Your Monides? No, Maimonides!: The Great Jewish Philosopher and Scientist
Rabbi Jack Shlachter
The brilliant medieval rabbi, philosopher, physician, and astronomer known as Maimonides or as Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon (RaMBaM) lived in the mid-late 12th century. Born in Spain, his family fled to north Africa under persecution of the Jews by the Almohads. Maimonides later settled in Egypt where he became the head of the Egyptian Jewish community as well as the personal physician to the Sultan Saladin. He authored three major works, the first a commentary on the Rabbinic text known as the Mishnah, the second a comprehensive legal tome known as the Mishneh Torah, and the third a philosophical treatise referred to as the Guide for the Perplexed. Selections from his works will be presented, preparing the audience for a lively discussion about Maimonides as an exemplar of Faith and Science in the Middle Ages.
Jack Shlachter is a physicist who worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory for over thirty years with much briefer stints at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York, the Atomic Energy Agency, and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, the latter two based in Vienna, Austria. In parallel, Jack was ordained as a rabbi in 1995. He was the rabbi and spiritual leader for the Jewish congregation in Los Alamos for many years, was the rabbi in Center Moriches, NY, during his years at Brookhaven, and now serves as rabbi of HaMakom, a congregation in Santa Fe, NM as well as the Los Alamos Jewish Center. He has also provided itinerant rabbinic support to far-flung Jewish communities including those in Vienna, Austria, and Beijing, China.
