orthodox conversion to judaism

Maimonides (RaMBaM 1135-1204) was the first person to write a systematic code of all Jewish law, the Mishneh Torah; he produced one of the great philosophic statements of Judaism,
The Guide to the Perplexed; published a commentary on the entire Mishnah; served as a physician to the sultan of Egypt; wrote numerous books on medicine; and served as leader of the Cairo's Jewish community.

Maimonides is known by the acronym of Rabbi Moses ben Maimo, RaMBaM. He was born in Spain. To avoid persecution by the Muslim sect - which wanted to offer Jews and Christians the choice of conversion to Islam or death - Maimonides fled with his family, first to Morocco, later to Israel, and finaly to Egypt. He apparently hoped to continue his studies for several more years, but when his brother David, a jewelery merchant, perished in the Indian Ocean with much of the family's fortune, he had to begin earing money. He probably started practising medicine at this time.

Maimonides's major contribution to jewish life is the Mishneh Torah, his code of Jewish law. His intention was to compose a book that would guide Jews on how to behave in all situations just by reading the Torah and Its code, without having to expend large amounts of time searchinf trough the Talmud. The Mishneh Torah became a standard guide to jewish practise: It later served as the model for the Shulchan Aruch, the sixteenth-century code of Jewish law that is still regarded as authoritative.