Home » Images » 0002 Pictures From History » CPA0000587

Spain: The Sefer Torah. Hebrew writing and spacing style dates back to the time of Maimonides of the 12th century, as well as confirming its Sephardic origin from the Iberian Peninsula

Moses ben-Maimon, called Maimonides and also known as Rambam (Hebrew acronym for 'Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon'), was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages.

He was born in Córdoba, Spain on Passover Eve, 1135, and died in Egypt (or Tiberias) on 20th Tevet, December 12, 1204. He was a rabbi, physician and philosopher in Morocco and Egypt. Although his writings on Jewish law and ethics were met with acclaim and gratitude from most Jews even as far off as Spain, Iraq and Yemen, and he rose to be the revered head of the Jewish community in Egypt, there were also respectful critics of some of his rulings and other writings particularly in Spain. Nevertheless, he was posthumously acknowledged to be one of the foremost rabbinical arbiters and philosophers in Jewish history, his copious work a cornerstone of Jewish scholarship. His fourteen-volume Mishneh Torah still carries canonical authority as a codification of Talmudic law.

In the Yeshiva world he is known as 'haNesher haGadol' (the great eagle) in recognition of his outstanding status as a bona fide exponent of the Oral Torah.