this ; they cannot understand the fierce oppo sition to the Guide, and much less the attachment to it. They ask, Is this the great work of the great Maimonides ? These ex planations of the Scriptures we have long ago outgrown, and the philosophy it contains is not worth mention by the side of that of Schelling, Fichte, and Hegel ! But the fact is that, if one wishes to form a proper estimate of this work, he must not merely read it, but earnestly study it. Then again, its contents must be viewed historically, i.e., both in connexion with the theological and philo sophical systems of past ages and with the influence it has exercised uninterruptedly from the time of its appearance down to almost our own days. 8 Isolated portions of it may have become antiquated. The symbolism of the Pentatemch and the meaning of the words of the prophetic books and Hagiographa may be clearer to us than they were in the author s time, by reason of our discoveries in science, our progress in philology, and our knowledge of history. Our know ledge of Greek philosophy may be much greater than Maimonides s was, owing partly to our acquaintance with the original writings of Aristotle and others, accessible to Maimonides only through a trans lation of a translation, and partly owing to our collation of numer ous MSS. , by which the errors are rectified of the copies from which the first translators made their version, a rectification by which parts of the foundation and of the superstructure of the March go down at one and the same time. But, when all this is considered, the Guide still remains a great work, a product, indeed, of the Middle Ages, but truly immortal. 9 6 The first edition appeared without place and date, but Constanti nople about 1516, 4to. 7 See Schiller-Szinessy, Catalogue, &c., i. p. 188, notes 1 and 2. 8 Moses Mendelssohn, for example, became one of the greatest philosophers of his day through studying the Moreh. 9 This book was till within the last few years known only through the translation of R. Shemuel b. Yehudah Ibn Tibbon, which has been printed numerous times, the editio princeps being without place or date, but somewhere in Italy (Bologna?) before 1480. There is, how ever, also another translation from olden times in existence. It is by the famous R. Yehudah Al-Harizi, and has been edited by Schlossberg (i., London, 1851 ; ii. and iii., Vienna, 1874 and 1879 respectively, all in 8vo). The late S. Munk has, however, surpassed in correctness both his predecessors in his Guide des gares, which contains the Arabic original with a French translation. It appeared at Paris,
1856-66, in 3 vols. 8vo.