163 5 Models of Spirituality in Medieval Jewish Philosophy Daniel J. Lasker Medieval Jewish philosophers did not have a speciic concept of hu- man spirituality in the modern sense of the term, although they did distinguish between the physical and the non-physical, or spiritual, aspects of existence. God was the ultimate non-physical being, hav- ing neither a body nor any physical properties.1 Other non-physical 1 See, for instance, Maimonides’ formulation in the third of his thirteen principles of Judaism in his Commentary on the Mishnah, Introduction to Chapter H ̣ elek (Sanhedrin, chapter 10); the Arabic text can be found in Israel Friedlaender, Selec- tions from the Arabic Writings of Maimonides (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1951), pp. 28–9; a medieval Hebrew translation is available in Hakdamot le-Feirush ha-Mishnah, ed. by M.D. Rabinowitz (Jerusalem: Mossad ha-Rav Kook, 1961), pp. 137–8. Cf. also Yosef Kaih, Mishnah im Peirush Rabbeinu Moshe ben Maimon, vol. 4 (Jerusalem: Mossad ha-Rav Kook, 1964), p. 211. A convenient English translation can be found in Menachem Kellner, Dogma in Medieval Jewish hought (Oxford: Littman Library, 1986), pp. 11–12.