Customer Reviews

Maimonides (Jewish Encounters)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The great philosopher, physician and leader is brought vividly to life by Sherwin Nuland, himself a writer-physician. Although this is a relatively brief book, it touches on all the points of Maimonides's life with authority and clarity. Nuland positions his subject's writings within the issues of his time and ours. With a well-annotated bibliography this is a fine entry into a fascinating life.

It's an interesting read, but Nuland cites absolutely no sources, a problem when you have a subject with as much scholarship - much of it conflicted - as there is on Maimonides. One spot where this actually leads to him to make a pretty egregious error is when he cites the Maimonidean 13 'principles of faith.' Nuland correctly states that Maimonides writes these principles in his mishnaic commentary, but he then proceeds to give a word for word translation of a watered down version of these principles that appears in all Orthodox prayer books. This is highly problematic because the anonymously authored (not by Maimonides!) prayerbook version often inaccurately summarizes or even 'censors' Maimonides' statements in his commentary, and Nuland doesn't even bother noting that or even crediting the anonymous author as a source! He disingenuously makes it appear that this is his own correct paraphrase of Maimonides' formulation - a total inaccurate impression. I find this an alarming sign of Nuland's lack of in-depth research or even understanding of this important topic. I would not recommend this book to anyone who wishes to actually understand Maimonides' life and works.

Sherwin B. Nuland opens this book by explaining how he finally came to after much discouragement write this book on the great Jewish thinker, halachist, communal leader and physician Moses Maimonedes, commonly known as the Rambam. Nuland's reluctance is understandable as he is not a scholar of Jewish texts, nor one deeply versed in Jewish thought. He is a prominent well- known highly esteemed physician and writer. And a good share of the book is devoted to understanding the Rambam as a physician. In the course of this Nuland provides a brief historical sketch of the development of Medicine from Galen to and through the Middle Ages. In the course of this he makes it clear that the Rambam was like all the great Medieval physicians not really a medical innovator. The Rambam was an extraordinarily dedicated physician whose observational powers were complemented by his vast knowledge of the extant medical literature. Nuland quotes the famous letter of the Rambam in which he details his exhausting schedule as physician including his work at Court and his work with the poorer Muslim population and with the Jewish community. Nuland also describes in some detail the medical writings of Rambam, including the Aphorisms and guidebooks which served a wider public to the dawn of the ear of Modern Medicine.
The Rambam turned to Medicine only after a great personal tragedy the loss at sea of his younger brother David. David had provided the material means for the Rambam to be totally devoted to scholarship. Rambam went into depression for over a year until finally emerging with the decision to practice medicine.
Nuland gives an excellent summary of the whole course of Rambam's life, including the childhood in Cordoba, the early years in Fez, the expulsions the Jewish community suffered, the forced conversion, and above all the genius which surfaced quite early. Rambam mastered whole worlds of Jewish texts , held them in his mind . And this enabled him to create his vast works of syncretic scholarship, most notably the work still studied and of great significance today , 'The Mishneh Torah'. Nuland provides a good understanding of the basic meaning of and history of 'The Mishnah Torah'. However in confronting Rambam's philosophical masterpiece "Guide to the Perplexed" Nuland is somewhat less understanding and appreciative.
In assessing Rambam's overall historical signifiance Nuland writes this telling analysis of why Rambam is held in such great importance by Jews to this very day.
" it is the iconic memory of a man whose life was devoted to the continuity of the Jewish people.
- From the letter to the Jews of Fez written when he was twenty- four years old , to his labors until the hour of his death as his community's acknowledged leader ,he devoted the totality of his prodigious talents to the preservation of the community of the Jews everywhere."

Dr. Nuland, himself a Jewish physician, was understandably reluctant to engage in doing the biography of perhaps the ultimate Jewish physician of all time: Moses Ben Maimon also referred to as Rambam or Maimonides.

His reluctance was understandable on a number of levels. First, Maimonides was of pronounced expertise in the healing arts. Not only the author of ten medical books, he had through dint of skill managed to elevate himself to being court physician at the court of Saladin.

Second, for Jewish thought (and derivatively for western thought itself) Maimonides was significant for his recognition of and attempt to deal with the conflict between the canonized precepts of faith and the unanswered questions of science. His "Guide for the Perplexed" itself perplexing is an attempt in some ways an attempt at striking a balance.

However, in both ways Nuland managed to briefly make the material accessible to the reader.

And significantly also, Nuland managed to connect the reader with Maimonides humanity...his early difficulties with learning, his grief at the loss of his brother and his joy in parenthood.

In this way, Nuland managed to create and even more iconic figure because rather than putting him a pedistal, Nuland put Maimonides right next to you...all the more human and therefore all the more relevant.

Dr. Nuland "biography" of Maimonides focusses mostly on the sage as a physician, with much of the rest of his life sketchy at best. In fact, the first chapter virtually ignores the subject and instead describes the author's views on why so many Jews became physicians over the centuries. That being said, Dr. Nuland's book is well written, gives historical insights into medicine in the 12th century period, and is easy to read. I have not read any of the other biographies of Maimonides, several of which are cited by Dr. Nuland, and therefore cannot judge whether the paucity of details of Maimonides life presented other than medical is a intentional or the result of the actual absence of data.

Maimonidies' two biggest contributions to civilization were his religious writings, and medical practice. As author Sherwin Nuland himself points out, Maimonidies' truest, lasting legacy are his religious writings. Yet probably because he himself is a doctor, Sherwin Nuland emphasizes the medical Maimonidies at the expense of not giving the religious Maimonidies his proper due. When reading this book, Maimonidies sounded like quite an ordinary man, nothing special, and the truth is, as a doctor he was nothing special. Yet in religious circles, he is a giant. This specialness of Maimonidies was lost in this short biography of this great man.

Students of ancient or Jewish history will find MAIMONIDES an important biographical study, telling of a rabbi, physician and philosopher whose works blended science with spirituality, and who has served as a model for Jewish doctors since the 12th century. Chapters provide a focus on Maimonides' works and perspective with an eye to drawing connections to the modern world, and make for an essential set of insights.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

The Jewish Encounter series of Schocken and Nextbook opted for an unusual, yet entirely satisfying approach in its books that present the ideas of prominent historical Jewish figures. As Dr. Nuland put it, the general editor of the series, of which ten books have been published to date, "did not want a scholar steeped in the complexities of his subject's philosophy; he wanted a writer, who might seek out the essence of the man and tell the story of his lifelong journey toward understanding." This approach of using interesting writers to delve into subjects that might be unfamiliar to them and to give their impressions of the "encounter between the contemporary observer and the towering figure of the Jewish past," of writing a book accessible for the average reader, not the scholar, produced good and bad results, but is an excellent idea.

Dr. Sherwin B. Nuland, a physician, admits at the outset of his volume that he knew little about Maimonides before he started researching the great sage and writing his book. In fact, he tells us that he tried to abandon the project. But he studied many books and finished his Maimonides, which was published in 2005, and the paperback version in 2008.

Dr. Nuland introduces his volume with a 26 page perceptive discussion on why so many Jews decided to become physicians and why they are generally considered so competent that many non-Jews prefer a Jewish doctor over one of their own faith.

Scholars have recognized that we have virtually no knowledge of Maimonides early life. Faced with the problem of how to describe Maimonides upbringing, Nuland fills the next 26 pages with his own ideas of what may have occurred and with legends that were narrated to glorify Maimonides.

He imagines, for example, that Maimonides' father Maimon was a physician, describes how the young Maimonides went to school in Fez and details what he learnt, presents an account of a dialogue between Maimonides and his brother David, describes his first marriage and the birth of a daughter who died shortly after birth, and states that Maimonides wrote his code of Jewish law, his Mishneh Torah, as a state constitution because he was certain that the messiah would appear shortly and that the nation of Israel that he would reestablish would need a constitution. There is no proof that any of this is true.

He relates a rather ironic legend that Maimonides, the man who would become the most knowledgeable or one of the most knowledgeable Jews, as a youngster was not interested in study, and fought against his father when he attempted to teach him. He would often hide from his father in the synagogue's women's section. But one day, when young Moses was ten years old, he entered the synagogue and astounded the congregation with a scholarly lecture showing the depth of his knowledge. Dr. Nuland does not state that this tale is remarkably similar to the one in the New Testament about Jesus, and was obviously borrowed from that source.

Scholars may disagree with some of Dr. Nuland's understandings about Maimonides. He uses the term "soul" in discussing the worldview of the philosopher, understanding the word as most people today, as an inner personality totally separate from the body, even though Maimonides stated that the "soul" is the life force of a living being, and contains five elements, including the digestive system, respiratory system, senses, imagination, and thinking.

Most significant, Dr. Nuland speaks about Maimonides' thirteen fundamentals of Judaism, but rather than using Maimonides' own words, he quotes ani ma'amin, "I believe," an adulterated paraphrase of Maimonides' words, which was placed in many prayer books.

But, as the series intended, Dr. Nuland does capture the essence or impression of the man. He describes, for example, the difficulty that Maimonides faced when he tried to teach both enlightened and uneducated Jews about their religion. He solved the problem by writing in a way that the uneducated individual would accept his statements literally, while "the deeper meaning (which is frequently the very opposite of what is stated) would only be understood by those with the proper training and intellect." Dr. Nuland cites as an example that Maimonides mentions that just people will be rewarded and evil people punished; however, this was an untruth "taught to ordinary people, although a leaned man knows that the real reason to do good is for its own sake, virtue being its own reward."

He recognizes that Maimonides' code of Jewish law, his Mishneh Torah, was a masterpiece, an organized production of a brilliant mind, but points out the tragedy that despite its brilliance, or perhaps because of it, Maimonides' code unfortunately froze Jewish law to the thinking of the twelfth century.

Dr. Nuland concludes that the "real reason that Maimonides has been an ageless icon to Jews everywhere" is that he created an "iconic memory of a man whose life was devoted to the continuity of the Jewish people," and is remembered for his "progressive world view," and as an example for many people. Thus, while some scholars may disagree with a few of his interpretations of Maimonides' teachings, they must acknowledge that Dr. Nuland has given us a very readable and interesting account of the impression that Maimonides made on most people.

This excellent and highly readable study of a difficult author synthesizes Maimonides' life and thought both as philosopher and physician. In both realms, Nuland posits Maimonides as a rationalist and purist, strictly adhering to postulates and principles, of Torah in the religious realm, and of Galen in the medical. And yet, by instinct, by rhestoric and by analysis, Maimonides seemed to appreciate that principle needs to be made human and persuasive, leading him to write his Commentary on Mishnah, and Mishnah Torah, aimed at delivering religious principle in a useful way, while also reserving the mission of writing the Guide to the Perplexed, so uncompromising in speaking only to the intellectually elect as to be virtually incomprehensible today. Similarly, as a physician Maimonides rejected all superstition and adhered in his medical principles and writing strictly to the ironclad authority of Galen, yet clearly also resorted to amulets and charms and other soothing placebos in his careful attention to delivering relief to credulous patients. Nuland's focus on Maimonides the physician and Maimonides' place in the history of medicine is more than a quirk; it illuminates Maimonides' thought and religious and ethical outlooks as well, integrating his life into a coherent model of homage to God through service to humanity.

The most interesting parts of this book focus on Maimonides the physician (as opposed to Maimonides the religious leader, where Nuland's discussion is a bit too sparse here and there). Maimonides (known to most Jews as Rambam) did not develop new medical knowledge, but wrote ten books synthesizing existing medical knowledge in a clear and concise way, and even occasionally criticizing the Greco-Roman masters whose works dominated medieval medicine. By the low standards of the Middle Ages, this passed for genius.

Nuland links Rambam's religious and medical careers by pointing out that in both areas, Rambam focused heavily on codifying existing knowledge in ways that would be easy for the public to use.

Nuland also engages in interesting speculation about a variety of other issues, including:

1. Why were Jews so likely to be doctors in the Middle Ages? Nuland asserts that (a) Christians were uninterested in medicine because they were more ascetic, (b) because priests could not take employment as doctors, the Christian talent pool for medicine was artificially diminished and (c) because Jews' wealth could easily be taken away, Jews had a strong incentive to seek portable skills (as opposed to investing in fixed assets such as land).

2. Why was Rambam so uninterested in accommodating or discussing competing religious views? Nuland speculates that because of Judaism's dire condition in those days (beset in persecution in some places and the temptation of assimilation into Islam in more tolerant places) Rambam may have felt the need to "circle the wagons" by encouraging as much uniformity as possible.

3. Why did Rambam (who generally opposed Messianic speculation) suggest in his letter to Yemenite Jews that prophecy might return in 1216? Nuland suggests that Rambam may have been trying to defang Messianic fever by setting a date so far in advance that he could not be disproven during his lifetime.