The epitaph on Maimonides's tombstone reads, "From Moses (the prophet) to Moses, there was none like Moses (Maimonides)." The name, "Moses Maimonides" (1138-1204) is an acronym for his Hebraic name Moses ben Maimon). For centuries, yeshiva scholars and students alike affectionately refer to him by the epithet, "the Rambam." Just as the original Moses became the founder of the religion of ancient Israel, Moses Maimonides redefined Judaism for the future generations-more so than any other Judaic thinker or Halakhic scholar who came before or after him. Modern Judaism owes its conceptual and legal foundations to this remarkable thinker. This remarkable person occupies a rare position in the annals of Jewish history and is widely considered as one of the greatest Jewish thinkers and philosophers who ever lived, Maimonides stature reached almost mythic proportions. Jews of all modern religious persuasions-from the ultra-liberal to the Haredi branches of Orthodoxy each claim Maimonides as their patron hero. Both Christian and Islamic thinkers held Maimonides (who refer to him as Musa ibn Maymun in Arabic writings) in high regard.

Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel is the son of a Holocaust survivor. He holds two rabbinic ordinations from the Tomchei Temimim Lubavitch Yeshiva of 770 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn and holds a D. Min degree from the San Francisco Theological Seminary. He is an avid student of the Greek classics, Biblical and Talmudic scholarship, Jungian Psychology, Western Medieval Theology, Modern Philosophy, and 20th century psychology. He is the author of The Lord Is My Shepherd: The Theology of the Caring God (1996), Birth and Rebirth Through Genesis (2010), A Shepherd's Song: Psalm 23 and the Shepherd Metaphor In Jewish Thought (2014), Rediscovering Philo of Alexandria: A First Century Jewish Commentator (Volumes, 1-5), (2014-2018) and Gentle Judaic Wisdom (2019).