Cordoba Prepares

Cordoba, Spain.

The City of Cordoba, together with other Spanish and foreign organizations, is making extensive preparations to commemorate the eighth centenary of one of its greatest sons, Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, philosopher known to the civilized world as Maimonides.

Born March 30, 1135, this great scholar, through his illustrious work, “The Guide of the Perplexed,” and other volumes, earned the appellation by his biographers of the “greatest fixed star of his time.”

The exemplary life led by Maimonides during his exile in Egypt, when he was the court physician of the Sultan Saladin, bears eloquent testimony of his wisdom. In the year 1204 death overtook him and he was buried in Tiberias. His career was a happy expression of a genial and distinguished personality.

Literary festivals, which will glorify his name; publications, which will renew his fame; commemorations in stone which will perpetuate the public exaltation; all will find their climax in Madrid, Egypt and other countries glorifying the universal fame of Maimonides.

The Organizing Committee for the commemorative festivals has opened a public competition—in which everybody writing in the Spanish language may participate—for three papers, dealing with the following subjects: “Maimonides as Philosopher,” “Maimonides as Physician” and a “Biography of Maimonides.”

The three works to be accepted will bear a prize of 500 pesetas each. The prizes have been offered by the “Academia de Cordoba” on behalf of medical organizations and educational centers in Madrid.

The papers, which must be accompanied by the name of the author in a sealed envelope, must reach the “Catedra de Hebreo del Instituto Nacional de Segunda Ensenanza de Cordoba” before March 1, 1935. They will be judged by a committee of Spanish professors.

The Organizing Committee has granted the right to the “Academia de Cordoba,” to publish the prize-winning papers.

A committee has also been formed in Madrid, entrusted with the organization of the Cordoba festivals. Cristobal de Castro is president.

At a meeting of the committee it was decided to erect at Cordoba a monument for the Rambam. The committee will further publish, by subscription, the works of this great mediaeval thinker. The committee also decided to sponsor memorial meetings at Madrid, Cordoba, Morocco and Egypt, where this famous Andalusian lived and wrote. Members of the committee will approach the High Commissioners of Spanish and French Morocco, as well as the Jewish communities in Morocco and Egypt, to ask their support in organizing celebrations in these countries.

Dr. Israel Efros, professor of philosophy at Buffalo University, will be principal speaker tonight at a forum on the life and influence of Moses Maimonides, under the auspices of the Brooklyn Jewish Center, 667 Eastern parkway.