Maymūn ha-Dayan

Maymūn ben Joseph ha-Dayan (“the judge”) is best known as the father of Moses Maimonides (Moses ben Maymūn). Descended from a long rabbinic dynasty, Maymūn studied in Spain with Joseph Ibn Migash and in the talmudic academy in Lucena, and he came to serve as the head of the Jewish court in the city of Córdoba. Maymūn fled that city sometime after the Almohads invaded al-Andalus (Muslim Spain) in 1148. His family landed in Fez before moving to Fustāt (Old Cairo). Among his surviving writings are short talmudic commentaries, the “Letter of Consolation,” and a few responsa. His grandson Abraham preserved some quotations from his otherwise lost commentary on the Torah.