Page "Maimonides" Paragraph 9

Following this sojourn in Morocco, together with two sons, he sojourned in the Holy Land, before settling in Fostat, Egypt around 1168.

While in Cairo he studied in Yeshiva attached to a small synagogue that bears his name.

In the Holy Land, he prayed at the Temple Mount.

He wrote that this day of visiting the Temple Mount was a day of holiness for himself and his descendants.

Maimonides shortly thereafter became instrumental in helping rescue Jews taken captive during the Christian King Amalric's siege of the Egyptian town of Bilbays.

He sent five letters to the Jewish communities of Lower Egypt asking them to pool money together to pay the ransom.

The money was collected and then given to two judges sent to Palestine to negotiate with the Crusaders.

The captives were eventually released.

Following this triumph the Maimonides family, hoping to increase their wealth, gave their savings to the youngest son David, a merchant.

Maimonides directed him to procure goods only at the Sudanese port of ‘ Aydhab.

After a long arduous trip through the desert, however, David was unimpressed by the goods on offer there, and, against his brother's wishes, boarded a ship for India since great wealth was to be found in the East.

Before he could reach his destination though, David drowned at sea sometime between 1169 – 1170.

The death of his brother caused Maimonides to become sick with grief.

In a letter discovered in the Cairo Geniza, he later explained: