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Jewish Learning Institute - Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks Explains Why Maimonides Was Controversial

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Author: Jewish Learning Institute
Categories: Religion Education
Tags: religion, education
Views: 2 · Last viewed: 2026-10-15 19:00 UTC

Short Summary

Main recommendation: Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks argues that Maimonides was controversial because he uniquely combined mastery of Jewish law (Halakha) with mastery of universal philosophy and science, and that the accusations against him were ironic and unjust. The talk explains how this dual expertise unsettled his contemporaries and led to later persecution of his writings.

Key Points

  • Maimonides was regarded as the greatest rabbi of the Middle Ages and wrote the Mishneh Torah, the greatest Jewish law code, while also being a master of philosophy and science.
  • His first published work was on calculating the calendar (astronomy), and his second was the Milot HaHigayon on logic; he drew on Aristotle, Plato, and Islamic interpreters.
  • Sacks contrasts Maimonides' logical imagination, which opens the Mishneh Torah with the existence of God, with Joseph Caro's chronological imagination in the Shulchan Arukh, which opens with getting up in the morning.
  • Maimonides was accused of heresy, especially for allegedly denying the resurrection of the dead, even though he authored the Thirteen Principles of Jewish Faith, which affirm it.
  • In 1232 the Dominicans burned Maimonides' writings after some Jews labeled him a heretic, and in 1240 they carried out one of the worst book burnings in history, leading to lost Jewish works and no complete manuscript edition of the Talmud.

Details Worth Noting

  • Concrete instructions: No concrete instructions, steps, or practical recommendations are given in the transcript; it is a historical lecture.
  • Maimonides was forced during his lifetime to write the Iggeret Teiman to defend his belief in the resurrection of the dead.
  • Some lost works were later found in the Vatican Library, where they had not been mentioned for about 500 years, including the Kuntres Ha'Eriyah.
  • Sacks notes the loss of a complete manuscript edition of the Talmud as a consequence of the book burnings.
  • Sacks closes by saying that people condemn what they do not understand and that more humility is needed.

Bottom Line

Maimonides' controversy stemmed less from his beliefs than from his rare fusion of rabbinic scholarship and universal wisdom, which his critics misread and punished.