author
M. (Michael) Friedländer
1833–1910
A leading Jewish scholar and educator in Victorian London, he helped open classic Jewish thought to English-speaking readers. He is especially remembered for his influential translation of Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed and for shaping Jews' College into a serious rabbinical seminary.
1 Audiobook
The Jewish religion
by M. (Michael) Friedländer
About the author
Born in Jutrosin, Prussia, in 1833, Michael Friedländer studied at the universities of Berlin and Halle while also pursuing traditional Jewish learning. That mix of academic and rabbinic study shaped the rest of his career as a scholar of Hebrew, Judaism, and the wider world of Oriental studies.
He first worked in Berlin, then moved to London in 1865 to become principal of Jews' College. Under his leadership, the college developed into an important center for Jewish learning and rabbinical training in Britain, and he became a respected figure in Anglo-Jewish education.
Friedländer wrote and edited works on Jewish religion and history, but he is best known for bringing major Jewish texts to English readers. His translation of Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed was widely valued for many years, and it helped make a demanding medieval classic far more accessible to students and general readers alike.