Moshe ben Maimon is one of the greatest religious thinkers of all times. A philosopher who rose to great heights.

Maimonides, also know as the Rambam ( Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon ) was born in Codoba, Spain in 1138, which at the time was conquered by radical Muslims ( the Almohads ), who gave the Jews the choice to convert to Islam or leave the city. Moshe family packed their belongins and moved to Fez in Marocco in 1160 and the family moved again in 1165  to fostat, the old city of Cairo.

In the year 1177 Maimonides was appointed head of the Jewish community in Fostat, in 1185 he became  a physician to Saladin's, Al -Fadil. During his life's travels he found the time to focus on becoming a Talmudic scholar and a spiritual leader. At age 23, he began to compose a commentary on the Mishnah, which is tge foundation of Jewish Law, and felt the need to study it thoroughly in order to explain it to the students of Jewish Law and to intergrate Talmudic discussions on each paragraph. Maimonides whishes to make the Mishnah accessible to the Talmudic students and Jewish Law.

Written in Arabic and later on into Hebrew, his commentary was completed in ten years. Aside from explanation of the Mishnah text, the commentary included three lengthy essays.

In the commentary Maimonides discussed the Oral Torah, accompanied by the Written Torah, and it also included chapter 10 of the tractate Sanhedrin - Perek Helek, which deals with the basic principles of Jewish faith and concluded with the Thirteen Principles of Faith, and became the basic framework for understanding and teaching Judaism.

Poetic versions of the Thirteen Principles of Faith were composed, the most popular is the Yigdal ( 14th century )and became part liturgy and can be found in most siddur's to this day.

Maimonides begin his code of halacha by protraying the foundation of Jewish faith and ethics. Halacha needs to be understood in the context of the underlying interllectual, spiritual and moral principles.

The Halacha Laws are based on the existence of HaShem, Who gave us His Torah. The first letters of the first four Hebrew words of Maimonides's code spells; Yod Heh Vav Heh, the name of HaShem is associated with the Jewish people.

Prior to the completion of the Mishneh Torah, Maimonides had compiled The Book of Commandments, which listed the 613 mitzvos of the Torah.

Maimonides didn't think that a person should only believe in HaShem, but rather that he should know HaShem. To know HaShem means to comfront the ultimate proof for the existence of HaShem, a fundamental Truth and accessible to whom engage in philosophical discussions.