Moreh nevukhe ha-zeman (Guide for the Perplexed of Our Time)

Nachman Krochmal

1800-1840

According to the workings of the natural order there are three periods through which each primordial nation passes from the time it comes into being until it passes from the scene and perishes:

  1. The period of first growth, during which the spirit is born. [ . . . ] This spirit transforms the material parts of the nation into organic units, integrated…
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Creator Bio

Nachman Krochmal

1785–1840

Born in Brody and living most of his life in Zólkiew (Zhovkve), Nachman Krochmal was a major, self-taught figure of the Haskalah in Galicia. He was a historian and biblical critic who emphasized the oral transmission of Jewish law. Studying Kabbalah and philosophical works by Maimonides, Nahmanides, and Ibn Ezra, he also embraced the teachings of Kant, Hegel, and other German thinkers. Krochmal’s magnum opus was his Moreh nevukhe ha-zeman (Guide for the Perplexed of Our Time), which in the spirit of Maimonides addressed questions of the modern age. Despite his scholarship, Krochmal was not a prolific writer.

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