This manuscript contains one of Maimonides’ commentaries on the <em>Mishnah</em>, the first major work of Rabbinic Judaism. The commentary is on the tractate <em>Avot</em> (Ethics of the fathers), in which Maimonides expounded on morality and the nature of man’s soul, with an introduction (<em>Shemonah perakim</em>) (Eight chapters). Also included are the thirteen principles of belief or articles of faith, a credo of Judaism formulated by Maimonides, a version of which is still used in most Jewish prayer books. Among the principles affirmed in the credo are the oneness of God, the divine origins of the Torah, the afterlife, and the coming of the Messiah. Moses ben Maimon, better known as Maimonides, was a Jewish theologian, philosopher, and physician. He was born in Cόrdoba, Spain, in 1135. In 1160 he moved with his family to Fez, Morocco, to escape religious persecution, and eventually settled in Cairo, where he became the personal physician to the sultan and his family. He also served as the head of the Jewish community of Cairo, where he died in 1204. His works on theology, law, philosophy, and medicine, mostly written in Arabic and translated into Hebrew, Latin, and other languages, were widely influential in both the Jewish and non-Jewish worlds.
<br>Jewish law; Jewish philosophy
Maimonides, Moses (1137?-1204)
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