My   grandfather once attended a conference on the subject of Maimonides, and the multifarious achievements of this famous medieval Jewish polymath were made manifest in the variety of topics that were discussed. One scholar stood up and spoke of “Maimonides as a philosopher”; another addressed Maimonides’s achievements as a physician; still another spoke of the Sephardic sage as a Talmudist. At a certain point, someone sitting next to my grandfather turned to him and innocently asked: “When