Maimonides and miracles: The growth of a (dis)belief

Jewish History

Volumn 18, Issue 2-3, 2004, Pages 147-172

  Tzvi Langermann, Y ^a  

^a BAR ILAN UNIVERSITY   (Israel)

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EID: 37349057503     PISSN: 0334701X     EISSN: 15728579     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1023/b:jehi.0000023435.53958.8e     Document Type: Article

References (62)

1. One need only refer to two lengthy bibliographies published in the early 1990's: David Lachterman, Maimonidean Studies 1950-1986: A Bibliography' Maimonidean Studies 1 (1990), 197-216;
2. Bitya Ben-Shammai, Twenty-Five Years of Mamonidean Studies, 1965-1990; A Bibliography, Maimonidean Studies 2 (1991), Hebrew section, 17-42.
3. We make use of the following editions, and translations, for the main Maimonidean texts to be discussed: The Guide of the Perplexed (Judaeo-Arabic original with facing Hebrew translation) Joseph Kafah, ed. (Jerusalem, 1972;
4. English translation by Shlomo Pines, Chicago and London, 1963);
5. The Commentary to the Mishnah (Judaeo-Arabic original with facing Hebrew translation), Kafah, ed., Jerusalem, 1963-1968);
6. The Letter on Resurrection (Judaeo-Arabic original with facing Hebrew translation), Kafah, ed., in Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon (Maimonides), Iggerot, second printing (Jerusalem, 1972), 63-101.
7. . Shlomo Pines, The Limitations of Human Knowledge according to al-Farabi, Ibn Bajja, and Maimonides, in Isadore Twersky, ed., Studies and Medieval Jewish History and Literature (Cambridge, 1979), 82-109 [rprt., W.Z. Harvey and M. Idel, eds., Studies in the History of Jewish Thought-4The Collected Works of Shlomo Pines (Jerusalem, 1997), 5: 404-431], is perhaps the single most repercussive study published on Maimonides in the last thirty years. Among the many suggestions raised by Pines is the possibility of a change in Maimonides' outlook that resulted from the confrontation with a text of al-Farabi. Nonetheless, that study is very much limited to passages from the Guide; one still lacks studies that attempt to trace the long-term evolution of Maimonides' thought, as these are reflected in all of his writings. I may add that the situation is quite different in matters of halakhah, where, particularly as a result of the meticulous research of my late mentor Joseph Kapah, we know quite a bit about Maimonides' changes of mind as reflected in Commentary to the Mishnah, Mishneh Torah, the Guide of the Perplexed, and the responsa.
8. The two most important studies published recently are the work of my colleagues at Bar Ilan: Michael Nahorai, Maimonides on Miracles, in Moshe Idel, Warren Zev Harvey, and Eliezer Schweid, eds., Shlomo Pines Jubilee Volume, part II (Jerusalem, 1990), 1-18 [Hebrew]; Hannah Kasher, Biblical Miracles and the Universality of Natural Law: Maimonides' Three Methods of Harmonization, Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy 8 (1998), 25-52.
9. See the introduction to Commentary to the Mishnah (vol. 1, 40-41); for an English translation of the passage in question, see Y. Tzvi Langermann, Maimonides on the Synochous Fever, Israel Oriental Studies 13 (1993), 175-198, at 191.
10. Perhaps the most compelling prooftext for his early determinism is the passage from Commentary to the Mishnah Berakhot, to be discussed presently. Shlomo Pines, followed by Alexander Altmann, argued that the relevant passages of the Guide of the Perplexed evince as well a form of determinism; see A. Altmann,
11. The Religion of the Thinkers: Free Will and Predestination in Saadia, Bahya, and Maimonides, in S.D. Goitein, ed., Religion in a Religious Age (Cambridge, 1974), 25-52. On the face of it, this is connected to youthful thirst for astrology. See Maimonides' Letter on Astrology, trans. Ralph Lerner, in Isadore Twersky, A Maimonides Reader (New York, 1972), 465.
12. Commentary to the Mishnah, (1965) 4: 399.
13. Ibid., 456.
14. Commentary to the Mishnah, (1963), 1: 91-92.
15. . Another issue raised by this passage is the attitude of the young Maimonides towards the kalam. As far as I know, all studies on Maimonides knowledge of, and reaction to the kalam, limit themselves exclusively to the Guide.
16. See here also Y. Tzvi Langermann, Maimonides' Repudiation of Astrology, Maimonidean Studies 2 (1991), 123-158, esp. 151-157.
17. See Mishneh Torah, Laws of Repentance, chapter 5.
18. Indeed, some beliefs that Maimonides explicitly calls principles are not included in his classic list; see Menachem Kellner, Dogma in Medieval Jewish Thought (Oxford, 1986), 53-61.
19. In connection to prophecy see, e.g., the Guide of the Perplexed, II, 32, and with regard to divine retribution, the Guide of the Perplexed, II, 25; both of these passages will be discussed below.
20. See now Sarah Stroumsa, The Beginnings of the Maimonidean Controversy in the East (Jerusalem, 1999) [Hebrew].
21. Y. Tzvi Langermann, The Letter of R. Shmu'el ben 'Eli on the Resurrection of the Dead, [Hebrew] Kobez al Yad 15 (25) (2000), 39-94, esp. 53-54.
22. The relevant passage from The Letter on Resurrection will be discussed below.
23. Commentary to the Mishnah, (1965), 4: 206-207. I thank Menachem Kellner for reminding me of this passage.
24. Trans. Pines, 328.
25. Trans. Pines, 329.
26. The Guide of the Perplexed, II, 23; trans. Pines, 320-321.
27. Trans. Pines, 211.
28. Trans. Pines, 329.
29. I have developed this point in detail in Criticism of Authority in the Writings of Moses Maimonides and Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, Early Science and Medicine 7 (2002): 255-275.
30. I have shown that a belief of this nature lies at the basis of an odd ruling in Mishneh Torah; see Y. Tzvi Langermann, Maimonides and Astronomy: Some Further Reflections, in Langermann, The Jews and the Sciences in the Middle Ages (1991), essay IV, 11-24.
31. Commentary to the Mishnah, (1965), 4: 211-212; see especially note 34 concerning the marginalium.
32. I have noted some facts concerning the study in The 'True Perplexity': Guide of the Perplexed, part 2, chapter 24, in Joel L. Kraemer, ed., Perspectives on Maimonides (Oxford, 1991), 159-174, and on the study of medicine in L'Oeuvre médical de Maimonides; Un aperçu general, forthcoming in a volume of studies edited by Tony Levy and Roshdi Rashed.
33. See G.E. von Grunebaum, I'jaz, Encyclopedia of Islam, second edition (Leiden and London, 1971), 3: 1018-1020.
34. Trans. Pines, 361.
35. I refer to the Judaeo-Arabic text, with facing modern Hebrew translation, published by Kafah in his Iggerot, appendix 2, 148-167; the text was first published in Arabic letters, with English translation, by J. Schacht and M. Meyerhof, Maimonides against Galen, on Philosophy and Cosmogony, Bulletin of the Faculty of Arts, vol. 5, part 1 (Cairo, 1938).
36. There are some contradictions with the Guide, most notably on the question whether languages are natural or conventional; see Fusul, 149 n. 10. Crossreferences by Maimonides to earlier writings are also problematic; see Langermann, Criticism of Authority, 260. Finally, a full study of Maimonides' attitude towards Galen would have to take into account not only the explicit references, but also the role of Galenic texts in the transmission of Greek philosophy to the Arabs (e.g., via his epitomes of Timaeus and other texts), and the possibility of subtler, influences, perhaps not even sensed by Maimonides.
37. Fusul, 160.
38. Ibid.
39. Note that this idea is at the core of Gersonides' understanding of miracles; see Y. Tzvi Langermann, Appendix: Gersonides and Astrology, in Levi ben Gershom (Gersonides), The Wars of the Lord, trans. Seymour Feldman, (Philadelphia, 1999), 3: 515.
40. Y. Tzvi Langermann, Yemenite Midrash: Philosophical Commentaries on the Torah (New York, 1997), 216-217.
41. This issue is discussed in depth in the Guide of the Perplexed, III, 13, a key chapter for our theory; see below.
42. Commentary to Eruvim 1:5; Commentary to the Mishnah, (1963), 2: 98.
43. For the meanings of nature recognized by Maimonides, see the very interesting discussion in Fusul Musa, book six, paragraph 94 (still available only in the Hebrew translation of Nathan haMeathi, published by Sussmann Muntner, Moshe ben Maimon (Medical) Aphorisms of Moses, Jerusalem, 1961, 89-90; but see the following note). The wording of the chapter is strikingly similar to that of the first chapters in the Guide of the Perplexed; I plan to explore the literary connection between these two writings on another occasion.
44. We have a clear indication that the final section of Fusul Musa, that containing the critique of Galen, may well have been the very last thing Maimonides wrote. According to the note of the copyist of one manuscript, Gotha 1937, the first twenty-four books of Fusul Musa were arranged by Maimonides, in the presence of the copyist; but the final section was put in order by the copyist around 1205, shortly after Maimonides' demise. There are, however, cross-references to Fusul Musa in some earlier medical writings. I thank my friend and colleague Gerrit Bos for sharing this information with me; and we all look forward to Professor Bos' forthcoming edition and translation. It seems most likely to me that Fusul Musa, like the Guide of the Perplexed, represents a lifetime of work and reworking; only late in life did Maimonides decide to prepare final versions of both that would circulate under his name.
45. The Letter on Resurrection, 100.
46. The citation occurs in the Letter to R. Hisdai, discussed below.
47. . Guide of the Perplexed, III, 43, Kafah, ed., 623-624, trans. Pines, 572. Note that Maimonides chooses to employ here Hebrew phrases: otot Misra'im and otot ha-midbar. See above on Arabic terms for miracle.
48. Guide of the Perplexed, III, 50, Kafah, ed., 671; trans. Pines, 616.
49. Ibid.
50. Trans. Pines, 597.
51. As I read n. 57 to 650 of the Kafah edition, the editor is sprinkling several grains of salt into Maimonides' disquisition.
52. Note further that the language of this passage, just like that of the passage from Fusul Musa discussed above, n. 34, is strikingly reminiscent of the first thirty chapters of the Guide of the Perplexed.
53. The Letter on Resurrection, 84-85.
54. Langermann, The Letter of R. Shmu'el ben 'Eli', 44.
55. Y. Tzvi Langermann, On Some Passages Attributed to Maimonides, in Ezra Fleischer, Gerald Blidstein, Carmi Horowitz, and Bernard Spetimus, Me'ah She'arim: Studies in Medieval Jewish Spirituality in Memory of Isadore Twersky (Jerusalem, 2001), 223-240, esp. 233-235.
56. The translation offered below is based on I. Sheilat, ed., Letters and Essays of Moses Maimonides (Maaleh Adumim, 5788), 2: 682.
57. I follow here the emendation suggested by Rabbi Sheilat on 682, n. 67.
58. Trans. Pines, 459.
59. Trans. Pines, 460 (emphasis added).
60. My own translation from the medieval Hebrew translation, as it appeared in my Criticism of Authority, 265; in the meantime, Gerrit Bos edition of the text has appeared, and one can consult the original Arabic, and Bos' facing translation, in Maimonides on Asthma, edited and translated by Gerrit Bos (Provo, 2002), 86-87.
61. Commentary to the Mishnah (1965), 4: 456.
62. The Letter on Resurrection, 99-100.