We know Rambam as a rabbi, communal leader, philosopher, and legal writer, but he was also a doctor and a composer of medical works. In his medical writing, Rambam reached back to ancient Greek traditions of healing but also connected himself to practices of the scientific method. In our own day, popular self-help books abound, providing answers to medical questions. In this talk following Kiddush, Professor Lieberman will show how Rambam’s practice of looking both to traditional knowledge and the scientific method is mirrored in our own world.

Phil Lieberman is a historian of Jews in the medieval Islamic world and a professor at Vanderbilt University, currently on military leave, serving as a Professor of History at the United States Naval Academy. His work spans social, economic, and legal history, with notable books including The Business of Identity (2014), The Fate of the Jews in the Early Islamic Middle East (2022), and a 2024 translation of Maimonides,’ The Guide to the Perplexed. He has also contributed to major academic volumes on Jewish history.