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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Secrets of the Law and Truth: An Introduction to Maimonides’ Philosophical Reconstruction of Rabbinic Judaism
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1 Galatasaray Üniversitesi, Fen-Edebiyat Fakültesi, Felsefe Bölümü 34349, İstanbul,
Türkiye
Received: 26 July 2025 | Published online: 29 December 2025
© 2025 by the Authors. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC-by the license) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ )
Abstract
This article examines Maimonides’ attempt to integrate philosophy (particularly Aristotelian physics and metaphysics) into the legal-hermeneutical core of rabbinic Judaism by reconstructing the lost esoteric teachings of the Oral Torah, especially those concerning the Account of the Beginning (Maʿaseh Bereshit) and the Account of the Chariot (Maʿaseh Merkavah). Focusing on Maimonides’ philosophical and halakhic writings, it explores how he redefines the “secrets of the Torah” not as mystical doctrines, but as philosophical truths grounded in reason and embedded within the Jewish sacred literature. The article also highlights Maimonides’ pedagogical model, based on gradual revelation and esoteric interpretation, aimed at addressing the existential and intellectual crisis of the “perplexed” Torah scholar. It argues that although Maimonides presents his project as a restoration of a lost rabbinic wisdom, it in fact entails a radical reconfiguration of the epistemological and doctrinal foundations of Judaism on both legal and theological levels.
Keywords
Maimonides
Rabbinic Judaism
oral law
esoteric interpretation
philosophy.
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