A Maimonides statue in Córdoba was defaced. His writings have an answer to hate - opinion

A bronze statue of Maimonides, widely regarded as one of Judaism's greatest thinkers, was vandalized with a swastika sprayed on its pedestal in Córdoba, Spain. The incident, which occurred between Friday night and Saturday morning, targeted the statue in the city's historic Jewish quarter.

While some might attempt to link such acts to contemporary political issues like Israel, the article strongly refutes this connection. Maimonides died over 700 years before the creation of the state of Israel and had only a brief connection to the land. Vandalizing his statue is framed as a direct assault on Judaism itself. Córdoba's city council recognized this, condemning the act as an "attack on heritage" and a "message of hate of extreme gravity."

The piece posits that if the statue could speak, it would not focus on the vandal but on the broader implications of hatred. Drawing from Maimonides's own philosophy, the author suggests that hatred stems from ignorance and a lack of wisdom. The vandal, it is argued, knew only the symbol of the swastika, not the man or his legacy.

Moses ben Maimon, born in Córdoba around 1135, experienced firsthand the impact of intolerance when the Almohads conquered the city in 1148, forcing its non-Muslim population to convert or leave. His writings, particularly the "Guide for the Perplexed" and the "Epistle to Yemen," addressed the nature of cruelty and hatred, tracing them to a lack of wisdom. Maimonides's response to crises, like the forced conversions in Yemen, was not merely consoling but also reframed the situation, emphasizing resilience and understanding in the face of persecution.