RULES TO LIVE BY

JEFFREY KATZ (NEW YORK, NEW YORK) is a lifelong student and teacher of rationalist religious philosophy. He became fascinated in his youth by hisdiscovery of the ancient wisdom of Maimonides and received rabbinic ordination while focusing on disseminating the ancient, life-changing wisdom he had uncovered. He is a practicing attorney, has appeared on national television and lectured widely on a broad range of issues, and is the author of The Secret Life: A Book of Wisdom from the Great Teacher.The author lives & works in the New York City metro area.

Praise for RULES TO LIVE BY: Maimonides' Guide to a Wonderful Life by Jeffrey Katz“We all know Rambam has lots of answers. A new book has put much of his practical wisdom for everyday living into one easy reading volume.”—The Jewish Press“Rules to Live By: Maimonides’ Guide to a Wonderful Life is a practical and easy-to-understand roadmap that we should all become familiar with, and try to apply in our own lives.”—The Jewish Press“In his book, RULES TO LIVE BY, Jeffrey Katz has accomplished something remarkable of which I am sure Socrates and Plato looking down from on high are quite jealous. He has taken the philosophic profundity of Maimonides and his philosophy and extracted from it the wisdom and guidance needed to imbue so many of life’s regular activities with practical wisdom, beauty, and holiness. This is a book for the scholar. This is a book for any person who seeks to enrich their daily life experiences. We are in Jeffrey Katz’s debt for this delightful contribution that will surely enhance the quality of life of anyone who reads it.— Rabbi Yehiel E. Poupko, Rabbinic Scholar at the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, and the author of Chana: A Life in Prayer"RULES TO LIVE BY is as useful as Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People. It lays out the practical genius of Maimonides in simple terms accessible to everyone. For any problem you may have in life, be it personal or professional, physical or spiritual, there is in this book, category-by-category and page-by-page, game-changing advice that can be put to good use right away. Jeffrey Katz has given us a gift with this masterpiece on the great master himself, Maimonides. Bravo!"— Martin Oliner, Board Member of B’nai B’rith, Member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, Committee Member of the Jewish Agency, and Co-President of RZA-Mizrachi     "RULES TO LIVE BY is an invaluable guide to how to live a successful, fulfilled and meaningful life in regard to one's work, family, health, and spiritual life.  Jeff Katz has created a tour de force in his "dialogue" with Maimonides and in his clear, crisp, and concise commentary upon that most influential thinker's advice. This work's wide scope provides the reader with the profound insights necessary to attain balance and inner contentment through the development of character and through the enlightenment of his or her spirit. I look forward to providing each of my young adult grandchildren with a copy.”— E. Robert Goodkind, member of the Executive Committee of the Jewish Broadcasting Service and Steering Committee of the American Jewish Committee led Jewish Religious Equality Coalition (J-REC) and former President of the American Jewish Committee, and former Chairman of the Boards of the Jewish Museum, the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. “This book achieves a rare feat: it is both inspiring and practical. Drawing on the wisdom of Maimonides, Jeffrey Katz delivers a range of invaluable insights about how to thrive in our personal and professional lives. The result is both eye-opening and heart-warming.”— David M. Schizer, Dean Emeritus and Harvey R. Miller Professor of Law, Columbia Law School"RULES TO LIVE BY is a life-coach in your pocket. This book can do for our generation what the I Ching (Chinese Book of Changes) did for the Chinese  —  when confronted with any challenge, just open to a page and read, and you will find guidance to a solution to your problem."— Edward Miller, Big 4 Accounting Firm Management Consulting Partner Emeritus and Former University Lecturer and Teacher in Philosophy

• RULES TO LIVE BY: Maimonides' Guide to a Wonderful Life by Jeffrey Katz is separated into seven sections, with practical steps and advice that readers can immediately apply in their day-to-day lives:Physical: Maimonides continually stresses preventative measures for good health. His focus is on maintaining excellent health and preventing disease, rather than on fighting illness once it has set in.Building a Strong Family: By continuing to cherish values such as family, and taking personal responsibility for their well-being, instead of looking to the authorities to do the job, we can recapture for ourselves many of our greatest ideals of honor, initiative and self-reliance that will serve as tools and blessings for us in all other aspects of our lives as well.Character is Key: Earning a reputation for honesty and integrity will raise the tone of your life in dramatic ways. It will cause others to view you as a serious prospect for all sorts of relationships, both personal and professional. It will draw others to you as someone they want to interact with on many different levels, and will propel you and your life forward. When combined with wisdom, your honesty and integrity will join with your wisdom in making you a valuable partner to most people and in most enterprises.Success on the Job: Consider what inspires you. What is it you REALLY care about? What would you like to be remembered for? What might you do that can help many people? Once you discover what inspires you, you will learn the secret of inspiring others AND yourself. MAKE THAT inspirational mission and challenge a part of your personal and professional life.Financial Wealth: One should strive to make the most of one’s financial situation. One way of doing this is to always be trading up from things that are temporary to things that endure. Invest in things with long-term value, real estate being one such example, rather than spending a lot of money on momentary pleasures or even on longer-lasting ones that are very costly.Focus on the Spiritual: By clearing your mind of all extraneous thoughts and purifying your concentration and focus on prayer, you will find it far easier to achieve focus on each of the other matters in your life that demand your attention and best thinking and problem-solving abilities. This is, in essence, a form of practiced meditation, whereby you practice clearing your mind of everything except your single desired focus, whether it be on God, in the case of prayer, or on any other issue in your life that you are intent on focusing on, and eliciting your best thoughts on. The ability to attain this type of focus and directed thinking is a powerful tool that will help you to be your best in many areas of your life.A Positive Mental Attitude: Overall happiness is a key to good health, spiritual development, and even material prosperity. And you can increase your overall happiness simply by acting that way. You may not be able to directly change your mood, but each of us can directly change his or her actions. By changing your behavior in this way, you will have taken a vital step toward improving your overall mood and spirits. Although achieved indirectly in this manner, the results obtained can be very tangible and real.By following these RULES TO LIVE BY, readers can help make themselves physically, psychologically, and morally sound, as stated in the Bible, “And you shall be holy for My sake, for I, God, am holy” (Leviticus 20:26).  Using these rules, readers can take cues from above rather than from below, and retain enough of these time-tested values to keep their bodies and our society at its strongest, healthiest, and most honorable.