April 6, 1135
Córdoba, Spain

December 13, 1204
Cairo, Egypt

Spanish-Hebrew philosopher, theologian, and author

"...May neither avarice nor miserliness, nor thirst for glory or for a great reputation engage my mind; for the enemies of truth and philanthropy could easily deceive me and make me forgetful of my lofty aim of doing good to Thy children."

—Maimonides, "Oath of Maimonides," in the Internet Medieval Sourcebook, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/rambam-oath.html.

One of the foremost scholars of the medieval world at the time of the Crusades, Rabbi Moses Maimonides (pronounced my-MON-uh-deez)—who was also known as Ramba'm (from the first letters of his...