In thirteenth-century Fustat, the grandson of the RaMBaM preached the weekly Torah portion to his congregation. Rabbi David ben Abraham Maimuni (c. 1222–1300), Nagid of the Jews of Egypt for the better part of six decades, took the high philosophy of the Guide of the Perplexed and brought it into the cadence of the sermon.

Written in Judaeo-Arabic and surviving in printed editions and scattered leaves of the Cairo Geniza, Midrash ha-Nagid has remained closed to English readers for seven centuries. This volume, the first in the House of Maimonides series, presents the opening instalment of the work in its first English translation: the author's introduction, the commentary on Perashat Bereshit, and the haftara of Bereshit.

This edition includes:

• A fresh translation from the printed editions (Alexandria 1914; Katsh, Jerusalem 1964–68)

• An introduction to the life and worldview of Rabbi David ha-Nagid

• A glossary of the Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew technical vocabulary

• An italic synopsis opening each section and an Editor's note closing it, written for the reader who approaches the text today

• Footnotes identifying the rabbinic sources and the Maimonidean parallels
  

For students of Torah, of Maimonides, and of the Jewish civilisation of medieval Egypt, this is the voice of the RaMBaM's house in its third generation, heard in English for the first time.