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Scholars often divide Maimonides' intellectual work in two: first, his efforts at codifying Jewish law, which previously existed mainly in the vast and often unresolved legal discussions in the 63 tractates of the Talmud; second, his philosophical writing that reconciles the science of his time with his Jewish (and by extension, all monotheistic) faith. In his rigorous and insightful study "Maimonides: Life and Thought," Moshe Halbertal reintroduces readers to this rabbi-scientist, who insisted that faith should be an enterprise based on reason. What readers will gain from this remarkably modern thinker of the medieval age depends on their own reason—and their own faith. Followed to its logical conclusions, the idea of a perfect God demands a belief in a God who reveals himself not through violations of nature, but through nature itself. This sanctification of nature turns Judaism into a rigorously rational faith. Consider, for instance, Maimonides' idea of divine providence. God's protection, he insisted, doesn't come from divine intervention in human affairs, but rather through the divine gift of human intellect, which affords talented humans the capacity to solve human problems.

— Moses – faith through reason  

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