To the memory of my parents, z”l

Avi mori, Robert Maurice Ravven, M.D., Ph.D.,

“A free man thinks of death least of all things, and his wisdom is a

meditation on life, not of death” (Baruch Spinoza)

and

Lucille Morrison Ravven, M.A.,

“All things noble are as difficult as they are rare” (Baruch Spinoza)

and to the memory of my exalted teacher, z”l

Professor Alexander Altmann,

“Intellectual thought in constantly loving Him should be aimed at”

(Moses Maimonides)