“The Great Eagle at the JNUL” is the name of the exhibition of Maimonides’ works presently held at the Jewish National and University Library in Jerusalem on the occasion of the 800th anniversary of his death. Maimonides died in Egypt on the 20th of Tevet 4965 (December 13, 1204).
Professor Yoram Tsafrir, director of the Jewish National and University Library writes in his foreword to the Hebrew English exhibition catalogue:
The Jewish National and University library (JNUL) counts among its treasures a large selection of the works of Maimonides as well as books about him, in manuscript and in print. It is therefore only natural that on this occasion the Library would display some of these to the general public. The exhibition includes examples of printed editions and manuscripts, the most important being those written in Maimonides own hand: Order Moed and Order Nashim of his Commentary on the Mishnah.
“With the holding of this exhibition, the JNUL has come full circle. In January, 1935 to mark the 800th anniversary of Maimonides’ birth (which was then thought to have been in 1135 and not as is now accepted, in 1138), the JNUL held an exhibition of manuscripts and early books containing his works. The JNUL’s administration is proud to continue and complete the work of the predecessors of 70 years ago.”
In the following paragraph, Professor Tsafrir expresses thanks to Dr. Abraham David of the Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts of the JNUL, who initiated the exhibition, played a prominent role in the organization and edited the exhibition catalogue, as well as to other persons who contributed in various ways to the planning and execution of the exhibition.
The last paragraph states: “Finally a special thank you to an anonymous donor, a true friend of the JNUL; the EFG Private Bank of London; and the Manfred and Anne Lehmann Foundation of New York, whose generous support has made possible the organization of the exhibition and the production of the catalogue.”
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The Judeo-Arabic commentary on the Mishnah was Maimonides’ first major work. He began writing it at the age of 23, when he lived in Morocco, and completed it in Egypt in 1168 when he was 30 years old. The final version, however, however, emerged many years later. The commentary on five of the six Sedorim (orders), written in his own hand, has survived. Three of the Sedarim — Zeraim, Nezikin and Kodashim — are found in the Bodleian Library in Oxford. Seder Moed (from the middle of Tractate Eruvin onwards) and Seder Nashim are now in the possession of the JNUL, which acquired them in 1975 from the Sassoon family.
The two volume manuscript which is displayed at the exhibition contains handwritten corrections and emendations by Maimonides as well as notes by his son, Abraham, one of his descendants (David HaNaggid II, ie. David ben Joshua Maimuni) and others.
On display is also the first edition of the Hebrew translation of the entire Commentary, printed in Naples in 1592. The translations were made by Judah Alharizi (Introduction and Seder Zera’im until the end of Tractate Shevi’it); Joseph ben Isaac ben Alfual (Seder Zeraim from Tractate Terumah and Seder Moed); Jacob ben Moses Akhsai, who was assiated by Hayyim ben Solomon ben Baka (Seder Nashim); Solomon ben Joseph ben Jacob (Seder Nezikin almost in its entirety); Samuel Ibn Tibbon (the chapter Melekh of Tractate Sanhedrin, Shemona Perakim and Avot); Netanel ben Joseph HaRofe (Seder Kodashim). The name of the translator of Seder Tohorot is not known.
A photographic edition of the Naples printing was produced in Jerusalem in 1970 with an introduction by Abraham Meir Habermann. Parenthetically, Habermann notes that three of the translators were physicians: Joseph ben Isaac ben Afual, Solomon ben Joseph ben Jacob and Netanel ben Joseph HaRofe. Hayyim ben Solomon ben Baka, who assisted Jacob ben Moses ben Akhsai was also a physician.
Displayed at the exhibition is the new annotated Hebrew translation of Maimonides Mishna commentary by the Israeli Yemenite scholar Rabbi Joseph Quafih who is also the author of new translations from the Judeo-Arabic into Hebrew of Maimonides Sefer HaMitzvot and Moreh Nevukhim. His translation of the Mishna commentary (7 volumes) was published by Mossad Harav Kook (1963-1968). Rabbi Quafih’s edition includes a short Hebrew poem with which Maimonides opened his commentary.
(To be continued)
The Jewish Press Friday February 25, 2005
(Continued from last week)
Mishneh Torah, Maimonides comprehensive code was written in Mishnaic Hebrew and includes the laws that will be practiced when the Temple will be rebuilt. It was completed in the year 1177.
The story is told that after Maimonides finished writing his code, his father appeared to him in a dream in the company of another man. That man was Moshe Rabbenu, who wanted to see Rambam’s work. He examined it and thanked him.
Mishneh Torah was immediately accepted as an authoritative work by many Jewish communities and was copied in many countries. Rabbis turned to Maimonides for explanations and clarifications of his sources. There were also, of course some prominent scholars who objected to his view and his Halakhic decisions.
Manuscripts of the 14 books of Mishne Torah, Sefer HaMada and Sefer Ahava, copied during Maimonides’ lifetime and corrected in his own hand are found in the Bodleian Library in Oxford.
The Jewish National and University library is in possession of a Mishneh Torah manuscript on parchment copied in Spain Between 1300 and 1350. The exhibition catalog states the following:
“In the margins are many textual changes which correspond to those found in the version proofread by Maimonides himself, preserved in the Bodleian library.
“Partly illuminated, it appears to be the most splendid of Mishneh Torah manuscripts. The copyist from Spain hired an artist to illustrate the work, leaving space in the margins for drawings and illuminations. The artwork was done in Italy, possibly in the workshop of the craftsman Mateo Di Ser Cambio in Perugia, approximately in 1400. A few ornamental headlines and paragraphs were done in Spain.”
The manuscript was acquired by the Jewish National and University Library in 1966.
On display at the exhibition is also a manuscript of Sefer Shoftim of the Mishneh Torah, copied in Yemen in 1433.
Mishneh Torah was first printed in Rome in 1473-1475. A photographic copy of the first printing was published in Jerusalem by Mossad HaRav Kook in 1955 with a long introduction by the late Rabbi Yehuda Leib Maimon (Fishman).
The Rome edition does not carry any printing date. Different bibliographers suggest different dates. The exhibition catalogue, as mentioned earlier, states that the work was printed between 1473 and 1475. The Mossad Harav Kook edition speaks of the work having been printed around 1480. Gershon Cohen, in his book (in Hebrew) on Hebrew incunabula in the Mendel Gottesman Library of Yeshiva University, notes that it was printed before 1480. Yeshayahu Vinograd, in his Otzar HaSefer HaIvri, suggests 1469 as the year of printing.
Various parts of Mishneh Torah have been translated into other languages. At the exhibition there is a Latin translation of Hilkhot De’ot, which is part of Sefer HaMadda, printed in Amsterdam in 1640.
Sefer HaMitzvot (The Book of Commandments) was originally written in Judeo Arabic by Maimonides during the first years of his stay in Egypt before he began working on Mishneh Torah. In later years he regretted having written the book in Judeo-Arabic because “everyone is obligated to read it” (meaning not only people speaking Judeo-Arabic). He was looking forward to translating it himself into Hebrew.
In Sefer HaMitzvot Maimonides lists and explains the 248 positive and the 365 prohibitory commandments. The listing is preceded by 14 principles which guided him in establishing which were the Torah’s 613 commandments.
The book was translated into Hebrew by Abraham Halevi Ibn Hasdai, Moses ben Samuel Ibn Tibbon and by Solomon Ibn Ayyub. Only the translation of Moses Ibn Tibbon has appeared in print. It was first published in Constantinople around 1515. (Elsewhere the catalogue mentions the date of printing as around 1510).
As noted in an earlier article, a new annotated translation was made by Rabbi Joseph Quafih. It was published by Mossad HaRav Kook, together with the original Judeo-Arabic in 1971.
To be continued
The Jewish Press, Friday, March 4, 2005
Continued from last week
In our last article we mentioned that the translation of Maimonides’ Sefer Hamitzvot (Book of the Commandments( by Moses Ibn Tibbon, a son of Samuel Ibn Tibbon, was first published in Constantinople in the early 16th century.
We would like to add a few words about this edition.
In 1924 Rabbi Hayyim Heller published in Piotrkow, Polaand a new edition of Moses Ibn Tibbon’s translation of Sefer HaMitzvot, based on a manuscript preserved in Munich.
In preparing his edition, Rabbi Heller consulted the Judeo-Arabic original of Sefer HaMitzvot as well as the Hebrew translation by Solomon Ibn Ayyub. During his work he discovered that the Constantinople edition of Moses Ibn Tibbon’s translation included fragments of Ibn Ayyub’s Translation. Rabbi Heller came to the conclusion that the Constantinople edition had been printed based on a torn damaged and incomplete manuscript. When the printers noticed that the text they had prepared was in many places, incomprehensible, they must have set out to correct it on their own with the help of another manuscript in their possession. However, they failed to notice that this other manuscript was not Moses Ibn Tibbon’s translation, but that of Solomon Ibn Ayyub. Thus some expressions, phrases and sentences of the latter’s translation came to be incorporated into Moses Ibn Tibbon’s version.
In 1946 Rabbi Hayyim Heller put out a second Critical edition of the Moses Ibn Tibbon translation he had published in 1914, based on the manuscript preserved in Munich as well as on another manuscript of Moses Ibn Tibbon’s translation found in the British Museum in London.
This edition was published by Mossad HaRav Kook, which reprinted it in 1980 and in 1995.
Rabbi Heller’s edition of Sefer HaMitzvot, in which he had corrected printing mistakes and other errors, were hailed by rabbinic authorities. As soon as the 1914 edition appeared, the Hafetz Haim had declared that people should use this edition of Sefer HaMitzvot to the exclusion of all others.
Maimonides had completed writing his Moreh Nevukhim (Guide to the Perplexed) in 1191, when he was fifty three years old, fourteen years before his death. It did not take long for the book, which was originally written in Judeo-Arabic to be translated into Hebrew. The rabbinic scholars of lune, in Provence, were great admirers of Maimonides. Led by R. Jonathan ben David HaKohen of Lunel, they first asked Maimonides to translate the book into Hebrew. He replied that he would like very much to see his Judeo-Arabic writings translated into Hebrew but that he was not in a position to do it himself. Thee scholars of Lunel then turned to Samuel Ibn Tibbon and asked him to devote himself to this task.
Samuel Ibn Tibbon was a son of Judah ibn Tibbon, who was called the “Father of Translators,” because he had translated Rabbi Saadiah Gaon’s Emunot veDe’ot, Rabbi Bahya Ibn Pakuda’s Hovot HaLevavot, Judah Halevi’s Kuzari and other books from Judeo-Arabic into Hebrew.
Before embarking on his translation Samuel Ibn Tibbon wrote to Maimonides, informing him of his plan to translate his Moreh Nevukhim and expressing his desire to visit him in order to discuss with him matters concerning the translation.
Maimonides replied that he was happy to hear of the plan to translate his latest work, mentioning that he had heard about the work of Samuel’s father in the field of translation. As for Samuel visiting him in Egypt, he thought that Samuel would not derive much benefit from it because he, Maimonides- was overburdened with work and would not have the time to discus with him the matters he wanted to talk about. Maimonides included in his letter advice on how to go about translating the book.
Samuel Ibn Tibbon worked on the translation for about four years. During this period he corresponded with Maimonides enlisting his help and advice when he encountered difficulties with the translation.
Samuel Ibn Tibbon completed the translation toward the end of 1204. Soon thereafter he set out for Egypt, having been invited by Maimonides to visit him upon finishing the translation. But he was not privileged to meet Maimonides who died when Samuel Ibn Tibbon was crossing the sea.
Samuel Ibn Tibbon’s translation was well received. It was widely copied and was among the first Hebrew books to appear in print. It was printed for the first time in Rome before 1480.
Manuscripts of the Judeo-Arabic original of Moreh Nevukhim and of Samuel Ibn Tibbon’s translations, as well as the first printed edition of Ibn Tibbon’s translation, are displayed at the Maimonides exhibition in Jerusalem.
(To be continued)
The Jewish Press, Friday, March 11, 2005
Continued from last week
Not long after Samuel Ibn Tibbon had finished his translation of More Nevukhim from Judeo-Arabic into Hebrew, the poet, Judah Alharizi began his translation of that work. In the introduction to his version he writes that he had undertaken it at the insistent urgings of some of the leaders and scholars of Provence Jewry to translate for them the Moreh Nevukhim into simple, lucid Hebrew. From his words we can infer that there were many who were unable to understand Ibn Tibbon’s translation and therefore asked for a translation that could be easily understood.
Despite the use of a more simple language, Judah Alharizi’s translation — which is not always accurate — failed to take the place of Ibn Tibbon’s version. The latter was widely copied and studied. Most of the medieval commentaries were written on Ibn Tibbon’s translation. This translation was printed in Rome (before 1480), Sabbionetta, (1553) Jessnitz (1742) Berlin (1791-1796), Sulzbach (1828) Vienna (1828), and other European cities, whereas Alharizi’s translation appeared for the first time in print only in the second half of the 19th century (London,1851).
It seems however, that Alharizi’s translation was studied by non-Jewish scholars.
At the Maimonides exhibition in Jerusalem there is a copy of the first printed Latin edition of More Nevukhim. Published by the Italian scholar Agostino Giustiniani (1470-1536) in Paris, it was based on Alharizi’s translation. So was the first translation of the Moreh into Spanish by Don Pedro Toledo, who lived in the 15th century. (His translation which is preserved in Spain’s National Library in Madrid was published in 1990 in Madrid in a facsimile edition.)
The Judeo-Arabic original of Moreh Nevukhim was published in Paris in 1856-1866 in three volumes by the Orientalist Solomon Munk on the basis of manuscripts found in Oxford, Leyden and Paris, accompanied by a French translation and scholarly notes. All subsequent translations of Moreh Nevukhim into European languages were based on that edition.
Munk, who was in charge of Semitic manuscripts at Paris’ Bibliotheque Nationale and later taught at the College De France, had accompanied Moses Montefiore, his secretary Louis Loewe and Adolphe Cremieux on their successful trip to Egypt in 1840 to intervene on behalf of the Damascus Jews who had been falsely accused of murdering a monk and his Muslim servant for ritual purposes. Munk served as secretary to and interpreter for Cremieux.
In our time, two new Hebrew translations of Moreh Nevukhim were published in Israel.
In the 1970s Mossad Harav Kook put out Rabbi Joseph Qafi’s new annotated translation in two editions, one with the Judeo-Arabic original (based on Solomon Munk’s edition and on Yemenite manuscripts ) and one without it. In his long and interesting introduction, Rabbi Qafi points out, inter alia mistakes in Alharizi’s translations of Maimonides’ writings.
In 2002 the Tel Aviv University published Michael Schwartz’s Hebrew translation of Moreh Nevukhim in two volumes “with annotations, appendices and indices.” In his introduction the translator explains what motivated him to translate anew the Moreh into Hebrew, when three Hebrew translations — by Samuel ibn Tibbon, Judah Alharizi and Rabbi Qafi– wre available. He writes:
I have tried to prepare a new translation of Moreh Nevukhim, one which would be faithful to the original while written in a language suited for modern Jewish intellectuals.”
One of the appendices, entitled “Translators and Translations of Moreh Nevukhim” acquaints us with the various translations of the work. We read about the English, German, Hungarian and other translations. A Yiddish translation of Samuel Ibn Tibbon’s version with selections in Yiddish from the Moreh’s commentators, was published in Warsaw in 1936. It appears that only two parts of the work appeared in Yiddish. The translator was Yaakov Landa, author of a Yiddish translation of the Kuzari which was printed in Warsaw in 1932. In this appendix Michael Schwartz very often quotes Yeshiva Univeristy’s well-known Maimonides bibliographer, Jacob Israel Dienstag.
(To be continued)
The Jewish Press, Friday, March 18, 2005
Continued from last week
The Maimonides exhibition at the Jewish National and University library in Jerusalem opened on the 19th of December, 2004 and closed at the end of February, 2005.
This article and the next will deal with some of the smaller works of Maimonides that were displayed there such as Iggeret Hashemad (“Letter on Forced Conversion”), responsa, commentaries on the Talmud and medical writings.
Iggeret HaShemad also known as Ma’amar Kiddush Hashem (“Essay on the Sanctification of the Divine Name”) was probably composed by Maimonides a short time after he left Morocco, possibly while on his way to the Land of Israel or during his stay there. According to another view it was written by Maimonides when he was still in Morocco.
In the 12th century the Jews of Spain and North Africa were forced to convert to Islam by the Almohads, a religious and political Muslim movement. Converts accepted Islam by declaring that Mohammad was a divine prophet. The Jews who converted behaved as Muslims outside, but continued to observe the Jewish religion in secret. A Jewish scholar of the time, who himself did not reside in a place ruled by the Almohads, was asked about the Jewish status of these Anussim (forced converts). He declared that they were to be regarded as idol worshippers because they should have chosen to be killed rather than accept Islam. According to him, these people, though they observed the Mitzvot, could not be considered Jews.
Maimonides sharply criticized this view, which would cause such converts to distance themselves from our people. He explained that the forced conversions imposed by the Almohads was different from other forced conversions. Here the Jews were not coerced to do anything, only to make a declaration. If they wanted to observe the Mitzvot in secret, they could do so because they were not spied upon. As for the declaration they were asked to make, the Almohads realized that the Jews who converted were uttering words they did not believe to be true and were doing it only in order to save their lives. In this case, we cannot say that a Jew is commanded to die rather than declare that Mohammed was a prophet; but he admitted that a Jew who chose to give up his life would certainly be richly rewarded by the L-rd. Maimonides advised the Anussim to attempt to move to a country where they would be able to observe their religion openly. However, as long as they had to remain in their present places of residence, they would be well rewarded for the Mitzvot they observed in secret.
Iggeret HaShemad had a great influence on the forced converts, strengthening their attachment to Judaism. Many followed Maimonides’ advice, leaving Almohad-ruled Morocco and moving to other countries.
Iggeret HaShemad, whose Judeo- Arabic original has not been preserved was printed for the first time by Abraham Geiger in Breslau (1850) on the basis of an anonymous Hebrew translation. Part of another anonymous Hebrew translation was published by Yitzhak Shilat in the periodical Sinai (1984).
Maimonides responded to halakhic enquiries by individuals and communities from various countries. Most of his responsa were written in Judeo-Arabic, but some were in Hebrew. Responsa by Maimonides were found in the Cairo Geniza, a number of them in his own hand.
The first collection of responsa by Maimonides was printed in Constantinople around the year 1517. On its title page we read: “Enquiries which came to him for the East, the West, the North, from overseas, from the scholars of France, Spain, Yemen and Babylonia.”
In recent times two collections of responsa by Maimonides were published.
In 1934 A H. Freimann presented us with Teshuvot HaRambam, a collection of Hebrew responsa found in printed books and manuscripts.
Tshuvot Harambam in four volumes were published in 1985-1986 by Yehoshua Blau. They feature Maimonides’ responsa in their original Judeo-Arabic “collected from Geniza fragments manuscripts and printed books, corrected, translated [into Hebrew] and annotated.”
He also included in his edition, in a separate appendix, those Hebrew responsa from Freimann’s volume which were originally written in Hebrew or whose Arabic original has not been preserved.
As of now, more than 500 of Maimonides’ responsa have been collected and published.
(To be Continued)
The Jewish Press, Friday, March 25, 2005
(Continued from last week)
Maimonides writes in his introduction to his Commentary on the Mishna that he had composed “commentaries on tractates of Seder Mo’ed, Seder Nashim and Seder Nezikin- as well as on Tractate Hullin.”
Just fragments of some of these commentaries have survived. The only complete commentary that has been preserved is that on Rosh Hashana which is found in a number of manuscripts. Yehiel Brill published the commentary on Rosh Hashana in 1865 on the bases of manuscripts in the possession of the Bibliotheque National in Paris.
In these manuscripts, together with the commentary on Tractate Rosh Hashana there is a note by Maimonides describing his journey by sea from Morocco to Acre and his subsequent visit to Jerusalem, where he prayed near the site of the Temple and to Hebron, where he said prayers at the Cave of Machpela.
Maimonides writes that he had vowed to celebrate the days on which he had visited Jerusalem and Hebron (the 6th and 9th of Cheshvan) as holidays, days of prayer and rejoicing in the L-rd and feasting.
In 1963 the late Rabbi Mordecai Yehuda Leib Sachs published in Jerusalem Hiddushe HaRambam LaTalmud, in which he assembled extracts from Maimonides commentaries on the Talmid cited by Rishonim (early authorities) or found in the manuscript.
In his introduction Rabbi Sachs expresses the view that Maimonides wrote two kinds of commentaries on the Talmud: One was a simple commentary in Judeo-Arabic for the ordinary Jews (it is this commentary he refers to in his introduction to his Commentary on the Mishna). The other commentary written in Lishna DeRabbanan, deals like Tosafot, solely with difficult Halakhot of the Talmud. The extracts he assembled in his book Hiddushei HaRambam LaTalmud are culled from the second commentary. What happened to the Judeo-Arabic commentary? One may assume that with the dissemination of Rashi’s commentaries the simple Judeo-Arabic commentaries became superfluous and were discarded.
In his commentary on the Mishna (Tamid, Chapter 6) Maimonides mentioned a book of his on the Jerusalem Talmud, Hilkhot Yerushalmi.
Fragments of this book in Maimonides’ handwriting were discovered in the Cairo Genizah. The fragments of this hitherto unknown book were published by Professor Saul Lieberman in his Hilkhot HaYerusalmi (New York, 1947).
In the exhibition catalogue we read the following about Maimonides’ medical writings. “Ten medical treatises, chiefly in Judeo-Arabic, reveal his great expertise. His works were translated into Hebrew and Latin attesting to his influence on Western medicine. The writings deal not only with illnesses and physiological manifestations, but also with the effect of psychological processes on physical health. They also cover such topics and medications and their uses, providing their names in Judeo-Arabic.”
Scholarly editions of the Hebrew translations of Maimonides medical treatises have been published in our time, enabling the modern reader to appreciate Maimonides’ greatness in medicine.
This has been in great measure due to the efforts of the late Dr. Suesmann Muntner. A native of Galicia, he studied in Germany. In 1933 he settled in Jerusalem where he practiced medicine. He wrote about Maimonides the physician as well as about the early Jewish physician Asaph HaRofe and the 10th century Italian Jewish physician Shabbetai Donnolo. He prepared scholarly editions of Maimonides’ medical writings and urged Jewish scientific and medical organizations to support their publication.
“Delaying the publications of Rambam’s medical works betrays an unpardonable and incredible lack of interest in Jewish science in general and in the history of medicine in particular,” Dr. Muntner wrote. “In addition to the great quantity of valuable material on medicine and particularly hygiene, the works furnish a rich source of ethical, philological as well as historical data.”
At the initiative of Rabbi Yehuda Leib Maimon, Mossad HaRav Kook decided in the 1950s to publish jointly with the Israel Medical Association scholarly editions of the Hebrew translations of Maimonides medical treatises, with Dr. Munter serving as editor.
The first work they published was Hanhagot HaBeriut (The Guide to Good Health- Regimen Sanitates) which Maimonides wrote in response to a request for medical advice by al Afdal, one of Sultan Saladin’s sons. The treatise was translated into Hebrew in 1244 by Moses Ibn Tibbon, who was himself a physician and also translated into Hebrew Maimonides’ Commentary of the Aphorisms of Hippocrates. The treatise is mentioned in medieval Hebrew literature and was translated twice from Hebrew into Latin. It was frequently printed in Latin, for the first time in 1477 in Florence, the first medical book printed in that city. The treatise served as a textbook in universities during a long period in the Middle Ages.
In the mid 1950s, I served as an editor at Mossad HaRav Kook and I had the privilege to be among those who assisted Dr. Muntner in his final preparations for the publication of that treatise.
Dr. Munter, who called the Guide to Good Health one of the pearls among the medical writings of Maimonides, writes in his English introduction to the treatise:
“The treatise shows us Maimonides not only as a scholar and physician but also as a healer of the mind, comforting and encouraging all those who turned to him for help. It is a mark of his greatness that while treating his sovereign with all the honor and respect due to him and expressing his fervent prayers and hope for his recovery, he does not hesitate to condemn, in an indirect manner, his gluttony and lust. Physical and mental well being are interdependent, teaches Maimonides. A healthy person is cheerful and content while a sick one is always depressed and dissatisfied. Complete recovery, can therefore, also be furthered by deepening the sick man’s moral convictions through the perusal of the moral exhortations of the prophets and philosophers ,and leading him to regulate his life in accordance with them”
Other medical works my Maimonides which Dr. Muntner put out in scholarly editions include (quoting the English titles): The Book on Asthma, Commentary on the Aphorisms of Hippocrates, Medical Aphorisms of Maimonides, Lexicography of Drugs and Medical Responses.
Dr. Muntner was also involved in the translation of Maimonides’ medical treatises into German and English.
The Jewish Press, Friday Aפril 1, 2005