RaMBa”M). Igroth [letters and responsa]

MOSES BEN MAIMON (MAIMONIDES/.

Cornelio Adelkind for Giovanni di Farri

Venice

1544

Second edition.

Vinograd, Venice 211; Habermann, Adelkind 5; Adams M-157

Contains the ethical will of Maimonides to his son Abraham as well as responsa by the great master. Much of the material in our volume concerns the Maimonidean controversy surrounding the philosophic work Guide of the Perplexed. These letters by various authors postdate Maimonides, so the title is a bit misleading. This material should be cross-referenced to the exchange of letters in Ktab al-Raseil of R. Meir Halevi Abulafia of Toledo, edited by Brill (Paris, 1871), and Minhath Kena’oth by R. Abba Mari b. Moses of Lunel (Pressburg, 1838). Most of the letters of Maimonides were originally written in Arabic and later translated to Hebrew. Over the centuries, there have been many such collections of Maimonides’ halakhic responsa, including the much vaunted Pe’er ha-Dor, and the one in vogue these days, Prof. Joshua Blau’s edition with Judeo-Arabic and Hebrew face-`a-face. See EJ, Vol. 11, cols. 765-766.