WHO WAS THE RAMBAM

Who Was The Rambam?

RAMBAM is an acronym for Rabbi Moshe the son of Maimon The RAMBAM was born in Cordova, Spain in 1135. However due to the religious, political and social turmoil that prevailed at that time, the Cordovan Jews were forced to fl ee their homes and most of them, including the Rambam, exiled themselves to France. From there, he immigrated to Egypt and took up residence in Cairo. His outstanding mastery in medicine, astronomy, logic, mathematics and other national sciences came to the attention of the Sultan Saladin who appointed him as the offi cial court physician.

The Rambam was also an authority on the Talmud and wrote extensively on numerous topics related to Jewish thought, philosophy and Halachah

The epitaph of the Jewish people bestowed upon him – “from Moshe (Moses our teacher) to Moshe (The Rambam) there arose none like Moshe” – says it all. The impact of his personality, scholarship and intellect placed him in a category all on his own. He passed away 1204

In his classic work the “Mishneh Torah” he writes;

“the quality of mercy is characteristic of the Jewish people. They are like brothers…and if a brother shows no mercy towards a brother, who will?

The Rambam Charitable Trust was formed in 1995, with a mere R2 500 donated by five individuals. Today, the trust has proudly assisted over 3 600 applicants and public benefit organisations with over R113 million in interest free loans. The loan recovery rate is approximately 99%.

The trust is currently administered by a team of 27 trustees based Johannesburg and Cape Town. Arnold Connack, executive director, and Debbie Miller, trust administrator manage the day to day operations of the trust.