e-TiM: Online Program
e-TiM: Maimonides vs Judah Halevi on the Distinction Between Jew and Gentile
This three-part series will take place Wednesdays at 11:00am Eastern (6:00pm in Israel) from February 9 to 23
This series will be devoted to very close readings of three core passages in Maimonides' Mishneh Torah: the first, middle, and final paragraphs of the work
February 9
הלכות יסודי התורה א:א Laws of the Foundations of the Torah 1.1
February 16
הלכות שמיטה ויובל יג:יג Laws of Sabbatical Year and Jubilee 13.13
and
הלכות מלכים יב:יג Laws of Kings 12.5
The point of this close reading will be to demonstrate that, unlike Judah Halevi, most Kabbalists, and very many Jews today, Maimonides held all human beings to be fully created in the image of God, there being no ontological, metaphysical, spiritual distinction between Jews as such and non-Jews as such.
