Leo Strauss on Al Farabi's manner of reading and imitating Plato. "American Academy for Jewish Research", Louis Ginzberg: Jubilee Volume; 1945, PDF 45 pp. Someone has written: "Farabi’s Plato" is Leo Strauss’ mature interpretation of the tradition of Platonism as it had been passed down though the writings of the great philosophers living under the dispensation of Biblical Revelation, existing then as the authoritative Divine Law. Published in 1945, this essay was, until now, almost impossible to obtain, although it remains an, or rather, the indispensable guide for those wishing to learn about the classical art of esoteric writing, to witness the mastery of that supreme art by the likes of Al-Farabi, Maimonides, Ibn Ruschd (Averroes), Judah Halevi, and Ibn Tufail - to name only a few. Without an appreciation of this tradition the meaning of Modernity is utterly and hopelessly obscured. Modern thought itself - beginning with Machiavelli and Bacon - simply cannot be understood without a profound awareness of the Islamic-Judeo Platonic tradition. Until the publication of Leo Strauss’ beautifully lucid and subtle interpretations this tradition had fallen into sheer oblivion, while scholars groped and wandered confusedly in the dark for "histories" of philosophy, "contexts", or amused themselves with empty and vain "epistemologies" of color. Strauss’ essay is hewn from granite, and is one of the cornerstones for his epic teaching regarding the History of Political Philosophy. It also provides a key to unlock the long corridor to understanding the eternal opposition between Athens and Jerusalem. For those interested in Martin Heidegger, Leo Strauss’ recovery of the esoteric tradition illuminates the problem of Being (Sein) more tastefully (and thereby more profoundly) through the encounter with the ancients. If this essay is carefully and thoughtfully read, it will, in a word, embark the student on a journey through the ideas of the Falasifa, and ultimately to Socrates as written by "the Divine Plato".