The Controversial Maimonides
Mythic Historical - This post describes Maimonides as he was understood in historic 1220. This is extended to describe how Maimonides legacy may change mythic kabalisim in the hundred years after 1220.
Moses ben Maimon, also known as Maimonides or Rambam is the most revered figure of the last thousand years of Jewish thought. “From Moses to Moses there was no one like Moses,” is a common saying today, meaning that Rambam is the greatest Jewish thinker after Moses, the author of the Torah, himself. In 1220, on the other hand, Rambam is a controversial figure, who divides the Jewish world. Rambam died in 1204, and his legacy is still being grappled with in 1220. Many of his works are only just now being translated into Hebrew from Arabic, and this scarcity of sources makes the arguments even more thorny. His detractors criticize him on three main fronts:
First, his work combines Aristotelianism and an early scientific mindset with Judaism. Rambam seeks to explain biblical wonders, as far as possible, in accordance with the laws of nature.
Where the Torah recounts the parting of the Red Sea with “The LORD drove back the sea with a strong east wind all that night, and turned the sea into dry ground,” Rambam understands that as meaning that the strong east wind, part of the natural created world, drove back the sea. Generally, he argues that the “miracles” that are described in Torah are part of the natural world, just the language of the Torah often obscures this truth. His detractors argue that this leaves no place for Hashem. But Rambam would argue that Hashem, as the creator of the world, created these natural interactions that create supernatural results. In this way the “miracle” is even more impressive in that it was baked into the universe during its creation.
Second, he seeks to put the rabbis out of a job. His Mishneh Torah is intended to be a summary of all the laws of Judaism such that a Jew can observe Judaism perfectly using just this text. He cuts out the previous thousand years of debate and jumps straight to the answer. Many rabbis, whose passion is that debate, see that as an attempt to put them out of work - which it is. The title of the work doesn’t help, meaning “Repetition of the Torah”. It's a title full of hubris, as if the Mishneh Torah can replace the original Torah.
Third, he introduces his 13 principles of faith - a credo of beliefs, which Judaism has never really had before. Some of these are controversial for some Jews - the incorporality of Hashem is a very Aristotelian view of God which is contradicted at many points in the Torah. The resurrection of the dead and the nature of afterlife (if there is one) is an actively debated question in the Jewish world. As well, even though Rambam included it in his principles of faith, many Jews read him as accepting a sort of watered down metaphorical eternity of the soul, rather than a true resurrection in the World to Come. His views on the topic are sufficiently opaque that someone looking to disagree with him can find a passage that seems to be controversial.
Jewish communities are divided when it comes to dealing with Rambam’s works. In Iberia the more mystical kabalists reject his dismissal of miracles, while the philosophers already familiar with Arabic thought are eager to adopt Rambam as one of their own. In Provance the school of Abraham ben David rejects what they see as the arrogance of Rambam for not including citations in his works, and they work to correct this oversight. And Rambam is most controversial in France and Germany, where his rejection of the interpretive work of sages seems a direct challenge to the tradition of the Tosafists.
For the last fifteen years, since Rambam’s death and the translation of his Guide for the Perplexed into Hebrew, the controversy has simmered. It will not boil over again until 1230 when, in the north, the rabbinic authorities ban philosophy all together. In Provence his detractors get the Church involved, by associating Rambam’s philosophy with the Cathar heresy. This leads to the burning of Rambam’s works by Dominicans in 1232, at which point the Jewish world realizes some have gone too far by involving the Christian authorities. The controversy will continue, and eventually Rambam’s philosophical approach to Judaism triumphs. By 1300 Aristotelian philosophy is an important part of mainstream Judaism and of magical kabalist practice.
But in 1220 the wisdom revealed by Rambam is still being evaluated. Some kabalists, informed by the same Arabic traditions that Rambam learned from, believe there are truths to be found in Rambam. They are attempting to synthesize Kabbalah with Rambam, and create something more powerful from the combination by drawing both on a mystical understanding of Hashem and a deep understanding of the natural world. Kabalists have their own system for Original Research, which I won’t try to create mechanics for here, on the assumption that very few kabalists are actually played as PCs. Part of this work involves seeking for unique Philosophiae texts, each of which can be used to try to create a Breakthrough by synthesizing it with Rambam’s work.
The ultimate goal of this research is allowing kabalists to add the Philosophiae skill to their totals when using kabalist abilities. This would be a Minor Supernatural Virtue. In your saga some kabalists might already have this virtue, and are seeking a second Breakthrough that fully integrates this with their tradition without needing the virtue.
New Minor Supernatural VIrtue - Kabalist Philosophy
The kabalist adds their Philosophiae Ability score to any use of their Gematria, Kabbalah, and Merkavah Abilities. This bonus from Philosophiae may not exceed the base Ability score. This virtue is not available until the corresponding Breakthrough is created by kabalist researchers.
Story Seed - The Curious Kabalist
Ibrahim al-Yehudi, Kabalist from from Iberia is seeking lesser known works of Philosophiae to aid in his research efforts. He is a student of the noted kabalist Azriel of Gerona, who incorporates Neoplatonic thought into his magical efforts. Ibrahim has struggled to get much help from Christian scholars, because of their prejudices, so he turns to the Order of Hermes - and the saga’s covenant - for assistance. Most Greek and Arabic works are available to Ibrahim and his master, but Christian works by authors like St. Augustine, Boethius, Peter Abelard, Isidore of Seville are of great interest to him (see Art and Academe p 26 & 136-139). Unique works of philosophy created by Hermetic magi are even more interesting. The question is what the covenant will get out of the deal. Ibrahim is capable of notable feats such as creating a golem, but he certainly will not use his magic for non-kosher purposes. Perhaps the covenant can convince him to allow them to study his magic? Perhaps he has books to trade that will be of use to the covenant? How do things go wrong when a rival kabalist involves the local Church authorities - trying to stop this heretical synthesis of the holy and the mundane?