/lit/ - Literature

>theologian
>philosopher
>physician
>astronomer
>pedagogist
>polyglot
>codifies the entire body Jewish religious jurisprudence
>seamlessly reconciles all apparent contradictions between religion and science
>refutes Islam, humiliates Muslim theologians
>openly calls his critics retarded
>claims the only reason you're unhappy because you consume goyslop
>laughs at your illiteracy
>racist as fuck, calls black people subhuman

Yeah, I'm thinking based

I was told to read Moses Maimonides as a primer into Jewish philosophy, but the more I looked into it the more heterodox he seems. If anyone knows what's a good "baby's first Jewish philosophy", let me know.

Is “The Guide for the Perplexed” a good book to learn about Jewish philosophy? I’m very new to philosophy (read some Kant and Aristotle and Pre-Socratics), can I jump into it?

Also thread for Moses Maimonides I guess. He was very based, with a cool life story.

Is the tradition of Jewish (and not just by Jews) thought a worthwhile endeavor? If so, what do you suggest one should start investigating with (books, but also lectures are welcome)?

>>17665485
Where do I start with him?

>In the Middle Ages (the Rishonim era), Moses Maimonides devoted twelve years to extracting every decision and law from the Talmud of Babylon, and arranging them into fourteen systematic volumes. The work was completed in 1180 as the Mishneh Torah. In the Mishneh Torah, Moses Maimonides taught in “Avodat Kochavim” chapter 10, “Show no mercy to a non-Jew.” He gave the following example: “If we see a non-Jew being swept away or drowning in the river, we should not help him. If we see that his life is in danger, we should not save him.”

>Maimonides also taught that Christians should, under the proper circumstances, be killed. The “proper circumstances” are predicated on Rabbi Maimonides’ situation ethics: when Talmudists are powerfully dominant over goyim then worshippers of Jesus can be executed. This is the foundation of Rabbi Maimonides’ ruling on when Jewish doctors may refuse to treat non-Jewish patients: when Jews are sufficiently supreme in a nation that the refusal to treat will not result in repercussions and reprisals from goyim, who would be too cowed to retaliate in a nation where Jewish supremacy was nearly total. It is instructive to observe that Maimonides in Mishneh Torah, Sefer Ha-Mada, Aodah Zara 10:1-2, ruled that goyim not currently at war with Israel should neither be actively killed, nor saved from death: “It is prohibited both to save them from dying and to kill them.”

>This is not a simple open-and-closed finding. Many more rabbinic texts have been generated, setting out the situation ethics entailed by this injunction. Cf. for example Rabbi Nahmanides, Hidushei HaRambam, Makot 9a. The key law giver Rabbi Joseph Karo, compiler of the highly credited legal volumes of the Shulchan Aruch, looks upon Maimonides’ ruling not as a ban on the killing of goyim, but a means for temporarily dispensing a Jew from the obligation to kill them, while doing nothing to save them from death

>>15637679
Also in my experience
Penguin
>Cheaper
>better format
>nice yellowing and old book smell when they age
>poor binding, pages and covers tear and fall out after a few decades
>page feels nice on hand

Oxford
>I like the format less
>I like their translations more
>I like the cover aesthetics less
>books hold together for decades and don’t fall apart

Bloomsbury
>terrible
>is to publishing what >>15637427 is to the human race
>probably gay

That’s just in my experience working at a used book store.

>>15637595
I think they’re hot when they’re hot and ugly when they’re ugly

>>15637622
Because we value our history and culture and honor our greatest intellectuals

maimonides is our big boy

>Furthermore, since the Talmud represents a massive accretion of published commentary built up over more than a millennium, even the most explicit mandates have sometimes been transformed into their opposites.

>As an example, Maimonides, one of the highest rabbinical authorities, absolutely prohibited rabbis from being paid for their religious teaching, declaring that any rabbi who received a salary was an evil robber condemned to everlasting torment; yet later rabbis eventually “reinterpreted” this statement to mean something entirely different, and today almost all rabbis collect salaries.

kek

>>15563465
Maimonides:
Judaism is a coherent system.

Why have I never seen Maimonides mentioned on this board?

>Was the one of the first to merge Greek Philosophy with Biblical Theology, arguably still unmatched in his thoroughness and attention to detail
>Deliberately placed brainlet filters in his greatest work designed for the masses 'Guide for the Perplexed' because hearing his conclusions and analyses with insufficient prior knowledge leads to wild understanding and misrepresentation
>Destroyed Christianity with facts and logic so badly at The Disputation of Barcelona that 400 jews were killed by triggered Spanish Catholics in retaliation
>Was a major influence on Thomas Aquinas and Albert of Cologne, both of whom mention him multiple times across their works
>Direct descendant of King David
>Greatest Physician in Spain and greatest Rabbi in history in the same lifetime
>His medical writings influenced medicine for centuries, merging Arab and Greek Medical practices
>Argued for a synthesis of Stoicism with sincere faith, earthy rationality and heavenly irrationality
>Described and then destroyed the Ubermensch hundreds of years before Nietzche with Shvil HaZahav, presenting an attainable path to self growth, ethical living, and dedication to a life of learning

Is it the brainlet filters, or does nobody take him seriously because he's a (((rabbi)))?

Moses Maimonides, one of the greatest Jewish thinkers of all time, believed the biblical Moses was the greatest philosopher of all time and that pythagoras, plato, etc... were just repeating what Moses already said in metaphor through writing the bible.

Is there a good place to read his interpretations? Are they legit?

>>13361487
Maimonides, aka Rambam

>Maimonides

can somebody explain to me how reading this fucker will benefit my life at all. #canonfail

*blocks your path*