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JTS Guest Speaker David Wachtel
Topic: Finding the Hidden Maimonides: From Cairo Genizah to the Vatican Library
Moses ben Maimon (1135-1204), also known as Maimonides, or simply as Rambam, is among the most illustrious Jewish figures of all time. His reputation rests upon his excellence in a wide variety of fields including Halakha (Jewish Law), Philosophy, and Medicine. His rabbinic works, The Commentary on the Mishna, Sefer ha·Mitzvot, (Book of the Commandments) as well as his philosophical masterpiece, Moreh Nevukhim (Guide for the Perplexed), a synthesis of Jewish and Aristotelian thought, are all considered classical Jewish texts, and his magnum opus, the Mishneh Torah, the first systematic code of Jewish law, is considered to be his outstanding contribution to Jewish scholarship.
Join us as we attempt to discover the hidden Maimonides. We will begin our search by looking for evidence of the man and his legacy through the Cairo Genizah, an ancient repository of discarded texts. We will travel across the medieval and modern Jewish world, to Morocco, Israel, Egypt, India, New York, and even the Vatican in Rome, as we search for clues to the life and legacy of this remarkable man.
David Wachtel is currently Senior Consultant for Special Collections at The Library of The Jewish Theological Seminary. He holds advanced degrees in Medieval History and Judaic Studies from Columbia University. He teaches and lectures in the United States, Israel and Europe on topics in Jewish history and art, to both general and academic audiences. Mr. Wachtel is the author of several books.
JTS Guest Speaker, David Wachtel
Monday, Apr 3, 2017, 07:30 PM
Congregation Shaarei Kodesh, Hampton Drive, Boca Raton, FL, United States
RSVPs are enabled for this event.