What is the “Mishneh Torah”?

 “Mishneh Torah” {משנה תורה} is the Hebrew name for the most comprehensive work that has ever been written about the Jewish rabbinic Oral Law until this very day. It was written during the years 1170-1180 CE, by Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon, who is also known as “Rambam” {רמב”ם} in Hebrew or Maimonides in English. Maimonides is one of the most important and influential of the rabbis and philosophers of the Middle Ages. “Mishneh Torah” has fourteen books and each book is divided into different topics, and that is the reason for the more common name of these books – “Ha-yad Ha-Chazaka” {היד החזקה} (Hebrew for “the strong hand”) which stands for the numerical value of the Hebrew letters that constitutes the word “Yad” {יד} (hand in Hebrew). You will probably recognize this famous wise quote but perhaps have never known who said it originally: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”- Maimonides