Each Generation and Its Maimonides: The Maimonides of Rabbi Aharon Kotler

This chapter analyses the way in which Rabbi Aharon Kotler presented Maimonides' thought. It discusses how Rabbi Kotler played a crucial role in the shaping of the haredi world view in the twentieth century. It also mentions the different elements of Orthodox Judaism that have endorsed Maimonides as an authority granting legitimacy on each generation and commentator. The chapter describes the Lubavitcher Rebbe and the Leibowitzer Rebbe who considered themselves Maimonides' contemporary spokesmen. It looks at the dovish Meimad movement in Israeli politics that adopted Rabbi Kotler and their hawkish religious-Zionist opponents, while a pale kabbalistic hue colours the Maimonides of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik.