 Being raised in an East-European Jewish surrounding, Maimon’s thought was influenced by the major intellectual movements of this arena. Talmud, Kabbalah, contemporary Hassidism and medieval Jewish philosophy played a crucial role in the formation of Maimon’s philosophy as well as the style of his writings. The strongest influence was that of Maimonides, whose unbiased and strict rationalism Maimon took as a guiding example throughout his life (even when he no longer adhered to Maimonidean metaphysics). Following Maimonides, Maimon held intellectual perfection as the ultimate human end, and saw moral perfection merely as means for achieving this end. Like Maimonides, Maimon argued that God’s image in humanity is the intellect and that to the extent that we activate and develop our intellectual capacities we become closer and more similar to God.