As the armies of Islam conquered larger and larger swaths of Europe, the Jews of the Middle East saw new opportunities opening up for them in Muslim Europe. One of the best opportunities proved to be Spain, starting with the Muslim conquest of 711. Indeed, things were so good for Jews there that, to this day, half the Jewish world is known as Sephardi, meaning "Spanish." (The other half would later become known as Ashkenazi, meaning "German.")
In Muslim Spain, Jews found a symbiotic relationship emerging between them and the non-Jewish world that surrounded them. The Muslims had an impact on the Jews—some of the greatest Jewish scholars wrote in Arabic—but the influence was far greater the other way around. There’s no question that the Islamic world, especially in Spain, thrived remarkably because of the large number of Jews who were allowed to operate freely there.
Jewish contributions in Spain spanned every sphere, whether economic or intellectual:
Some of the greatest Jewish writers and philosophers emerged during this period. Three stand out:
The Jewish paradise in Spain ended abruptly in the 12th century when the Almohades, a cruel Muslim Berber dynasty, came to power. When they seized southern Spain, they gave Jews three stark choices: convert to Islam, leave, or die. Many Jews fled, including the famed Maimonides (often known as Rambam, the acronym of Rabbi Moses ben Maimon).
Incidentally, many famous Jews of this era were known by acronyms because Jews didn’t use last names until later, when Christian tax collectors required them. Instead, they were identified by their first names, their father’s names, tribal names (like Cohen or Levi), or places of origin, often shortened into acronyms for convenience.
Maimonides was born Moses ben Maimon on the eve of Passover in 1135 in Cordoba, Spain, to a prominent rabbinical family with lineage tracing back to King David and Rabbi Yehudah HaNassi, compiler of the Mishnah. His primary teacher was his father, Rabbi Maimon ben Joseph, a Jewish judge who taught him the Talmud, mathematics, astronomy, and philosophy.
Maimonides was only 13 when his family was forced to flee Spain due to the Almohades. After years of wandering—during which his father died—he and his brother David settled in Cairo, Egypt. There, Maimonides continued his Torah studies while David, a gem dealer, supported the family. After David perished in a sea voyage, Maimonides took on the financial burden.
Refusing to profit from his Torah knowledge, Maimonides taught himself medicine to earn a living. He became so renowned that he was appointed physician to the Court of Sultan Saladin in Cairo and chief rabbi of Cairo. However, he wasn’t proud to live in Egypt—it’s against Jewish law for Jews to reside there after the Exodus—so he signed his name as “Moses ben Maimon who violates the commandments of the Torah daily by living in Egypt.”
Maimonides was a prolific writer, producing works mostly in Arabic but written with Hebrew characters. Four of his works stand out:
(For translations of key excerpts, see *The Essential Maimonides* by Avraham Yaakov Finkel.)
During his lifetime, Maimonides’ writings were controversial—some statements were deemed too radical, others misunderstood. At one point, his works were banned, and after his death in 1233, they were burned at the instigation of rabbis. Nine years later, when French king Louis IX ordered the Talmud burned, Jews saw this as a divine “measure-for-measure” punishment for burning Maimonides’ works. Rabbi Jonah Gerondi, who instigated the ban, repented and authored *Sha’arei Teshuva* ("Gates of Repentance") as atonement.
Today, Maimonides is revered as one of the most important Rishonim (“the First Ones”), a group of Jewish sages from 1038 to 1439 who added significantly to Jewish scholarship, following the Tanaim, Amoraim, and Gaonim.
Another prominent Rishon was Solomon ben Isaac, known as Rashi, born in 1040 in Troyes, France. But how did Jews end up in France? Some settled there 1,000 years earlier in Roman Empire outposts, though these communities were small. Expansion came later through quirks of fate. Jewish tradition holds that in the 8th century, Charlemagne, King of the Franks, requested rabbis from the caliph to attract more Jews, seeing their value in Muslim Spain. Additionally, Jews were often kidnapped by pirates, knowing their communities would pay for their release. A group of French Jews paid to redeem Rabbi Nosson HaBavli on the condition he start a yeshiva in France, which he did.
Rashi studied in a German yeshiva before returning to Troyes. Like Maimonides, he refused to profit from Torah knowledge, earning a living from vineyards. Rashi had an encyclopedic knowledge of the Torah, answering obvious questions in the text, which is why his explanations appear alongside many Torah editions today. He also wrote a commentary on the entire Babylonian Talmud, featured on the “inner” margin of every Talmudic page, indispensable as we move further from Mount Sinai and struggle with the nuances of Jewish law.
Rashi had no sons but educated his daughters, Miriam and Yocheved, in the Talmud. They married great scholars, and their descendants became the Ba’alei HaTosefot (“Masters of Addition”), whose commentary appears on the “outer” margin of Talmudic pages. The best-known is Rashi’s grandson, Rabbi Jacob ben Meir (Rabbeinu Ta’am). Rashi lived until 1105, surviving the First Crusade, which killed about 30% of Europe’s Jews.
Jewish tradition recounts Rashi meeting Godfrey de Bouillon, a Crusade leader. Rashi predicted Godfrey would return with only two horses, despite succeeding in his mission. Godfrey vowed to kill Rashi if wrong. Godfrey returned with three horses, but as he entered Troyes, a stone fell from an arch, killing one horse, fulfilling Rashi’s prophecy.
This section is an excerpt from "Fundamentals and Faith: Insights into the Rambam’s 13 Principles" by Rabbi Mordechai Blumenfeld, published on April 27, 2003, via Aish.com.
In his 13 Principles of Faith, Maimonides (Rambam) diverges from Aristotle, describing a God who necessarily preceded Creation and is free to choose to create. The *Ani Ma’amin*, an unabridged version of the 13 Principles by an unknown author, states, “I believe with complete faith that the Creator, blessed be His name, is the first and the last.” This seems to mean God exists outside time, with no beginning or end, echoing the first Principle of absolute existence. But a closer reading of Rambam shows he’s emphasizing creation ex nihilo—God preceded the universe and created it from nothing, as seen in Deuteronomy 33:27: “God who preceded all existence is a refuge...”
This idea of creation ex nihilo has been a classic philosophical dispute. In *Guide to the Perplexed* (Vol. 2, ch. 25), Rambam notes it’s possible (though incorrect) to accept Genesis while assuming matter is eternal, as Aristotle did. Aristotle believed God and the universe co-existed eternally, with no beginning, seeing no contradiction in God as the Source of all Existence.
But Aristotle’s god is powerless—a “docile machine” unable to choose, act, or react. It lacks awareness, freedom, or control, bound by its nature, with no relationship to creation. Such a god cannot be served, lacking the attributes of Lord, Master, or Power.
In contrast, Rambam’s God preceded Creation, freely choosing to create, observe, and control. This aligns with Abraham’s understanding, who, observing the universe, deduced a Creator with purpose, as recounted in Jewish tradition (Midrash Hagadol 12:1). Abraham saw a caring God, willing to defend this truth even at great personal cost, such as being thrown into a furnace rather than worship idols (Bereishis Rabbah 38:19).
Rambam and Judah HaLevi (Kuzari 1:63-67) admit Aristotle’s view can’t be disproven by logic alone—it requires Torah revelation to affirm creation ex nihilo. Yet Abraham’s reasoning suggests intellect can lead to this conclusion. He saw the universe’s sublime order as evidence of purpose, concluding God willed Creation for man’s benefit: the pleasure of closeness to the Source of all Existence. This act of creation, rooted in *chesed* (giving), shaped Abraham’s life of generosity, a stark contrast to Aristotle’s mechanical, purposeless god.
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