This Erev Pesach marks the end of “Maimonides Year.” which was observed on the occasion of the 850th anniversary of the birth of the great sage.
Though scholars now agree that the Rambam was born on Erev Pesach of the year 1138 and not in 1135, as was believed for a long time, the latter date was chosen by the initiators of the anniversary celebrations on account of its popularity.
The anniversary was marked by Jews and non-Jews alike. In 1935 when the 800th anniversary of the Rambam’s birth was celebrated, festivities were held in Cordoba, Spain, with the participation of Jewish shcolars and representatives from abroad. This year too, Jewish scholars met at Maimonides’ birthplace to observe the anniversary.
Last summer, selected mansucripts and printed books were exhibited at the Jewish Natioanl and University Library in Jerusalem. The main section of the exhibition was devoted to a display of Maimonides’ halakhic, philosophical and medical writings.
Special symposiums and other events relating to the Rambam took place during “Maimonides Year.” Numerous books, studies and articles about his life and teachings were published. One book appeared in the Eastern block. It was a Hungarian translation of the “Rambam, his life and his works,” by Bert W. Strassburger, and was printed in Budapest.
Strassburger’s small volume was first published in Hebew and in English in Israel in 1983. It represents a lecture the author had origally delivered in Geman at the Bnai Brith Lodge in Frankfurt on the Main in 1976.
My wife and I first met Strassburg when we visited Frankfurt in the summer of 1983. He is a successful businessman, who devotes much time to study and philanthropic acitivities. A native of Arad, Rumania, he studid as a youth in yeshiva. He has been a devotee of the Rambam throughout his life.
Walking in the footsteps of Maimonides the outstanding rabbinic commentator and codifier, and renowned medical authority, Strassburger has been a generous supporter of Torah institutions as well as of hospitals and medical research.
In 1979 on the occasion of the twety-fifth wedding anniversary, he and his wife Helene contributed towads the establishment of the surgical metabolism and nutritious unit aat Jerusalem’s Hadaasssah hospital. Last summer the couple donated an operating room at the same hospital in honor of the thirtieth birthday of their first-born- Robert Aaron.
Strassbruger is also prominently associated with the World ORT Union.
In 1984 he participated in the publication of the English edition of “Codex Maimuni” – the illuminated pages of the Kaufmann Mishne Torah manuscript. Incidentally at the request of Strassburger, a copy of “Codex Maimnui” was placed outside the door of Hadaassah’s new operating wing in Jerusalem. Strassburger explained: “I believe that a frightened patient going in for an operation can draw comfort and courage by thinking of healing and Maimonides and the Law.’
His “Monograph on the Rambam, which is a precise and concise work containing fine summaries of Maimonides activities and writngs, he dedicated to his firt grandson, Daniel Moshe.
The Hungarian edition of the volume was published by the Central office of Hungarian Jews and carries a foreward by the late Dr. Alexander Scheiber.
My good friend, Dr. Menachem Schmelzer, who recently visited Hungary told me that Strassbruger’s book was very well received. It is popular among Jews and is read by many non-Jews.
The Jewish Press, Friday, April 25, 1986 p. 11