Moses, rabbinic view; in medieval Jewish thought; modern interpretations

Originally published in the Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 12 (1972), pp. 393-5; 399-402. RABBINIC VIEW A marked ambivalence is to be observed in the Jewish tradition with regard to the personality of Moses. On the one hand, Moses is the greatest of all the Jewish teachers, a powerfully numinous figure, the man with whom God speaks “face…