Dear Maimonides: A Discourse on Religion and Science

Yosef ben Yehudah ibn Shimon was one of Maimonides' favorite disciples. In fact, it was originally and exclusively to him that Maimonides revealed his deepest secrets about philosophy and theology in his Guide for the Perplexed. In Dear Maimonides, Yosef finds himself miraculously transported to North America of the twentieth century, some eight centuries into his future, and begins to write a series of letters to his old mentor, describing the changes that have taken place to the world in general and to the Jewish people in particular. He discusses history, geography, anthropology, man's great inventions, the economy, modern Jewish practices, the different branches of Judaism, God, the Torah, and other essential themes. By developing a new and empirical worldview that incorporates the teachings of both the ancient and the modern Jew, Yosef provides a clear conception of humanity's role as God's creation and of the role the Jewish people play as a light unto nations and as leaders toward the messianic age.