A Maimonides Reader

This anthology is a very good introduction to the thought of the Rambam. It contains large sections from the 'Mishneh Torah' and 'The Guide to the Perplexed'. It also contains explanatory notes which better help understand the texts. For Rambam the highest aim of the religious life is attaining the intellectual love of God. He says in the 'Mishneh Torah' that when we perform certain precepts like putting on tefillin, or saying Shema we are helped in achieving the purpose of always loving God, and being ever mindful of Him.

Not everyone wants to make an in depth study of one of the great minds of Judaism, but needs/wants an introduction. This book supplies the need. Excellent translation, nice selection of material, for breadth & depth. Not necessarily what a scholar or rabbinical student in the equivalent of a doctoral thesis defense will need, perhaps, but good for the informed layperson, or even most rabbis.

The late Isadore Twersky's Maimonides Reader remains the best of its sort. Maimonides was the most unique Jewish writer and thinker since Talmudic days. The scope of his writings and influence are immesurable. This book brings many of his writings to the English reader and does an admirable job at that.

If you are interested in the thought of Moses Maimonides (1138-1204), Judaism's most profound and influential philosopher and one of the most important Medieval thinkers, this must be the place to begin. Professor Twersky of Harvard University, widely acknowledged as the living master of Maimonidean scholarship, has compiled a reader that simultaniously presents the pearls of Maimonidean wisdom (in excellent translation from Hebrew and Arabic) along with extremely readible prefaces and a fine biography and bibliography. Thousands of students of philosophy and religion (of all faiths and backgrounds) have been introduced to the works of Maimonides via Twersky's concise reader. Highly recommended for the scholar and the layperson alike