As the communal leader of Egyptian Jewry,…
December 1191 CE
As the communal leader of Egyptian Jewry, Maimonides formulates the basic principles of Judaism in a series of thirteen creedal affirmations, in the hope of clarifying the differences between Judaism and both Islam and Christianity.
This work occasions great controversy when it first appears (it has since been accepted widely and incorporated into most Jewish prayer books).
His organization of Jewish oral law, the Mishneh Torah ("Second Law,” often known in English as the "Strong Hand"), also becomes embroiled in controversy.
This is partly because of its rigorously systematic rearrangements of traditional rabbinic law, and partly because Maimonides does not indicate the sources on which he bases his decisions concerning correct interpretations, thus appearing to arrogate excessive authority to himself.