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Placing Moses Maimonides and Saadiah Gaon in the Context of Islamic Aristotelianism

Nov. 17 2016

Although similarities between medieval Muslim philosophers and such contemporary Jewish giants as Saadiah Gaon (d. 942) and Maimonides (1135-1204) are no secret, Peter Adamson argues they have been underestimated. Taking as examples one passage from Saadiah and two from Maimonides, Adamson shows their striking parallels with passages written by the Islamic thinkers al-Kindi (9th century), al-Razi (d. 925), and ibn Tufayl (d. 1185). He concludes that, although it is possible the Jewish philosophers borrowed these ideas directly from the Muslim ones, or even vice-versa, the most plausible explanation is that all of these thinkers were drawing on similar ancient sources and coming from a shared intellectual culture. (Video, 49 minutes. An accompanying handout is available at the link below.)

Read more at Chabad.org

More about: Aristotle, History & Ideas, Jewish Philosophy, Middle Ages, Moses Maimonides, Saadiah Gaon

The Summary: 10/7/20

Two extraordinary events demonstrate something important about Israel’s most fervent adversaries. One was a speech given at something called The People’s Forum (funded generously by Goldman Sachs), which stated, “When the state of Israel is finally destroyed and erased from history, that will be the single most important blow we can give to destroying capitalism and imperialism.”

The suggestion that this tiny state is the linchpin of a global, centuries-old phenomenon like capitalism goes well beyond anything resembling rational criticism. Even if Israel were guilty of genocide, apartheid, and oppression—which of course it is not—it would not follow that its destruction would help end capitalism or imperialism.

The other was an anti-Israel protest that took place in front of New York City’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, deemed “complicit” in Israel’s evils. At organizers’ urging, participants shouted their slogans at kids in the cancer ward, who were watching from the windows. Given Hamas’s indifference toward the lives of Gazan children, such callousness toward non-Palestinian children from Hamas’s Western allies shouldn’t be surprising. The protest—like the abovementioned speech—deliberately conveyed the message that Israel is the ultimate evil and its destruction the ultimate good, cancer patients be damned.

The fact that Israel’s adversaries are almost comically perverse does not mean that they can be dismissed. If its allies fail to understand the obsessive and irrational hatred that it faces, they cannot effectively help it defend itself.

Read more at Mosaic