RaMBa”M). Moreh Nevuchim [“Guide for the Perplexed”]. Includes much of the text of Part Three, chaps. 23-25 and 30-37.

The Guide for the Perplexed is undoubtedly the most celebrated philosophical text by a Jewish scholar, and by far the most influential. Maimonides originally wrote it in Judeo-Arabic in the year 1190 and it was first translated into Hebrew in 1204 by a contemporary of Maimonides, Samuel ben Judah ibn Tibbon in southern France. Very few early manuscripts of the text in the original Arabic have survived - the importance of which cannot be over-estimated, since scholars have considered the language of ibn Tibbon’s translation to be archaic and often inaccurate. This has resulted in the issuance of newer translations from the Arabic in a quest to obtain the most exact purity of text. Based upon all available manuscripts, Salomon Munk issued a critical edition of the Guide for the Perplexed in the original Arabic text (in Hebrew characters). First issued in three volumes in 1856, it was later revised by Prof. Issachar Joel in Jerusalem, 1931 (along with variant readings). However the most important and accurate translation of the Guide was compiled in 1977 by Rabbi Yosef Kafeh (1917-2000), renowned expert on Judeo-Arabic literature and of Maimonides in particular. Of illustrious Yemenite origin, Kafah was comfortably acquainted with Maimonides’ language, let alone his intellectual brilliance. In the preparation of his eminent edition, Kafah consulted all available manuscripts, especially those emanating from Yemen (including this present one) and which had been neglected by earlier scholars. Contemporary Maimonides scholarship has now come to appreciate that manuscripts originating from Yemen preserved the most accurate versions of Maimonides writings - indeed he is known to have corresponded with the Jews in Yemen and to have sent them authorized copies of his texts. <<Thus the great importance of this particular early Yemenite manuscript.>> <<Provenance:>> Rabbi Yosef Kafah. With thanks to Dr. Benjamin Richler, Director (retired) of the Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts, National Library of Israel, Jerusalem, for his assistance in researching this manuscript.