ABSTRACT
Born in 1754 in a small village on the Niemen, Salomon Maimon was taught Hebrew and Talmud by his father, and also in the "Cheder" of the nearest townlet, until, at the age of seven, he was able to study the Talmud on his own. Maimon loved and respected Jews and Judaism to the end of his days. The subjects dealt with in Hebrew books, Maimon tells, had a much greater fascination for him than the "complicated Talmudical discussions on matters in which a child could not be interested". "He who understands the Talmud understands everything," Salomon was informed reproachfully. But Salomon was not so easily restrained. The school is commonly a small smoky hut, and the children are scattered, some on benches, some on the bare earth. In defending the Talmud and its teachings against the charges made by Eisenmenger in his Entdecktes Judentum, Maimon gives many ingenious expositions and philosophical interpretations which betray the influence of Maimonides.
