Among the intellectual luminaries dotting the millennia of Jewish history, none shines brighter than Moses Maimonides (1138–1204). This lecture will explore aspects of his impact and influence through a study of materiality, specifically the production and dissemination of textual objects. It will combine intellectual, reception, and book historical research to offer a perspective on reading, writing, study, and developments therein from the medieval period until contemporary times.
David Sclar studies Jewish history and culture in the early modern period. He earned his doctorate in history at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and has held postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Toronto, Harvard University, Princeton University, and the University of Oxford. His research explores book history, individual intention and communal identity, and the correlation between intellectual and social history. He is the curator of the exhibition The Golden Path: Maimonides Across Eight Centuries - open through December at the Yeshiva University Museum in New York City - and editor of the volume of the same name.