Reading Maimonides' Mishneh Torah

David Gillis is an independent scholar and author of Reading Maimonides Mishneh Torah, also published by the Littman Library.

• List of tables Note on Transliteration Note on Sources and Conventions Introduction: A Portrait of the Artist The Cosmic Model - Aggadah in Mishneh torah - Mishneh torah as Art: The History of an Idea - Defining Art - The Poet in Maimonides’ Republic - Necessities and Literary Invention - Art as Imitatio Dei - Maimonides and Modern Literary Theory - Literary Models: Hebrew as Genre - Structures of the Commandments - Summary: Philosopher, Statesman, Artist 1 In God’s Image Two Scholars - Man as Microcosm - Man as Microcosm in the Guide of the Perplexed - Intellectual Virtue and Moral Virtue - Moral Virtue in Mishneh torah 1: Preparation for Intellectual Virtue - Moral Virtue's Two Phases in Mishneh torah - Self-Knowledge and the Knowledge of God • In Maimonides’ Workshop • Virtue Ethics and Command Ethics: Abraham and Moses - Portrait of Perfection - Summary2 The ‘Great Thing’ and the ‘Small Thing’: Mishneh torah as Microcosm The Divide in Mishneh torah - How Many Spheres Make a Universe? - The Spheres and the Commandments - The Commandment as Form - From ‘Knowledge That’ to ‘Knowledge Of’ - Origin of the Commandments - Performance of the Commandments and Immortality - Fourteen - Some Contrasts - Summary 3 Emanation Maimonides on Emanation - ‘According to Greatness and Degree’ - First and Second Intention - The Love–Awe Polarity - The Hierarchy of Holiness - The Flow of Form from the Book of Knowledge - The Sacrifice Paradox - Mikveh as Metaphor - Summary 4 Return The Ladder of the Commandments and the Ladder of Prophecy - From Dystopia to Utopia - Loss and Restoration - Rationalizing the Commandments: Mishneh torah versus the Guide - Why Is ‘Laws of Mourning’ Where It Is? - Summary 5 From Theory to History, via Midrash: A Commentary on ‘Laws of the Foundations of the Torah’, 6: 9 and 7: 3 The Problem of ‘Laws of the Foundations of the Torah’, 6: 9 - How to Read - The Problem of ‘Laws of the Foundations of the Torah’, 7: 3 - Theory and History in the Prophet’s Epiphany - Mishneh torah as Prophecy - Summary 6 Conclusion: Mishneh torah as Parable The Lost Language of the Commandments - A Jacob’s Ladder - Literary Devices - The Problem of Obsolescence - Silver and Gold Appendix I: The Books and Sections of Mishneh torahAppendix II: Philosophical Background Outline of Neoplatonism - The World According to Alfarabi and Avicenna Glossary Bibliography Index of Citations Index of Subjects

‘A brilliant piece of work . . . it will have a major impact on the study of Maimonides and on the larger realm of Jewish and cosmopolitan scholarship . . . Gillis pries open a window that affords broad vistas of forests, valleys, mountains, and the heavens themselves.’ Lenn E. Goodman