ר׳ מימון בן יוסף הדיין

ר׳ מימון בן יוסף הדיין (c. 1110–c. 1166), known in English as Maimon ben Joseph, was an Andalusian Talmudist, exegete, communal judge and the father and principal early teacher of ר׳ משה בן מימון. Born into a Cordoban family that traced several generations of judges and scholars, he studied at Lucena under ר׳ יוסף הלוי אבן מיגאש, thereby transmitting the halakhic tradition of ר׳ יצחק אלפסי to his son. He served for years as a dayan in Córdoba. Almohad conquest and the suppression of public Jewish life destabilized the family after 1148; whether they left immediately or remained for years as outward converts is debated. By about 1160 they were in Fez. There ר׳ מימון wrote the Judaeo-Arabic אגרת הנחמה, encouraging Jews living under coercion and defending Israel’s covenant and the Torah of משה רבנו. He also opposed confidence in the messianic predictions of ר׳ משה דרעי. In 1165 the family sailed from Morocco to Acre and visited Jerusalem; it subsequently moved toward Egypt. His final place and year are uncertain. Fragments and later quotations attest an Arabic Torah commentary, Talmudic explanations, rulings on prayer and festivals, and responsa. His writings survive only partially, but his teaching supplied an important link between Lucena’s Andalusian halakhic school and the mature work of ר׳ משה בן מימון.