Special Episode: Maimonides, With Earl Schwartz

As long promised, a conversation about Rabbi Moses Maimonides! Maimonides’ specific formula of teshuvah, the Jewish metaphor for personal change, is at the core of this entire podcast series. Jon Spira-Savett talks with Earl Schwartz, Jon’s own first teacher about moral philosophy and education. We discuss Maimonides and his ethical theory, his view of human psychology and motivation, and the role of the mind and thinking in moral development. Earl talks about Maimonides’ own life experiences and how they may have shaped his view of human nature and potential in his own time. Maimonides was an elitist, yet some of his perspectives have been transposed by others into a more democratic key. We also talk about Earl’s work exploring Lawrence Kohlberg’s cognitive-developmental theory and its application to Jewish education.

If you are here and looking for one of our more typical podcasts linked to a “Good Place” episode, click here for our own Chapter 1

Deeper Dives:

Here are complete sources versions of some foundational texts from Maimonides that we refer to, as translated on Sefaria. We haven’t checked the translations for nuance but certainly the overall conceptual frameworks are solid here. On Sefaria, you can select how to view texts — English or Hebrew only, or bilingual in different visual formats.

• Shmoneh P’rakim (Eight Chapters) — Essay on ethical philosophy and psychology presented as an introduction to his commentary on the Mishnah’s Pirkei Avot (often called “Ethics of the Fathers”)

• Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Teshuvah — Much-cited throughout Tov! for its particular teachings! Here is the whole text from start to finish of Maimonides’ treatise on the “laws of teshuvah” from his code of Jewish law

• Mishneh Torah, Hilchot De’ot — Treatise on intellectual, ethical, and spiritual virtue presented as laws in the code

An excellent conversation about all of Maimonides’ works and thought — scholar of law and Jewish philosophy Moshe Halbertal, author of Maimonides: Life and Thought, interviewed about his book by law professor Noah Feldman:

Lawrence Kohlberg’s stages of moral development (1971 formulation)

“Developing a Moral Education Curriculum” (2009) — a short essay by Earl about applying both the dilemma discussion and just community paradigms in Jewish education at the Talmud Torah of St. Paul, with some wider reflections

Earl Schwartz teaching about the story of the prophet Amos confronting the priest Amatziah. The episode from chapter 7 of Amos became the basis for one of the moral dilemma discussions for high school students in Earl’s book, Moral Development: A Practical Guide for Jewish Teachers:

Learn more about both Jon and Earl, and how to follow or find them, on our Hosts page!

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