Moreh Hanevuchim - Guide for the Perplexed

Maimonides wrote the Guide for the Perplexed in Arabic "Dalalat al-hairin" with Hebrew characters, which was translated during his lifetime into Hebrew by Rabbi Samuel Ibn Tibbon. A second translation  was made later by Jehudah Alharizi. According to Avraham ben Harambam (Maimonide's son), the translation by Alharizi is inaccurate and therefore most of the modern translations were made from Ibn Tibbon's version.

Arabic Copies

There are two copies of the Arabic text in the British Library, and a number of copies in the Bodleain library. The Cairo Genizah in Cambridge contains two fragments in the original handwriting of Maimonides, according to Dr. H. Hirschfield, Jewish Quarterly Review (Vol. 15. p. 677).

Arabic copies at the Bodleian library (MS Numbers follow the Neubauer catalogue)

  1. No. 1236. The text is preceded by Jehudah Alharizi's index of the contents of the chapters, and by an index of Biblical  quotations. In the margin there are notes, containing omissions, by different hands, two in Arabic characters. The volume was written 1473.
  2. No. 1237. The Arabic text, with a few marginal notes and is preceded by three Hebrew poems.
  3. No. 1238. Text with a few marginal notes.
  4. No. 1239. The end of teh work in wanting in this copy. The second part has forty nine chapters, as the introduction to part 2 is counted as chapter 1; part 3 has fifty six chapters, the introduction being counted as chapter 1, and chapter 24 being divided into two chapters.
  5. No. 1240. Arabic text transcibed in Arabic chracters by Saadiah ben Levi Azankot for Professor golius in 1645.
  6. No. 1241. First part of Dalalat al-hairin, written by Saadiah ben Mordechai ben Mosheh in the year 1431.
  7. No. 1242. Contains the same part as 1241, but incomplete.
  8. No. 1243. Contain Part 2 of the Arabic text.
  9. No. 1244. Contain Part 2 of the Arabic text.
  10. No. 1245. Contain Part 2 of the Arabic text, but incomplete.
  11. No. 1246. Contain Part 2 of the Arabic text, but incomplete.
  12. No. 1247. Contains Part 3
  13. No. 1248. Contains Part 3, but incomplete.
  14. No. 1249. Contains Part 3, begins with chapter 3 and is incomplete, written in year 1291.
  15. No. 2508 includes a fragment of the original, with a Hebrew interlineary translation of some words and a few marginal notes. It is written in Yemen square characters, and is marked as "holy  property of the synagogue of Alsiani."
  16. No. 2422:16 contains a recension from the printed with commentaries on the margin in Arabic by Shem Tov and Ephodi.

Hebrew translations at the Bodleain Library

  1. No. 1250. An index of the passages from the Bible referred to in the work, and an index of the contents precede the version.
  2. No. 1251. This codex was written in 1675. The marginal notes contain omissions and explanations.
  3. No. 1252. The marginal notes the translator's remarks on Part 1, ch. 74 and Part 3, ch. 47. The version is followed by Ibn Tibbon's vocabulary, and his additional remarks on the reasons for the commandments. The MS. was brought by Samuel ben Moses from a Christian after the pillage of Padua, where it had belonged to a synagogue of foreigners (lo'azim); he gave it to the synagogue of the same character at Mantua.
  4. No. 1253. The marginal notes include that of the translator on Part 3 ch 47.
  5. No. 1254,1. Text with marginal notes containing omissions.
  6. The marginal notes various readngs, notes relating to Harizi's translation and the Arabic text; on fol. 80 there is a note in Latin. There are in this codex six epigrams concerning the Moreh.
  7. No. 1257. Text incomplete; with marginal notes.
  8. Fragments of the Version are contained in the following codices: 2047,3 p.65; 2283,8; 2309,2, and 2336.

Annotations on the Guide at the Bodleain Library

  1. No. 2218,s. Annotations by Maimonides himself on those passages, which the first translator was unable to comprehend. They are contained in a letter addresses to Samuel ibn Tabbon.
  2. No. 1252,1. A few notes added by Ibn Tibbon, the translator, which are found in the margin of MSS. of the Hebrew version of the Moreh on vol. 1 ch. 45 & ch. 74; Vol. 3 ch. 47.
  3. No. 1253, 1255, 1257. Notes by Ibn Tibbon

Commentaries on the Guide at the Bodleian Library

  1. No. 2385. Commentary by Abarbanel (Don Isaak), on Vol. 1 ch. 1-40 and vol. 2 ch. 31-45, edited by M. J. Landau, called Moreh Lizeddakah.
  2. No. 2360. A portion of Part III of a commentary by Abraham Abulafia, who wrote "Sodot ha-moreh," or Sitre-torah, a kabbalistic Commentary on the Moreh. He gives the expression, ‏גן ערן‎ (Paradise), for the number (177) of the chapters of the Moreh.
  3. No. 1263. David ben Yehudah Leon Rabbino wrote ‘En ha-more. He quotes in his Commentary among others ‘Arama's ‘Akedat yitzchak. The Preface is written by Immanuel ben Raphael Ibn Meir, after the death of the author.
  4. No. 2422, 16. Beginning of the commentary, Efodi, contained in an Arabic translation. Efodi is written by Isaac ben Moses, who during the persecution of 1391 had passed as Christian under the name of Profiat Duran. He returned to Judaism, and wrote against Christianity the famous satire "Al tehee ka-aboteka" ("Be not like your Fathers"), which misled Christians to cite it as written in favour of Christianity. It is addressed to the apostate En Bonet Bon Giorno. The same author also wrote a grammatical work, Ma‘aseh-efod. The name Efod (‏אפד‎), is explained as composed of the initials Amar Profiat Duran. His Commentary consists of short notes, explanatory of the text.
  5. No. 939, 2 & 1258, 2. Ephraim Al-Naqavah in Sha‘ar Kebod ha-shem answers some questions addressed to him concerning the Moreh.
  6. No. 1265. Gershon, Moreh-derek, Commentary on Part I. of the Moreh.
  7. No. 1911, 3. Joseph Giqatilia wrote notes on the Moreh, printed with "Questions of Shaul ha-kohen".

  8. No. 1262. Meir ben Jonah ha-mekunneh Ben-shneor wrote a commentary on the Moreh in Fez 1560.

  9. No. 1649, 13. Menachem Kara expounded the twenty-five propositions enumerated in the Introduction to Part II. of the Moreh.
  10. No. 2033, 8. Moses, son of Abraham Provençal, explains the passage in Part I. chap. lxxiii. Prop. 3, in which Maimonides refers to the difference between commensurable and incommensurable lines.
  11. No. 1261, written, 1547. Moses son of Solomon of Salerno, is one of the earliest expounders of the Moreh. He wrote his commentary on Parts I. and II., perhaps together with a Christian scholar. He quotes the opinion of "the Christian scholar with whom he worked together." Thus he names Petrus de Bernia and Nicolo di Giovenazzo. R. Jacob Anatoli, author of the Malmed ha-talmidim, is quoted as offering an explanation for the passage from Pirke di-rabbi Eliezer, which Maimonides (II. chap. xxvi.) considers as strange and inexplicable.
  12. No. 1267. Moses ha-katan, son of Jehudah, son of Moses, wrote To’aliyot pirke ha-maamar ("Lessons taught in the chapters of this work"). It is an index to the Moreh.
  13. Nos. 1260, 1264, 2, and 1266. Moses Narboni wrote a short commentary at Soria 1362. He freely criticizes Maimonides, and uses expressions like the following:--"He went too far, may God pardon him" (II. viii.).
  14. No. 2279, 1. Commentary by Tishbi. There are some marginal notes on Part III. which are signed Tishbi.
  15. No. 2360, 8. Contains a letter of Jehudah b. Shelomoh on some passages of the Moreh, and Zerahyah's reply

Anonymous Commentaries at the Bodleian Library

  1. No. 1264, I; 2282, 10; 2423, 3. Anonymous marginal notes on the Moreh.

Controversies

  1. No. 2240, 3a. Contains a document signed by Josselman and other Rabbis, declaring that they accept the teaching of Maimonides as correct, with the exception of his theory about angels and sacrifices.