Maimonides (Lives & Legacies (Crossroad)) [Hardcover]

Irbil Arbel (Author)

Book Description

Series: Lives & Legacies (Crossroad) | Publication Date: September 1, 2001

Moses Maimonides' life reads like an adventure story. Personal tragedies, gained and lost fortunes, shipwrecks, all were part of his tumultuous tale, as well as sudden and bewildering fame as court physician to the Sultan Saladin and all his wives and concubines.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Sage in the care of the body as well as the soul, Maimonides shines as one of the brightest intellects in an age of oppression and ignorance. Readers who allow Arbel to transport them back to that harsh era will marvel at how one man--relentlessly harassed because of his Jewish faith, repeatedly forced to move to alien new lands, stranded in isolation and poverty--doggedly pursued his sacred and secular studies until he completed an intellectual synthesis that affected the entire Mediterranean world--Jewish, Arab, and Christian. Without burdening readers with the technicalities, Arbel illuminates Maimonides' accomplishments in condensing the entire body of Jewish law into one accessible volume, the Mishnah Torah, and in reconciling religious tradition with contemporary scientific and philosophic thought in his Guide for the Perplexed. Though centuries distant, the controversy surrounding Maimonides' works still highlights the courage of a true innovator. The same intellectual daring shines through the astonishingly modern work Maimonides did in physiology late in life. An ideal introduction to a complex figure. Bryce Christensen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: The Crossroad Publishing Company (September 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0824523598
• ISBN-13: 978-0824523596
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,062,835 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ilil Arbel is the author of a number of books, including biographies, memoirs, novels, mythology/folklore, and metaphysics. Her short stories and folktales have been published by Encyclopedia Mythica, Amazon.com Shorts, and Mountain Muse. She has contributed numerous articles on the subjects of natural history, personal histories, biography, health, education, social commentaries, and Judaic myths to many publications. Arbel has a Ph.D. in the field of mythology and folklore. She has lived and studied in Tel Aviv, Paris, and New York, and currently resides in Manhattan.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A marvelous, thrilling read, October 27, 2001

By 

Thomas R. Jones (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maimonides (Lives & Legacies (Crossroad)) (Hardcover)

In this exciting, vibrant biography, the author succeeds where all others failed -- she brings Maimonides and his contemporaries to life. A few other books, all of them at least thirty years old, claim to be his biographies, but they are really only discussions of his work, with a few biographical details merely tacked on. Arbel's book, on the other hand, is truly the story of the life of a most interesting man, set against the vast panorama of a turbulent era. The intriguing details, taken from rarely used historical materials, help the reader visualize the scandals, controversies, court intrigues, and wars, as well as the daily lives, fashions, food, entertainment, and houses of people in Spain, Morocco, Israel, and Egypt of the twelfth century.

Arbel obviously likes and admires Maimonides, but she does not worship him, and is not averse to showing his human, less than perfect side. She may run into trouble with the more orthodox rabbis, perhaps, but for the general reader it is a wonderful approach, and you end the book feeling that you have spent some time with a human being, not the demigod that is presented by other authors. I truly enjoyed the book.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intelligent, well-researched biography, May 18, 2002

By 

Varda Rosen (Israel) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maimonides (Lives & Legacies (Crossroad)) (Hardcover)

As a librarian, I was alerted to this excellent biography by Booklist and by The Library Journal, which both gave it excellent reviews. I don't read every book I order, but since I am particularly interseted in Maimonides, I did read it, and with great pleasure. I have studied much of Maimonides' work, and many books that analyzed his work, but Arbel's book is the only one fulfilling the need for a lively biography that really tells about Maimonides, his character and his relationships.

The book is extremely well-written, easy to understand, and will be entirely comprehesible to the secular reader. You don't have to be a Maimonides expert, a philosophy student, or a religious scholar to enjoy it. Yet any scholar will appreciate Arbel's historical research and grasp of the era he discusses.

My only criticism was that I wished the book were longer and continued into the second generation (Maimonides' son, Abraham, was a fascinating character). However, I realized that the book is a part of a series of biographies, the well-received Lives and Legacies (all called "A Spiritual Biography") from Crossroad Publishing, so Arbel probably followed certain guidelines as to length. I am very much looking forward to the publication of Arbel's biography of Rabbi Hillel, which apparently he is writing now.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent biography, December 1, 2003

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Maimonides (Lives & Legacies (Crossroad)) (Hardcover)

I am twelve years old, and I got this book for my bat-mitzva. I loved it and learned a lot and I would recommend it to both adults and children. I particularly liked the way Maimonides helped women during those hard times.