Maimonides' Hidden Torah Commentary -- Volume I - Genesis 1-21

by Michael Leo Samuel

The epitaph on Maimonides's tombstone reads, "From Moses (the prophet) to Moses, there was none like Moses (Maimonides)." The name, "Moses Maimonides" (1138-1204) is an acronym for his Hebraic name Moses ben Maimon). For centuries, yeshiva scholars and students alike affectionately refer to him by the epithet, "the Rambam." Just as the original Moses became the founder of the religion of ancient Israel, Moses Maimonides redefined Judaism for the future generations--more so than any other Judaic thinker or Halakhic scholar who came before or after him. Modern Judaism owes its conceptual and legal foundations to this remarkable thinker. This remarkable person occupies a rare position in the annals of Jewish history and is widely considered as one of the greatest Jewish thinkers and philosophers who ever lived. Maimonides stature reached almost mythic proportions. Jews of all modern religious persuasions--from the ultra-liberal to the Haredi branches of Orthodoxy each claim Maimonides as their patron hero. Both Christian and Islamic thinkers held Maimonides (who refer to him as Musa ibn Maymun in Arabic writings) in high regard.



I have been impressed with the writings of Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel ever since I read his first book on Philo. I enjoyed the comprehensive nature of his writings and the many insights in his books. I liked that he described Philo's views in an easy to read manner and compared Philo views with those of many ancient and modern writers. Since that time, I wrote six reviews of his Philo books and praised them all. There is much in them that will interest and teach both scholars and readers who had no idea beforehand about this first century philosopher, or just a little information about him. Reading Rabbi Samuel's books will introduce readers to a large number of Philo ideas, those of other thinkers on the ideas, including the Talmuds and Midrashim, and about philosophy and Judaism generally. Thus, when Rabbi Samuel asked me to write the Foreword to his first book on Maimonides, I was very pleased to accept his offer, both out of respect for his scholarship and because I wrote many books and articles on Maimonides myself. - Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin



Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel is the son of a Holocaust survivor. He holds two rabbinic ordinations from the Tomchei Temimim Lubavitch Yeshiva of 770 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn and holds a D. Min degree from the San Francisco Theological Seminary. He is an avid student of the Greek classics, Biblical and Talmudic scholarship, Jungian Psychology, Western Medieval Theology, Modern Philosophy, and 20th century psychology. He is the author of The Lord Is My Shepherd: The Theology of the Caring God (1996), Birth and Rebirth Through Genesis (2010), A Shepherd's Song: Psalm 23 and the Shepherd Metaphor In Jewish Thought (2014), and Rediscovering Philo of Alexandria: A First Century Jewish Commentator (Volumes, 1-5), (2014-2018).



Keywords: Torah, Religion, Biblical Commentary, Old Testament, Medieval Jewish Philosophy, Judaism, Talmud, Maimonides, Commentary, Genesis, Rabbi, Samuel

322 pages, Paperback

Published February 19, 2019

Reviews

[Israel Drazin · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Maimonides’ Hidden Torah Commentary, Genesis 1-21” by Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel is a wonderful book, easy to read and very informative. Unfortunately, most people of all religions only know what they were taught about their religion and the Bible that they learnt in grade school. It is a shame that people do not improve their knowledge about religion as they grow older. Fortunately, Rabbi Samuel remedies this problem with his many books, including those on Philo and this first in a series on the famed rational and common-sense writings of the Jewish philosopher Maimonides. His views as well as many others, Jewish and non-Jewish, are discussed in a clear and comprehensive manner with many insights.
Readers will learn a lot. They will learn, for example, that we know nothing about God, except negatives, such as God cannot be a plurality. We discover that God has no body and no emotions; God does not become angry. The Bible speaks of God becoming angry because most people need to believe that God will punish them for doing wrong; people who accept this idea are more restrained from committing many wrongs. We discover that Maimonides did not believe that angels and demons exist. Prophecy is a natural event. It is the thinking of a man or woman with a higher level of intelligence. When the Bible says that God did something, it does not mean that God performed the act, that God is the immediate cause of the event. Rather, the meaning is that the act occurred according to the rules of nature that God set in place when God created or formed the world. Neither passive piety, fervent praying, nor study of the Bible, Talmud, and mystical tracts bring people to God. People fulfill the Bible’s mandate when and only when they study and understand about science and nature and use their knowledge of the world to improve themselves and society.
These are some of the many insights that Maimonides presented in his writings and Rabbi Samuel explains them and many others very well.