**The Rambam**, Rabbeinu Moshe bar Maimon [(from the city of Cordoba, Semag in the introduction) (in Sepharad, Seder HaKabbalah chapter 42b). Yuchsin writes in discourse 5, later generations.] He was born on the eve of Pesach, Shabbat day, an hour and a third after midday in the year 4891. And he wrote in the commentary on the Mishnah: I gathered all the books that came to my hands from the commentaries of my father, my master, my teacher, and others up to Rabbi Yosef HaLevi, for the heart of that man was fearful, and like him there was no king before him.

And he also wrote: I, Moshe bar Maimon the judge, bar Yosef the sage, bar Yitzchak the judge, bar Yosef the judge, bar Ovadiah the judge, bar Shlomo, son of the Rabbi, Rabbi Ovadiah the judge, began to compose the commentary on the Mishnah when I was 23 years old [(and Seder HaKabbalah chapter 42b writes some say he was 18)] and I completed it in Egypt when I was 30, which was 1479 to documents (which is 4927). [Thus he was born in 4897 and according to the calculation that he was born in 4891 it does not match, for 4891 plus 30 is 4920. Seder HaKabbalah writes that at the end of the commentary on Tractate Rosh Hashanah by the Rambam is the signature of Rabbi David, son of his son, who says: "The Rambam my grandfather was born on the 14th of Nisan, 1445 to documents (and according to this he was born in 4894) in the city of Cordoba and died in 1516 to documents (it is found he lived about 70 years).

And my father, my master, his son was born in 1066 to documents (printing error, should read 496, and he died in 1066, thus I have noted in my Seder HaKabbalah and it seems so in Meor Einayim). And I, David, son of his son, was born to my father in Egypt in 1535 to documents. And I saw written that he was from the seed of Rabbeinu HaKadosh, thus concluded. And in Dorot Olam it is written that he completed the commentary on the Mishnah in 4927 and began in 4919.

And he composed the book of the Yad (in the year 4931 and completed it in 4939. Tzeda LaDerech) 12 years after the commentary on the Mishnah, as is written in Laws of Sanctification of the Month. And in Seder HaKabbalah he writes he composed the book Mishneh Torah in 4936, 1107 to the destruction and 1187 to documents, and that was a Sabbatical year, the end of the seventh cycle, year 21 of the Jubilee. (And in the Shita it is written 4936.

And I saw in the introduction to the Yad, z"l, in this year which was 4936, 1108 to the destruction). And Yuchsin writes in Seder HaKabbalah of the Rema: in the year 4936 he began his great and wondrous composition called Mishneh Torah, and in 4948 it was completed. And in Seder HaKabbalah chapter 42b in the name of Yesod Olam, that he worked on it for five consecutive years. And the book Yuchsin says that he composed the great composition 12 years after the commentary on the Mishnah.

And I saw in Migdal Oz, Laws of Sanhedrin chapter 2, that the Rambam worked for several years on the composition and made many copies until he was enlightening the laws with the power of the Talmud or supports. And the Raavad author of the Criticisms testifies in Laws of Kilayim chapter 10 in a critique that he did a great work in adding the words of the Babylonian Talmud, Jerusalem Talmud, and Toseftot.

Some say when the Rambam heard all these words of thorns and humiliations in the criticisms that the Raavad made against him, he said about him: "They said to the master who was in Pisqira that if you begin you will not finish," and they say that the Raavad did not complete his year. And in Responsa Rashbatz section 6: I heard that the Rambam saw the criticisms of the Raavad and said "No one has ever defeated me except one craftsman," but I have not seen this in any place, thus concluded.

And I say that this is false, for if he had seen them he would have responded to them. And what the Rashbatz writes in a responsum to the Raavad, we find that he said about the Rambam that he was a youth and we are elders, thus concluded. If this is true, it could be that the Raavad ben Dior the Elder, author of the book HaKabbalah, was the one, for perhaps he was still alive in the days of the Rambam's composition (see year 4920)].

**And the Rambam** composed a commentary on five orders of Talmud, as Rabbi Yaakov testified about him in the introduction to his translation of the commentary on the Mishnah from Seder Zeraim, that he saw from them two tractates in the manner of all commentaries in Arabic. And they did not spread to the land of Edom. And in his book of Commandments, section 46, he says that he composed a commentary on some tractates.

And in the commentary on the Mishnah, Tractate Tamid, he says that he composed laws from all the Talmuds, Jerusalem. And in the commentary on the Mishnah, chapter Chelek, he wrote that he composed the book of Midrashim and the book of Prophecy. [And the book of commentary on Foundations and Principles of Faith, and in the letter Chamudot Rabbi Eliyahu Chaim says in his introduction] that Jews came to Jerusalem from the region of southeastern Rome on the Oceanus Sea and said that they have no decisor except the Yad book of the Rambam.

And I received that the composition spread beyond Mount Chalach and Mount Gozan among the 12 tribes. And I saw in his letter to the sages of Marseilles: "Know, my masters, that I searched greatly in the wisdom called 'decree of the judgments of the stars,' meaning that man should know from it what is destined to happen to a country or a person. And also I studied in the matter of idolatry, all of it, and it seems to me that no book in the world remains to me in this matter in Arabic.

And I descended to the end of knowledge, and from those books it became clear to me the reason for all the commandments. And I say I have a great composition in this matter with clear proofs on each and every commandment, and I clarified with clear proofs and strong demonstrations the existence of the Creator, and I broke those proofs that the philosophers say that the world was not created, and I resolved all the difficulties that they posed against us, that if we say it was created ex nihilo, etc.

And the Migdal Oz writes in Laws 19 chapter 2 that the Rambam saw manuscripts that were written in the days of the sages of the Talmud, and also books that were being brought from him in Ezrat for the son of Asher. And so too in Laws of Sanhedrin chapter 5 and in his book of Commandments, Asin section 298 [(Seder HaKabbalah)].

**And I saw** in an old manuscript that in the year 4968 the Rambam fled from the Malshinim from Sepharad to Egypt [(see years 4902 and 4922)] and established a great yeshiva and his fame traveled far. And his wisdom was famous among the Jews and hidden from the nations due to his lack of the Kasdi and Madi languages. And he chose to learn the Kasdi language and he spoke until in seven years he was complete in those languages.

And his fame went forth in all the land, and the king of Egypt took him as his physician. And there was then in Egypt a custom that the Sultan would sit on appointed days on his throne of royalty, and beside him were six platforms on chairs upon which sat the greatest of sages in seven wisdoms. And the king did not know on which platform the Rambam should sit, for he found his wisdom surpassing all the sages in all the wisdoms.

And the Rabbi, in his great humility, did not want to sit on any one of them. And these are: Grammar called Rhetoric; Calculation, the wisdom of numbers called Arithmetic; Measurement and geometry and cycles called Geometry; Astronomy, the wisdom of heaven and the movement of spheres and constellations called Astrology; Poetry called Music. And I heard that the king's physicians became very jealous of him and spoke to the king slander about him, until they came to debate in the wisdom of medicine before the king.

And the physicians accepted upon themselves to drink the poison that the Rambam would prepare for them before the king, provided that the Jew would first take the poison that they would prepare for him. And so the Rambam accepted to do. And it happened on the appointed day that the matter came to his students and it was very bad in their eyes, and they prayed to him and he told them all the remedies and cures that he would need before and after drinking.

And they prepared everything with great care and beauty. And his students arose and declared a fast and prayer to HaShem at a time of distress. And the Rabbi went before the king and the physicians gave him a cup of poison and he drank, and immediately he returned to his house and the students did for him according to his order, and HaShem was with him and he was healed. And it happened on the third day that he went before the king with poison of death in his hand, and the men were amazed how the Jew was saved.

And they were forced to drink it too, and ten of them died before the king. And the Rabbi's honor and glory greatly increased in the eyes of the king and the ministers, and they turned the faces of none like the fringe of darkness. Indeed, I heard in another manner: when the king was sick, the physicians put poison inside the medicine that was prepared by the Rambam for the king to drink on a certain day.

And they hurried to go to the king and revealed to him secretly that they certainly knew that the Jewish physician put poison in the bandage. And it happened when the drinking came before the king, the Rambam came and the king said to give a little of it to a dog, and immediately the dog died. And the king was amazed and thought in his heart that certainly the physicians were lying about the Rambam and they put the poison.

Nevertheless, his arguments were silenced and the Rambam remained as a body without a soul.

Nevertheless, the king said to the Rambam: "Behold, you see that you deserve death, nevertheless, because you worked so much in my service, I am willing that you should choose the manner of death that you want." And the Rambam took three days to respond to him. And he went and commanded his students that he would choose that the physicians should bleed him from all his veins, all the blood, and in this way his soul would depart.

However, they should be ready to make a certain remedy, because there is one vein coming from the heart that certainly the physicians would not know and would not open. And so it was, and his students carried him to his house and they made the remedy for him and he lived. And then he went into a cave and composed the book of the Yad in 12 years. And he composed many books in philosophy and logic [(called Milat HaBiun)] and medicine [(Chapters of Moshe)], and in many languages like Arabic, Greek, and Kasdi.

And I saw compositions of medicine that were translated into Latin and are called by his name. And there is in Greek and Arabic a great sum. And responsa that he made for the sages of Luniel and Egypt and other regions that did not spread among us, and also their owners do not want to reveal them [(Seder HaKabbalah)].

**And it says** [book of Yuchsin] that the Rambam was called the Rabbi HaMa'amin who silenced those who dispute the Kabbalah. The Ramban testified in the letter of the Chamudah that he composed that in all the lands of Yemen they established and would say in Kaddish "In your lifetime and in your days and in the lifetime of our master, the Rambam." And also today in all the regions of the East on Simchat Torah they say the death of Moshe Rabbeinu in piyyutim and they also say: "May HaShem have mercy on the soul of the honor of our teacher and our rabbi, the honor of the east, the light of the west, the Rambam, and on the honor of the holiness of Rabbeinu Avraham his son, z"l." And I saw in the book Iggeret Chamudot that Rabbi Eliyahu Chaim composed, where he wrote: "I saw a letter of the Rambam that he wrote from Jerusalem to Egypt to his student.

And he was saying: After my coming to the Land of the Deer, I found an elder who illuminated my eyes in the ways of Kabbalah, and if I had known then what I know now, many things that I wrote I would not have written," thus concluded. And the Ritva in the book Migdal Oz, Laws of Foundations of the Torah chapter 1, says how he knew and saw that the Rambam at the end of his days knew the wisdom of Kabbalah. [(In the book Zaken Aharon, Parshat Chayei Sarah, chapter 12, page 72: Shlomo at the end of his days received the secrets of Torah from an elder, and he was very pained about his books that were scattered, for he would retract from several things that he wrote according to philosophical reasoning)].

**And it happened** that his days were extended and he was 70 years old, and he expired and was gathered to his people and was buried in the Upper Galilee. And they wrote songs and praises on his monument. And afterward, in the days of the Ramban and Redak, wicked men arose to speak against the Rambam, as is seen in the books of those who incited the sages of France against the book of the Moreh. Those inciters fixed the monument that had written on it "Choice of Mankind" and wrote "Rabbi Moshe Maimon, excommunicated and heretical." Indeed, afterward they repented and fixed the monument as it was originally.

And I saw in the letter of the Rambam to Rabbi Shmuel ibn Tibon that he should not engage in the work of Logic except in the composition of Abu Nasr AlFarabi and in the book HaHatchalot of his, which is all fine flour. And it is possible that a person will understand and comprehend man's words according to how distinguished he was in wisdom. And likewise Abu Nasr ben Al-Tzavu, his compositions are proven to the understanding.

And the books of Aristotle are fundamental to all these compositions and they are not understood except with the commentaries of Alexander or Themistius or ibn Rushd. And the words of Plato his teacher are deep and parables, and the opinion of Aristotle his student is the human opinion and that his sufficiency is upon everything that was composed before him, besides that the divine influence flowed upon them until they reached the levels of prophecy.

And the book of Ali ibn Sina, even though there is good insight in it, is not like the books of Abu Nasr, but they are useful and worthy of contemplation. Indeed, the book of the Apple and the book of the House of Gold that they attribute to Aristotle are not his. And likewise the book Al-Razi and the book of Yitzchak HaYisraeli, all of them are vain and there is no benefit in them, for they were only physicians.

And likewise books, etc., all these are ancient philosophy - it is not worthy to waste time on them. Indeed, the book Olam Katan that Rabbi Yosef HaTzaddik composed I have not seen, but I know the man and his speech and I have recognized the value of his worth and the worth of his book, etc., [Seder HaKabbalah and see there chapter 45b z"l: I the Rambam, the 8th of Tishrei, etc.].

It is written [in Shomer HaDat, letter 46, section 2, I saw in an old manuscript] that Rabbi Maimon his father did not want to take a wife, and when he was about halfway through his life, a man appeared to him in a dream and commanded him to take as a wife the daughter of a certain butcher who lived in a nearby city.

Rabbi Avraham son of the Rambam was a great sage and pious man, and I have seen that Rabbi Yosef son of the Rabbi, Rabbi Gershon, asked the great Nagid, our teacher Rabbi Avraham son of the Rambam, and in his responsa it is evident that he was a great sage, and in the Rambam his father's letter it is mentioned.

It is written [Shaar Yisrael, page 37, section 2] that in the time of the Rambam there was the great Nasi, our teacher Rabbi Meir HaLevi, and the Rambam would ask him several doubts, and in his time there were great sages in Lunel, and he wrote to them: Do not consider yourselves insignificant, for there is no...

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