There are many reasons why our beloved school is called Maimonides.
Chiefly because Maimonides, Rambam, was one of the Chachmei HaMesorah, the great Torah scholars who passed down our halacha and tradition as part of the chain that runs from Sinai until today.
Possibly because Maimonides was a physician, a long-time aspiration for our students and alumni, immortalized in our athletic teams’ mascot, the M-Cat.
And also because Maimonides' worldview is one that resonated deeply with our illustrious founder, the Rav zt"l, and with our community until this day.
Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to study with my students one of Rambam's thoughts buried in the Mishnah commentary to Sanhedrin, the tractate we are studying this year in the Upper School.
One of the foundations of the Torah is that a human being should delve, in this world, in one of two things: either in the Torah (to complete one's soul with wisdom), or with work (that has the purpose for them in perpetuating existence, or craft or commerce).
Rambam, echoing both Aristotle and the Talmud, says the mission of the human being on Earth has two components: Torah study, thereby coming closer to G-d, and work, thereby enabling society to function. At any given moment we choose one or the other, but over a lifetime of moments, we should be doing both.
Maimonides has authored a mission statement for the Jew: Study Torah and work to improve society and existence.
At Maimonides, our students study Torah – half the mission – and also study the arts and sciences necessary to enable them to improve society and existence – the other half. As the Rav wrote in The Lonely Man of Faith, our very creation is presented in the Torah as having these two poles: coming closer to G-d, and developing the world in which we live. Many Jews have felt this across the centuries, but none have formulated it as succinctly as Maimonides: "Study Torah, and engage in melacha." We do not have a unipolar mission, we have two separate goals. That makes our school unique and special.
Tomorrow we will mark Rosh HaShanah, the day when humanity was created 5787 years ago. As we celebrate the collective birthday of all of humanity, it is worth reflecting upon why we are here: To come closer to Hashem, and to make our world more livable – safer, more advanced, more peaceful, and more enriched.
And it all starts here at Maimonides.
Shanah tovah u’metukah.
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