UN’s Rambam mistake

SHMUEL BRUCK

Maimonides, also known as Rambam, an acronym for Rabbi Moshe ben Moshe, is hailed as one of the greatest Jewish scholars, writers and philosophers in history. His legal work covers most areas of Jewish faith and law, and he is often cited as the father of modern Jewish intellectualism. However, some are accusing the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) of casting doubt over Maimonides’ religious affiliation.

In July, YNET news reporter Giulio Meotti reported that Maimonides had been identified as Muslim in a UNESCO report. The Elder of Ziyon blog followed up on this reporting and quoted the document in a July 20 post.

In a December 2010 report on science in the Arab world, UNESCO printed in its French version: “[L]es noms de quelques savants européens apparaissaient dans la littérature scientifique à côté d’un grand nombre de savants musulmans, parmi lesquels Ibn Rushd (Averroès), Moussa ibn Maïmoun (Maïmonide), Tousi et Ibn Nafis.”

The English version, which UNESCO provided, reads: “[T]he names of a few European scholars appeared in scientific literature alongside a string of Muslim scientists, whose numbers include Ibn-Rushd (Averroès), Musa bin Memoun (Moses ben Maimonides), Tousi and Ibn-Nafis.”

Others have taken notice, as well. “This is not the first time that UNESCO has changed history to replace Jews with Muslims,” wrote William A. Jacobson, an associate clinical professor at Cornell University’s law school. “They have been prolific in Islamicizing sites long considered to have religious and historical importance to the Jewish people.”

Similar claims criticizing UNESCO’s political agenda have been made by Jewish organizations in the past regarding its categorization of Jewish holy sites such as Rachel’s Tomb (Kever Rachel) and the Cave of the Patriarchs (Ma’arat HaMachpelah).

When contacted directly by the Algemeiner Jewish newspaper for comment, a UNESCO spokesperson replied, “UNESCO acknowledges that there was indeed an important and regrettable error in the chapter devoted to Arab states in the UNESCO Science Report published in 2006, which refers to Maimonides as a Muslim scholar. Despite the vigile [vigilance] of our editors, errors unfortunately do occasionally occur.”

The representative declined to comment further.

This article originally appeared in the Algemeiner. It is reprinted with permission.

^TOP