Foreword by Moshe Idel
Preface
Acknowledgements
Note on Transliteration and Conventions Used in the Text
1 Maimonides' Critique of the Jewish Culture of His Day
Introduction * The Judaism Maimonides Opposed * The Philospphical
Basis of Maimonides' Opposition * Esotericism and Elitism *
Maimonides' Failure * Elements of Proto-Kabbalah * Maimonides'
Opposition to the World of Proto-Kabbalah * Excursus:
Terminology
2 The Institutional Character of Halakhah
Introduction * Two Opposing Views * Maimonides' View * Maimonides'
Motivation * Mistakes and Errors in Halakhah / Science / Dogma *
Error in 'Science' * Halakhah as Instrumental * Halakhah and
Theology * God and Abraham: Who Chose Whom?
3 Holiness
Introduction * A Glance at the Biblical Evidence * Maimonides on
the Nature of Holiness in General * Holy Persons * The People of
Israel * The Sanctity of the Land of Israel and of Jerusalem * Holy
Things: Torah, Tefilin, Mezuzot * Holy Times
4 Ritual Purity and Impurity
Introduction: Two Ancient Views on Ritual Purity and Impurity *
Judah Halevi on Ritual Purity and Impurity * Maimonides on Ritual
Purity and Impurity * Maimonides on the Sacrifical Cult and the
Laws of Ritual Purity and Impurity * Maimonides on the Moral
Significance of the Laws of Ritual Purity and Impurity * Critiques
of Maimonides' Account of the Sacrifices
5 The Hebrew Language
Introduction * Judah Halevi on the Hebrew Language * Maimonides on
the Hebrew Language * Why Did Maimonides Adopt His Position? *
Nahmanides' Critique
6 Kavod, Shekhinah, and Created Light
Introduction * Shekhinah, Kavod, and Created Light in Rabbinic
Texts * Sa'adiah Gaon * Judah Halevi * Maimonides on Kavod in the
Guide of the Perplexed * Maimonides on Shekhinah in the Guide of
the Perplexed * Maimonides on Created Light in the Guide of the
Perplexed * Shekhinah and Kavod in Mishneh torah and Commentary on
the Mishnah
7 Jews and Non-Jews
Introduction * Theory of the Acquired Intellect * Jews and Non-Jews
* Digression: Which of the Thirteen Principles Must Actually Be
Accepted to Achieve a Share in the World to Come? * Who is an
'Israelite'? * Wise Non-Jews and the World to Come * Was Maimonides
Truly Universalist?
8 Angels
Introduction * Angels in Rabbinic Thought * Angels in Piyutim *
Angels in Heikhalot Literature * Sa'adiah Gaon and Judah Halevi on
Angels * Maimonides on Angels
Afterword: Contemporary Resistance to the Maimonidean Reform
Glossary
Index of Citations from Moses Maimonides and Judah Halevi
Bibliography
General Index
Menachem Kellner is chair of the Department of Philosophy and Jewish Thought, Shalem College, Jerusalem and Wolfson Professor Emeritus of Jewish Thought, University of Haifa.
'One of the most important books on Maimonides to be published in
the last thirty years and quite possibly one of the most important
in the field of Jewish philosophy. The writing is clear and crisp,
and the scholarship is impeccable. The book explains not just how
radical Mamonides's dissatisfactions with the Judaism of his day
was, but how radical his opinions are for most Jews today.'
Kenneth Seeskind, AJS Review
'Impressive... lucid... that rare scholarly study that manages not
to compromise on academic rigour while daring to state
strongly-held convictions that are so relevant in times troubled by
the many irrational "surges" of political, military, and religious
fundamentalism.'
Allan Nadler, Forward
'Kellner has contributed a study of great value not only for an
academic audience but for lay and yeshivish audiences as well. The
book is a welcome addition to the samizdats currently circulating
within the underground yeshiva counter-culture.'
James A. Diamond, Meorot
'A spirited, highly stimulating works that reads fluently and fully
engages not only with the mind but also the reader's Jewish
soul.'
Haim Chertok, Midstream
'Interesting and important... extremely valuable in the way that it
roots both Maimonides' legal code and his philosophy in the
thought-world and social and religious practices of his own time,
and dramatizes the ways in which some of his most characteristic
formulations function as critical responses to what prevailed in
his own culture and environment.'
Aryeh Botwinick, Philosophy East & West
'One of those rare combinations of erudite scholarship and
accessible style, treating an issue that is not only perennially
meaningful, but also particularly salient today-features that
characterize a number of his works... Throughout the book, Kellner
devises a series of easy-to-follow dualities to structure his
argument... many books have been written about Maimonides. What
Menachem Kellner's book does uniquely is to isolate the ways in
which Maimonides bumps against the mystical and mythical strains
that run through ancient and medieval Jewish thought like a river.
While any educated Jew knows that Maimonides stands out as a
leading rationalist, Kellner presents us with a compelling portrait
of the multi-faceted ways in which Maimonides expunges these
mystical and mythical veins from the Jewish mine.'
Joel Hecker, The Reconstructionist
'Kellner has refocused Maimonidean studies in a new way. In
addition, he has done so in a very learned manner: his footnotes
cover a vast area of Jewish scholarship; his summaries of
scholarship are very concise; and his bibliography is very full...
a very important book. It formulates clearly and comprehensively
the hyperrationalist reading of Maimonides which is widely held by
scholars of Jewish philosophy. It also offers a new proposal on the
subject of the opponents against whom Maimonides wrote. Kellner's
erudition has made this so, and his willingness to engage the
present and the future has projected the issue beyond medieval
philosophy.'
David R. Blumenthal, Reviews in Religion & Theology
'The strengths of this book lie in its didactic and ideological
clarity... For those interested in the medieval roots of a major
dispute within modern Orthodox Judaism this is an extremely useful
book packed with detailed examples of contentious topics.'
Michael Fagenblat, Speculum
'A thought-provoking study that deals with rather more than its
title suggests.'
Jeremy Adler, Times Literary Supplement
'Perhaps no author in the last couple of decades has made
Maimonides' theology more relevant for contemporary Orthodox
dialogue than Menachem Kellner. His works on dogma, belief,
rabbinic authority, and other central topics have generated
significant debate and even his biggest detractors acknowledge the
substantive and stimulating nature of his work... This is an
extremely thought-provoking work that deserves serious attention,
debate, and discussion.'
Tradition Online
'Intellectual tour de force... On the one hand, Kellner, in a work
of objective scholarship, insightfully decodes what he takes to be
two opposing religions that have contended for recognition as the
Orthodox expression of Judaism from ancient to modern times. On the
other hand, Kellner, as an engaged modern Orthodox thinker who has
a stake in this conflict, applies wide learning, critical skills,
and expansive control of traditional Jewish sources, intellectual
history, and analytic philosophical tools in a sustained
argument... Menachem Kellner’s study of Maimonides and the mystics
will endure not because it explicates an antiquarian medieval
debate; his study talks to moderns who struggle with ideas and
ideals, who are both intellectually modern and Jewishly
religious.'
Alan J. Yuter, Review of Rabbinic Judaism
'This is one of the most important books on Maimonides to be
published in the last thirty years and quite possibly one of the
most important in the field of Jewish philosophy. The writing is
clear and crisp, and the scholarship is impeccable.'
Israel Book Review
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