All page numbers in the index refer to the print edition.
Abbaye and Rava, debates of, 209–10
Abraham: Akedah (binding of Isaac), 32, 142; destruction of Sodom and, 44; history changed by, 77; in Mishneh Torah versus Guide, 257n6; mitzvot of, 160; as model for love of God and spiritual greatness, 141–42, 160; philosophical religion of, 120–22, 124, 125, 160, 257nn6–7; prophetic visions of, 32
Abulafia, Abraham, 232
active intellect, 26, 215, 231
actualization and potentiality, 19–20
Akedah (binding of Isaac), 32, 142
Akiva, Rabbi, 44, 196, 198–99, 201, 204, 207, 208
Alharizi, Yehuda, 247n1
alienation, modern sense of, 214
Almohad invasion of Spain, 48, 204
American Jews and The Guide for the Perplexed, xvii
Amos (prophet), 79
amphibolous terms, 35
anarchy, utopian, 69–72
animal sacrifice, 109, 126, 129, 136, 188
anthropocentrism, 139–51; love of God, as primary purpose of mitzvot and Torah, 139–42; moon, things existing beneath sphere of, 255n10; motivations for performing mitzvot, 78, 145–51; providence and the problem of evil, 45, 51, 240; reason and intellect, identification of God and human essence in, 164, 190–92; therapeutic nature of perplexity and, 240–41; transcendence of understanding and, 163–64; understanding of human world, importance of, 117–18; universe not created for human beings, 143–45. See also balanced personality, development of
anthropomorphic representations of God, Maimonides resisting, 3, 6–8, 85, 87, 88, 187, 221–23, 257n8
apophatic approach to religion, 82
appropriation, mitzvot of, 127–29, 258n16
arbitrariness of details in Torah, 109–10
Aristotle and Aristotelianism: on art as imitation of nature, 106; on balanced personality, 105, 133–34, 135–36, 258–59nn24–25; on decisive versus dialectical proof, 261n6; on differences between people, 71; doubt, need for, 203; on eternity of the world, 174–75, 177, 178, 180; on God, 7, 9, 88, 192–94; on incorporeality of God, 88; on intellect, 190, 191; on love of knowledge, 83, 200, 213; Maimonides’s composition of Guide and, 247n1; Maimonides’s critique of, 223–25; Maimonides’s reasons for studying, 105, 127; Metaphysics, 83, 213; middle way (Golden Mean) and, 24, 105, 254n6; on miracles, 54; on motions of the spheres, 7, 215, 216, 262n3; Neo-Aristotelians, 88, 203, 224, 226; Nicomachean Ethics, 133, 135, 258n24; no gap between person and object of his understanding, 238; on potentiality, 19; on prophecy, 18–20, 21, 22, 24, 250n3; on providence, 53–54, 56; soul, taxonomy of, 261n1; teleology of, 110; unchangingness of God for, 9
Armstrong, Karen, The Case for God, 82
Ash’ariyya, 55
astronomy, 168, 180–81, 216–18, 262n3
authoritativeness, Maimonides seeking to avoid, 225–27
awe: nature invoking, 76, 92, 112; in religious experience, 149–50; therapeutic perplexity and cultivating feelings of, 235–40; of things beyond understanding, 163
Baal Shem Tov, 10
balanced personality, development of: in Aristotelian thought, 105, 133–34, 135–36, 258–59nn24–25; causal connections between perfection of character and intellect, 207–9, 261n1; halakhah and, 160, 205–7; mitzvot, as purpose of, 105, 107, 116–18, 133–37, 256n4, 258n23; Talmud, as goal of, 105; taxonomy of soul and, 261n1; Torah and, 105, 107, 116–18, 160
Ben Avuya, Elisha (Elisha A.her), sin of, 196–99, 204, 208, 260n3, 261n5, 261n8
Ben Maimon, Abraham (son of Maimonides), 231–32, 247n1
Ben Maimon, Moses. See Maimonides
Bible. See Torah
Bilaam, talking donkey in story of, 32
Braslavy, Sarah Klein, 252n6
Buddhism, 50
Carlyle, Thomas, 76–77, 253n13
character and personality. See balanced personality, development of
Chosen People, Jews as, 153–54
Christianity: binding of Isaac compared to Crucifixion, 142; Guide for the Perplexed influencing, xiv, xviii; as idolatrous, 123, 124, 142, 257n8; Jesus distinguished from, 257n10; Jesus’s religion without commandments, Maimonides on, 122–24; Paul on hypocritical ritual observance, 130; theodicy, 44
commandments (mitzvot), 113–37; of Abraham, 160; of appropriation, 127–29, 258n16; balanced personality as purpose of, 105, 107, 116–18, 133–37, 256n4, 258n23; consequences of performing, unimportance of, 113–16; contemplation of nature as, 112; distancing, 125–27; dogmatism, as cure for, 209–11; emergence of religion and, 119–25; existence of God and, 9; formative, 129–33; idolatry, as means of vanquishing, 125; inappropriateness in special cases, 110–11; intellectual perfection through, 117–19, 133–34; Jesus’s religion without, 122–24; Levi, persistence of monotheism within tribe of, 257n11; love of God as purpose of, 139–42; in Messianic era, 75; morality and, 130–31; Moses, commandment-based religion of, 124–25; motivations for fulfilling, 78, 145–51; transcendence of understanding and, 163–64; understanding of human world and, 117–18
conservation of eros, 83–85
contradictions and concealment of knowledge in Guide, xvii–xix, 167–70; diversity of opinions presented, 168–70, 260n9; God as intellect/as transcending intellect, 190–94; huqqim and mishpatim, 116–17; oath asking readers not to explain Guide, xviii–xix; philosophy versus halakhah, 156, 158, 167–68; on prophecy, 22–23, 36–37; on providence, 61; within reason itself, 168; seven types of contradiction used for, 23
Copernicus, Nicolas, 263n3
cosmos, medieval understanding of, 213–18
creation, 171–85; existence of God and, 181–85; interpretation of Bible and, 87; kalām-style arguments regarding, 171–74, 182, 203; laws of physics and, 250n13; Maimonides’s articulation of impasse regarding, 176–77, 180, 185, 194, 203; nature, order and chaos in, 180–81; not made for human beings, 143–45; perfection/unchangingness of God and, 175–76, 178–80; Shabbat commandment and, 129–30; unity/oneness of God and, 171–74. See also eternity of the world; Garden of Eden
crisis of reason, 213–18
David (brother of Maimonides), death of, 41, 63
Dawkins, Richard, The God Delusion, 81–82
Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), 116, 132, 159
decisive versus dialectical proof, 261n6
deism, 1
desire, refocusing, 83; eros (sexual desire), conservation of, 83–85; imbalance between apprehension and desire, 261n8; prophecy and, 27–28, 39; providence and the experience of evil, 48, 50–51, 52; redemption and, 67, 68–69, 71, 79. See also entries at love
details in Torah, arbitrariness of, 109–10
dialectical versus decisive proof, 261n6
dietary laws, 136
differences between people, 69–72
distancing commandments, 125–27
divination, 31–32
dogmatism: Aristotelianism, Maimonides’s critique of, 223–25; authoritativeness, Maimonides seeking to avoid, 225–27; doubt counteracting, 203–4; halakhah as means of avoiding, 205–11; mitzvot as cure for, 209–11
doubt, 195–204; “first thoughts,” freeing oneself from, 195–96; as intellectual sin, 264n6; methodological versus essentialist, 200–204; postmodernism and, xxi, 241–44; role of, 196–200
dreams, prophecy and, 27–28, 30
Eagleton, Terry, 81–82
economic well-being, reason, and redemption, 67–68, 77–78, 79
egocentrism. See anthropocentrism
Egypt: exodus from, 58, 74; Maimonides as physician to sultan in, 41–42; Saladin’s conquest of, 48
Einstein, Albert, The World as I See It, 237
ekrasia, 135–36
Emden, Jacob, xv
Enosh, religion of, 119–20, 122
Epicurus and Epicureanism, 53, 181, 241
“Epistle to Yemen” (Maimonides), 73, 76, 123
eros (sexual desire), conservation of, 83–85
essentialist versus methodological skepticism, 200–204
eternity of the soul, 262n2
eternity of the world: arguments for, 174–76; existence of God and, 181–85; objections to, 176–80; Torah interpretation and, 87
eudaemonia, 254n5
evil. See providence and the problem of evil
existence, medieval understanding of structure of, 213–18
existence of God, 3–15; created/eternal world and, 181–85; doctrine of negative attributes and, 5, 9–15, 82–83, 249n15; immateriality, 6–8; language, God beyond, 9–10; metaphysical proof of, 11–13, 183–85; Mount Sinai, revelation on, 34; unchangingness, 8–9, 14; unity/oneness, 4–9
first fruits, 136
“first thoughts,” freeing oneself from, 195–96
folk beliefs and folk theology, 221, 239
Footnote (film, 2012), xv
formative mitzvot, 129–33
“foundation of foundations,” 4–9
Freudian dream theory, 30
Friedlander, Michael, 247n1
Galileo, 263n3
Garden of Eden: nature of sin in, 99; poverty as consequence of sin in, 252n6; as utopian society, 78–79
Gnosticism, 241
God, xx, 1–92; Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism on, 7, 9, 88, 192–94; as author of Torah, 98; balanced personality as imitation of, 107; conservation of eros and, 83–85; desire to know, 99–101; evil as absence of, 251n4; hidden and revealed faces of, 65; immateriality/incorporeality of, 3, 6–8, 85, 87, 88, 171–74, 183; as intellect/as transcending intellect, 190–94; interpretation of Bible and, 85–89; language, limitations of, 9–10, 187–89, 193, 231, 255n20; militant atheism on, 81–82; nature as revelation of, 92; negative attributes of, 5, 9–15, 82–83, 189, 192, 193, 231, 249n15, 264n2; palace parable about closeness to, 95–97; physical representation of, 3, 6–8, 85, 87, 88, 187, 221–23, 257n8; reason and intellect, identification in, 164; religion, as greatest threat to, 1, 14–15; religious hero, new concept of, 38–39, 91; Thirteen Attributes of, 102–3; unchangingness/perfection of, 8–9, 14, 65, 175–76, 178–80; unity/oneness of, 4–9, 171–74, 182–83; universality of, 153–56. See also existence of God; love of God; prophecy; providence and the problem of evil; redemption
“Golden Mean” (middle way), 24, 104–7, 254n6
Goldman, Eliezer, 254n9
gradual development, principle of, 108–9
The Guide for the Perplexed (Maimonides), xiii–xxi; American readers of, xvii; audience for, 165–66; authoritativeness, seeking to avoid, 225–27; authorship of, xv; Christianity influenced by, xiv, xviii; contradictions and concealment of knowledge in, xvii–xix; dating of, xviii; dedicatory epistle, 259n1; on God, xx, 1–92; Israeli secular culture and, xv–xvii; midrashic nature of reading, 241; Mishneh Torah compared, xv, xx, 155–56, 169, 226; perplexity in, xxi, 165–245; personal circumstances of Maimonides when writing, 41–42; purpose of life in, 245; radical interpretation of, 23, 250n3; reason for composing, 15, 247n1, 249n16; structure of, xx; on Torah, xx, 93–64; translations and editions of, 247n1. See also contradictions and concealment of knowledge in Guide; God; perplexity; Torah
Guttman, Julius, 193
Ha’hakdama L’masekhet Avot (Introduction to Avot ; Maimonides), 105, 135, 149, 206, 250n4, 251n5, 261n1
Hai Gaon, 29
halakhah and the law: Abraham and, 160; balanced personality, development of, 160, 205–7; divine law and human law, differentiation of, 36; dogmatism, as means of avoiding, 205–11; for Israel and “the new Jew,” xvi; leadership and law, relationship between, 254n9; Maimonides’s Mishneh Torah concerned with, xv, 169, 210; nature, changes to law of, 74; non-Jews and, 156–58; palace parable and, 95–97, 158, 161, 210; philosophy versus, 156, 158, 167–68; prophecy and, 35, 38; purpose of life in Guide and, 245; redemption, Messianic era, and Torah law, 75–78; spiritual greatness distinguished from, 97, 158, 160–61; utopian anarchy, with no need for, 69–72; welfare of soul and body as aim of, 205. See also commandments
Halevi, Yehudah, 154, 219, 249n1, 258n14
Harvey, Warren Zev, 182, 254n9
hechalot literature, 29
Hegel, Georg Friedrich Wilhelm, 77
hero, religious, new concept of, 38–39, 91
Herzl, Theodor, 76
Heschel, Rabbi Abraham Joshua, 264n5
history, Maimonides’s views on, 76–77
Hitchens, Christopher, God Is Not Great, 81
Holy of Holies, xvii, 128, 159, 160, 209
Hora’at Sha’ah, 255n17
huqqim, 116–17
Ibn Bajja, 264n3
Ibn Daud, 193
Ibn Ezra, Abraham, 219, 258n14
Ibn Pakuda, Rabbenu Bachya, 38, 130, 144, 219, 259n2
Ibn Tibbon, Shmuel: Hebrew translation of Guide by, 247n1, 263n6; letters from Maimonides to, 42, 260n8, 263n4; on providence, 59–61
ideal life and ideal society: economic well-being and reason, 67–68; halakhah, as aim of, 205; Ibn Bajja versus Al-Farabi on, 264n3; peace and reason, 68–69; as primary quests of Guide, xxi, 245; utopian anarchy, concept of, 69–72. See also balanced personality, development of; political theory in Guide
idolatry: appropriative commandments and, 127–29, 258n16; of Christianity, 123, 124, 142, 257n8; distancing commandments and, 126–27; emergence of religions and, 120, 123, 124, 125; Maimonides’s struggle against, 3, 11; physical representations of God, Maimonides resisting, 3, 6–8, 85, 87, 88, 187, 221–23, 257n8; Torah and idolatrous consciousness, 187
ignorance, 264n1
imagination, and prophecy, 25–26, 26–27, 29, 37
immateriality/incorporeality of God, 3, 6–8, 85, 87, 88, 171–74, 183
intellect. See reason and intellect
intellectual pantheism, 190–92
interpretation of Bible, 85–89
Isaac, binding of (Akedah), 32, 142
Isaiah (prophet), 28, 66, 74, 86
Islam: Almohad invasion of Spain, 48, 204; Ash’ariyya, 55; kalām and Mutakallimun, 171–74, 182, 203; Mu’atzila, 251n12; Sabians in Koran, 257n12; Saladin’s conquest of Egypt, 48; Sufism, 232; sultan, Maimonides as physician to, 41–42
Israeli, Isaac, 219
Israeli secular culture and The Guide for the Perplexed, xv–xvii
Jacob wrestling with angel, 32
James, William, The Varieties of Religious Experience, 148, 149, 150
Jeremiah (prophet), 44, 86, 232
Jesus: distinguished from Christianity, 257n10; religion of, without commandments, 122–24
Jews and Judaism: Chosen People, 153–54; exodus from Egypt, 58, 74; in Messianic era, 65–66, 73–79; philosophical tradition of Jews, Maimonides on, 219–23
Job, 44, 51–52, 62, 157–58, 169
Joseph Ibn Aknin (Yosef Bar Yehudah), 199, 247n1, 259n1
Kabbalah, xviii, 9, 65, 75, 114–15, 151, 241, 252n1
kalām and Mutakallimun, 171–74, 182, 203
Kant, Immanuel, 93, 130, 251n9
Kapach, Yosef, 247n1
kashrut, 136
Kaufman, Yehezkiel, 249n13
Kepler, Johannes, 263n3
Knohl, Yisrael, 249n13, 258n16
knowledge, love of, 83–85, 200, 213–14, 233, 239
Korach, rebellion of, 44
language, God as beyond, 9–10, 187–89, 193, 231, 255n20
law. See commandments; halakhah and the law; Torah
Leibowitz, Yeshayahu, 139–42, 146
Levi, tribe of, 158–59, 257n11
Levinger, Yaakov, 250n16
linen and wool, mixing, 116, 126
Lorberbaum, Yair, 170
Lorberbaum, Menachem, 253n16, 254n9
love: eros (sexual desire), conservation of, 83–85; of knowledge, 83–85, 200, 213–14, 233, 239. See also desire, refocusing
love of God: Abraham as model for, 141–42; eros and, 84; evil, overcoming, 61–63; motivation for fulfilling mitzvot and, 78, 145–51; nature, study of, 76, 259n7; as primary purpose of mitzvot and Torah, 139–42; as religious experience, 259n7; therapeutic perplexity and cultivating feelings of, 235–40
magic, 221
Maimonides: authoritativeness, seeking to avoid, 225–27; childhood flight from Spain, 47–48, 204; death of brother David, 41, 63; “Epistle to Yemen,” 73, 76, 123; Ha’hakdama L’masekhet Avot (Introduction to Avot), 105, 135, 149, 206, 250n4, 251n5, 261n1; on history, 76–77; Ibn Tibbon, letters to, 42, 260n8, 263n4; knowledge recovered by, xvii–xviii; Montpelier, letter to sages of, 220; physical representations of God resisted by, 3, 6–8, 85, 87, 88, 257n8; as physician to sultan, 41–42; Shmoneh Perakin (The Eight Chapters), 134; significance of, xiv–xv. See also Guide for the Perplexed; Mishneh Torah
Marx, Groucho, 164
Marx, Karl, and Marxism, 77, 253n14
Menachem Ha-Meiri, 257n8
metaphysical proof, 11–13, 183–85
methodological versus essentialist skepticism, 200–204
“middle way” (Golden Mean), 24, 104–7, 254n6
midrashim: commandments and, 121, 132; Guide and, 241; interpretation of Bible and, 87, 88; on knowledge of God, 100; postmodernism and, xxi; prophecy and, 33; redemption and, 73; on Torah, 112, 252n3
miracles, 20–21, 54–56, 58, 74, 86, 92, 132, 171
Mishneh Torah (Maimonides): Abraham in, 257n6; on commandments, 131, 141, 142, 147, 209; on conservation of eros, 84; on emergence of religions, 119, 120, 121, 123, 124; on evil due to bad habits, 48; existence of God in, 4, 248n4; Guide compared, xv, xx, 155–56, 169, 226; halakhah addressed in, xv, 169, 210; on immateriality of God, 6, 7, 8; on love and awe, 235, 236, 237, 238; on miracles, 74; on non-Jews, 155–58; on prophecy, 17, 31, 34; on redemption and Messianic era, 65, 67, 73–78; on sin of the elders at Mount Sinai, 261n8; structure of, xviii; on tribe of Levi, 158–59, 257n11; on unchangingness of God, 8, 9; on unity/oneness of God, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 248n5; on universality of spiritual excellence, 158–61
mishpatim, 116–17
mitzvot. See commandments
monotheism, 11, 119, 122, 142, 257n11
Montpelier, letter to sages of, 220
moon, things existing beneath sphere of, 216, 224, 255n10
moral perfection: causal connections between perfection of character and intellect, 207–9, 261n1; observance of commandments and, 130–31; of philosophers, 205–7; of prophets, 24–25
Moses: authorship of Torah and, 98; commandment-based religion of, 124–25; desire to know God, 99–101; exodus from Egypt and, 58; history changed by, 77; political wisdom of, 101; prophecy of, 34–37, 98; providence and, 44; spiritual equanimity of, 101–4
Mother Teresa, 10
motions of the spheres, 7, 11, 215–18, 262n3
Mount Moriah, 127–28
Mount Sinai, revelation on, 33–34, 98, 261n8
Mu’atzila, 251n12
Munk, Solomon, 247n1
Muslims. See Islam
Mutakallimun and kalām, 171–74, 182, 203
mysticism, 9, 28–29, 169, 229–32, 245
Nabataean Agriculture, 257n12
nature: changes to law of, 74, 76; general utility versus individual damage in, 111; God revealed in, 92; imitating balance and equilibrium of, 106–7; love of God and study of, 76, 259n7; mitzvah, contemplation of nature as, 112; not created for human beings, 143–45; order and chaos in, 180–81; political wisdom gained from, 101, 107; spiritual equanimity derived from, 101–4; symmetry of Torah imitating balance of, 111–12; Torah as imitation of, 107–8
necessary existents, 12–13, 184
negative attributes, doctrine of, 5, 9–15, 82–83, 189, 192, 193, 231, 249n15, 264n2
Neo-Aristotelians, 88, 203, 224, 226
Nietzsche, Frederick, 91
Noahide Laws, 160
non-Jews, 154–58
Nouriel, Avraham, 32
oath asking readers not to explain Guide, xviii–xix
old books, seductive aura of, 220–21
oneness/unity of God, 4–9, 171–74, 182–83
ontology, 11–12
paganism: exodus from Egypt and, 58; God in, 11, 18, 58; monotheism versus, 195; nature and, 11; Sabians and Sabian religion, 125–27, 146, 257n12, 258n14; sensory experience and, 257n7; Torah and commandments, 113, 115, 119, 125–27, 128, 129, 188, 258n16
palace parable, 95–97, 158, 161, 202, 210, 242
Pardes, 196, 199, 201, 203, 207, 208, 209
Paul (disciple of Jesus), 130
peace, reason, and redemption, 68–69, 77
perfection: intellectual, 117–19, 133–34, 207–9, 261n1; unchangingness of God, 8–9, 14, 65, 175–76, 178–80. See also moral perfection
perplexity, xxi, 165–245; audience of Guide and, 165–66; crisis of reason and, 213–18; in divine matters versus natural science and mathematics, 263n7; God as beyond language, 9–10, 187–89, 193, 255n20; God as intellect/as transcending intellect, 190–94; Jewish philosophical tradition, Maimonides on, 219–23; mysticism as way beyond, 229–32; politics as way beyond, 232–33. See also contradictions and concealment of knowledge in Guide; creation; dogmatism; doubt; therapeutic perplexity
personality and character. See balanced personality, development of
Philo of Alexandria, 219, 256n21
philosophy: authoritativeness, Maimonides seeking to avoid, 225–27; doubt and, 202–4; halakhah versus, 156, 158, 167–68; Jewish philosophical tradition, Maimonides on, 219–23; moral perfection of philosopher, 205–7; postmodernist, xxi, 241–44. See also specific philosophers and philosophical schools
physical representations of God, Maimonides resisting, 3, 6–8, 85, 87, 88, 187, 221–23, 257n8
physics, laws of: Aristotelian, 181; astronomical observation and, 216–17, 262n3; creation and, 250n13; eternal nature of, 74; God not limited by, 56; in Mishneh Torah, 209; Moses’s desire to grasp, 100, 101; motions of the spheres, 7, 11, 215–18, 262n3; Pardes and, 196; prophecy and, 28; providence and, 56, 57; study of, 209
Plato, 84–85, 105, 192, 197, 202, 233, 243, 251n4
Plotinus, 192–94, 248n10, 250n12
political theory in Guide: conservation of eros and, 85; dogmatism and political commitment, 207; egocentrism, problem of, 240; ideal society, interest in conditions for creating, xxi; law and leadership, relationship between, 254n9; nature, political wisdom gained from, 101, 107; perplexity, politics as way beyond, 232–33, 245; providence and, 47; redemption and, 69–70, 71, 72, 74, 76, 77, 78–79; Torah and, 101, 107, 117, 118, 121, 158
postmodernism and doubt, xxi, 241–44
potentiality and actualization, 19–20
proofs: decisive versus dialectical, 261n6; dogmatism regarding, 203–4. See also existence of God
prophecy, 17–39; biblical stories interpreted as prophetic visions, 32–33, 38; characteristics of prophets, 24–26, 36, 83; desire, refocusing, 27–28, 39; divination (discerning the future), 31–32; experience of, 26–31; halakhah and, 35, 38; hero, new concept of, 38–39; Ibn Sina on, 250n16; imagination and, 25–26, 26–27, 29, 37; mitzvot compared, 116; of Moses, 34–37, 98; Mount Sinai, revelation on, 33–34, 98; naturalized yet requiring God’s involvement, 20–23; Rashi on, 250n18; reason and intellect in, 26–27, 29, 37–38; traditional and philosophical views of, 17–21; universality of, 154–55; visions, 27, 28–29, 32–33
Protagoras, 243
providence and the problem of evil, 41–63; anthropocentrism, avoidance of, 45, 51, 240; biblical and talmudic understandings of, 43–44; defining and categorizing evil, 45–48, 251n4; denial of existence of evil, 44; denial of existence of providence, 52; desire, refocusing, 48, 50–51, 52; different opinions about, 52–57, 251n4, 251n12; emotional need versus intellectual honesty and, 42–43; human responsibility and, 45–49; Job and, 44, 51–52, 62; love of God and experience of, 61–63; mitzvot compared, 116; personal circumstances of Maimonides and, 41–42, 62–63; reason and intellect, role of, 56–61, 83; suffering of human soul and, 49–52; theodicy, 44, 49; therapeutic approach to, 49, 51, 58; universality of, 155
psychological suffering of human soul, 49–52
Ptolemy, 216
Pyrrho, 243
radical interpretation of Guide, 23, 250n3
radical skepticism of modern world, xxi, 241–44
the Rambam (acronym for Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon). See Maimonides
Rashi, 250n18
Rava and Abbaye, debates of, 209–10
Ravitsky, Aviezer, 146
reason and intellect: active intellect, 26, 215, 231; causal connections between perfection of character and intellect, 207–9, 261n1; commandments, intellectual perfection through, 117–19, 133–34; contradictions within, 168; crisis of reason, 213–18; differences between people and, 71–72; economic well-being and, 67–68; God as intellect/as transcending intellect, 190–94; identification of God and human essence in, 164, 190–92; light metaphor for, 252n3; limitations of, 197–200, 213–18, 226, 261n8; love of knowledge, 83–85, 200, 213–14, 233, 239; Messianic era and, 66; peace and, 68–69; philosopher, intellectual perfection of, 205–7; prophecy and, 26–27, 29, 37–38; providence and, 56–61, 83; redemption brought about by, 66, 77–79, 83; tensions in Guide between Jewish tradition and, 167–68; Torah and, 37–38
redemption, 65–79; desire, refocusing, 67, 68–69, 71, 79; economic well-being and, 67–68, 77–78, 79; marginal place in Guide, 65–67; Messianic era, 65–66, 73–79; nature, alteration of laws of, 74, 76; peace and, 68–69, 77; reason and intellect bringing about, 66, 77–79, 83; therapeutic perplexity and, 241–44; Torah laws and, 75–78; unchanging perfection of God, tension with, 65; utopian anarchy, concept of, 69–72; utopian society, unattainability of, 78–79
religion: of Abraham, 120–22, 124, 125, 257nn6–7; apophatic approach to, 82; atheism on, 81–82, 93; emergence of, 119–25; of Enosh, 119–20, 122; experience of, 92, 148–51, 163; God as greatest threat to, 1, 14–15; as infantilizing, 93; James’s definition of, 148; of Jesus, 122–24; of Moses, 124–25; nature and experience of, 92; of Sabians, 125–27, 146, 257n12, 258n14. See also Christianity; Islam; Jews and Judaism; paganism
religious hero, new concept of, 38–39, 91
revelation and reason, tension between, 167–68
Sabians and Sabian religion, 125–27, 146, 257n12, 258n14
sacrificial practices, 109, 126, 129, 136, 188
Saladin, 48
Schopenhauer, Arthur, 251n7
Schwarz, Michael, 247n1
Schweid, Eliezer, 259n25
separate intelligences, 213–15, 262n2
sexual desire (eros), conservation of, 83–85
Shabbat, commandment to keep, 129–30
shatnez, 126
she’lo lishmah, 147
Shmoneh Perakin (The Eight Chapters; Maimonides), 134
showbread, 258n16
Sinai, revelation on, 33–34, 98, 261n8
skepticism. See doubt
soul: eternity of, 262n2; halakhah, welfare of soul and body as aim of, 205; suffering of, 49–52; taxonomy of, 261n1
Spain, Maimonides’s childhood flight from, 47–48, 204
spheres, motions of, 7, 11, 215–18, 262n3
spheres of existence, medieval understanding of, 213–18
spiritual equanimity, 101–4
spiritual excellence: Abraham as model for, 160; of Rabbi Akiva, 44, 196, 198–99, 201, 204, 207, 208; halakhah distinguished from, 97, 158, 160–61; universality of, 158–61
suffering of human soul, 49–52
Sufism, 232
Talmud: on Abraham, 160; on applying adjectives to God, 193; balanced personality as goal of, 105; on four sages entering Pardes, 196, 199, 209; on huqqim and mishpatim, 116–17; interpretation of Bible and, 87; Leibowitz’s reading of Maimonides and, 139; on lifetime of world, 253n11; Maimonides on, 220; Mishneh Torah and, xv, xx, 169; prophecy and, 28, 33, 250n18; providence and, 44; redemption and, 75
Temple Mount, 127–29
teshuvah (free choice), 131–33
theodicy, 44, 49. See also providence and the problem of evil
therapeutic perplexity, 235–44; egocentrism, moving beyond, 240–41; evil, problem of, 49, 51, 58; love and awe, cultivating feelings of, 235–40; postmodernism and relief from need for certainty, 241–44
Thirteen Attributes of God, 102–3
Thomas Aquinas, xviii
Torah, xx, 93–164; arbitrariness of details in, 109–10; authorship and origins of, 97–98; balanced personality, development of, 105, 107, 116–18, 160; differences between people and, 72; divinity of, 94, 98; gradual development, principle of, 108–9; Guide’s account of God and, 9, 10–11; idolatrous consciousness and, 187; as imitation of nature, 107–8; ineffectiveness in special cases, 110–11; interpretation of, 85–89; light metaphor for, 252n3; love of God as primary purpose of, 139–42; palace parable about closeness to God and, 95–97; prophecy in, 20–21; prophetic visions, stories interpreted as, 32–33, 38; on providence, 55–56; providence and problem of evil in, 43–44; reason and, 37–38; redemption, Messianic era, and laws of, 75–78; rituals of, 113–14; symmetry of, 111–12; transcendence of understanding and, 163–64; understanding of human world and, 117–18; universality of, 153–61. See also commandments
Tosafot, 257n8
Tower of Babel, 99
Townley, James, 247n1
trees, restrictions on eating fruit from, 126
Uffenheimer, Binyamin, 258n16
uncertainty principle, 181
unchangingness/perfection of God, 8–9, 14, 65, 175–76, 178–80
unity/oneness of God, 4–9, 171–74, 182–83
universality of God and Torah, 153–61
utopian anarchy, concept of, 69–72
utopian society, unattainability of, 78–79
wool and linen, mixing, 116, 126
world: medieval understanding of cosmos, 213–18. See also creation; eternity of the world
Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), 116, 132, 159
Yosef Bar Yehudah (Joseph Ibn Aknin), 199, 247n1, 259n1
Zechariah (prophet), 31