Maimonides’ Hidden Torah Commentaries, Genesis 1-21 by Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel, First Edition Design Publishing, Inc., Sarasota, FL, © 2016, Published January 2019, ISBN 978-1506-907-16-1, p. 294 plus bibliography and index, $21.95.
By Fred Reiss, Ed.D.
WINCHESTER, California – Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel, author of Maimonides’ Hidden Torah Commentaries, is also the author of a multi-volume set on the Greco-Jewish thinker Philo, who like Maimonides was often vilified and misunderstood. Many of Maimonides contemporaneous French and German rabbis rejected and slandered his works, even asking the Catholic Church to burn them.
Maimonides’ ability to place Judaism on a philosophical basis and simplify the legalisms of the Torah and Talmud through such work as Guide to the Perplexed and Mishna Torah, however, makes him an enduring Jewish philosopher and thinker. Today, he is recognized as a giant among Jewish scholars, acknowledged by the well-known aphorism, “From Moses [who led the Jews out of Egypt] to Moses [Maimonides], there is none like Moses [Maimonides].”
Although the great Middle Ages polymath commented on biblical verses throughout his illustrious career, he never wrote a systematic and organized treatise on this topic. Samuel now tantalizes us with the first volume of a larger set aimed at assembling and describing Maimonides interpretations and insights on the Torah’s verses.
Standing apart from most of his contemporaries, Maimonides argued that not simple faith, but rational thinking held the keys to God’s kingdom, and rational thought often meant accepting the conclusions of notable Greek philosophers, such as Aristotle. On more than one occasion, Maimonides directed his readers to accept truth from whatever the source. Yet, truth is neither assembled from Hellenic assumptions, nor built on personal beliefs. His love affair with Greek philosophy sometimes led him to erroneous conclusions, such as the validity of the geocentric model of the universe, most likely because of the Hebrew Bible’s concurrence with this opinion.
Maimonides is also a difficult author to read and understand, sometimes writing his books non-linearly by dividing his beliefs and opinions among distant chapters and drawing apparently contradictory conclusions to hide higher-level truths from the masses.
The rabbis divide the Book of Genesis into fifty chapters, read over a period of twelve weekly portions. In Maimonides’ Hidden Torah Commentaries, Samuel spotlights the first twenty-one chapters, covering four of the twelve weeks. From his perspective, Maimonides shows the Torah’s over-arching objectives are promoting the welfare of the soul through proper attitudes about the nature of faith and supporting the well-being of the body politic, achieved through its laws, parables, and stories. These foster correct behavior and good morals; individuals must abandon extremism and follow a path of moderation.
Each chapter, corresponding to a chapter in the Book of Genesis, begins with brief introductory comments describing Maimonides’ salient principles and opinions found in that chapter of the Book of Genesis, followed by a verse-by-verse interpretation gleaned from Maimonides scattered writings, interspersed with Samuel’s personal observations about Maimonides views.
In Genesis 1, the story of creation for instance, we find that Maimonides divides his analyses between the nature of humanity and the nature of God. On one hand, human knowledge of God leads to love of God, astrological bodies do not influence human behavior, and all humanity has free will. On the other, God transcends space and time, created the material world from nothing, meaning that matter cannot exist outside the will of God. In Genesis 2, the second story of creation, Maimonides concludes humanity is the crown of creation: Adam was born able to reason and respect God’s laws and precepts and humanity possess moral excellence.
Maimonides view of prophecy vis-a-vis Noah and the story of the flood is analyzed in Genesis 7. Samuel tells us that Maimonides concludes, “God communicates through images and imagination of the human psyche. Divine communication is never ‘verbal.’” Later, in Genesis 15, Maimonides further explores the eidetic imagery of prophetic messages, but emphasizes the impact of prophecy on the prophet.
The commentary in Genesis 19, as a final example, demonstrates how Maimonides differentiates between Abraham and Lot’s prophetic states by noting the awareness of their “visiting guests” — Abraham identifying them as humans, Lot describing them as angels. Samuel explains that Maimonides rejected the Talmudic concept of “fallen angels,” referring to this notion as heretical.
Drawing from a wide variety of Maimonides’ insights and expertise, Samuels succinctly and clearly pieces together the great scholar’s opinions on Genesis, including humanity’s moral conscience verses its evil inclination, the moral standing of animals and God’s “biocentric interest” in the world, and divine providence. Maimonides’ Hidden Torah Commentaries, Genesis 1-21 unites Maimonides’ scattered Torah explanations and observations, while illuminating and explaining his intentionally contradictory opinions.
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Dr. Fred Reiss is a retired public and Hebrew school teacher and administrator. He is the author of The Comprehensive Jewish and Civil Calendars: 2001 to 2240; The Jewish Calendar: History and Inner Workings, Second Edition; and Sepher Yetzirah: The Book That Started Kabbalah, Revised Edition. He may be contacted via fred.reiss@sdjewishworld.com.