MAIMONIDES ONLINE.

The internet helps fulfill a medieval will at HARAMBAM:

The Bodleian Libraries are the proud custodian of Maimonides' authorized manuscript copy of his major halachic work, the Mishneh Torah, a code meant to collect disparate rulings and to present them "succinctly and clearly, so that all the Oral Torah will be easily accessible to all." ... A later owner of the copy, a certain Eleazar, son of Perahya, stipulated in his will that this and the other volumes of the Code (now lost) should remain in the public domain for consultation....

In line with the will of Eleazar ben Perahya the Bodleian Libraries have always granted access to this precious document of Jewish Law. Conservation concerns and practical considerations, however, have thus far limited the possibility of consulting this authorized version of the Code. Modern technology once and for all has overcome these limitations and enables the Bodleian Libraries in an unexpected way to perform the religious duty (mizvah) of fulfilling the words of the deceased by giving universal access to the Mishneh Torah, authorized and approved by Maimonides.

Click on "Read the Manuscript" and you get a beautiful, zoomable reproduction of each page. (Thanks, Paul!)

Posted by languagehat at December 15, 2010 08:01 PM