Maimonides In Religious-Zionist Philosophy: Unity Vs. Duality

This chapter presents various images of Maimonides that developed in religious-Zionism and, in particular, to clarify the attitude of its thinkers toward the Guide. From the perspective of the history of ideas the significant question can be formulated as: Is there a religious-Zionist reading of Maimonides? Was Maimonides interpreted in a particular or even unique way in religious-Zionist thought? Unquestionably, Maimonides was an important symbol in the weaving of religious-Zionist doctrine. The chapter focuses on a view that is sometimes direct and intuitive and sometimes the product of deeper scrutiny, dealing with the obvious complementarity between the two works Mishneh Torah and Guide of the Perplexed. Maimonides' figure was an icon in the controversy over the acceptable level of openness to general culture, as well as the depth of the mutual relationship between the Jewish heritage on the one hand, and western culture and its philosophical foundations on the other.