When enumerating the Ketuvim, why does Ramba"m omit Ezra / Nechemia?

Question

In Ramba"m Sefer Ahava, Laws of Tefillin Mezuzot Sefer Torah ch 7, hal. 15, when he enumerates the order of writing Ketuvim, he omits Ezra / Nechemia. Why?

Answer 1

Several rabbinic commentators raised this question without being able to answer it:

R. Noach Simcha Faks pointed out this omission and noted that in the Talmudic source-text in Bava Batra 14b, Ezra is enumerated as one of the books:

Kovetz He'arot Hatemimim V'an"sh Chag HaSukkot Gilyon Noach p. 66

הנה יש להעיר דמקור דברי הרמב"ם בהל' הנ"ל בגמ' במס' בבא בתרא דף י"ד ע"ב איתא דסדרן של כתובים רות וספר תהלים ואיוב ומשלי קהלת שיר השירים וקינות דניאל ומגילת אסתר עזרא ודברי הימים עכ"ל וא"ב צ"ב למה השמיט הרמב"ם ספר עזרא בהל' הנ"ל ואלי י"ל שיש בזה טה"ד

R. Yaakov Yechizkiya Fish writes that he does not know why Rambam left out Ezra:

M'Ta'amei Yaakov Likutim

וזה לשון הרמב"ם פ"ז מהלכות ס"ת הלכה ט"ו וסדר הכתובים רות ותהלים ואיוב ומשלי וקהלת ושיר השירים וקינות ודניאל ומגילה ודברי הימים ע"כ

ולא ידעתי למה השמיט הרמב"ם עזרא

R. Chizkiah Feivel Plaut writes that it requires further analysis why Rambam left out Ezra:

Likutei Chaver Ben Chaim

צ"ע למה שבק עזרא וכ"ה בב"ב שם

This question is also mentioned in Degel Machaneh Reuven, with the answer that it's simply missing from some editions but appears in others. The author writes that all the later editions that he checked were missing Ezra, and the only one that he found that had Ezra was the Rome 1480 edition:

ואמנם בכל ההוצאות האחרונות של ספר הרמב"ם שבדקתי הושמט ספר עזרא ורק בהוצאה הראשונה שנדפסה ברומא בשנת ר"מ מצאתי שמובא שם גם ספר עזרא כפי שתיקן הגר"ח שליט"א ע"פ הגמרא בבבא בתרא

However, I checked 18 printed editions and 28 manuscripts and the vast majority had Ezra listed. Every single manuscript and 14 out of the 18 printed editions had Ezra listed while only four of the printed editions did not have it. Based on this I think we can pretty definitively say that Rambam did not omit Ezra, and we simply have a phenomenon where an error crept into a handful of printed editions.

Below are images of the various editions, starting with those that do not have Ezra, followed by those that do have Ezra, followed by the manuscripts:

Printed Editions Without Ezra

1) Jerusalem 2006

2)

3) Leipzig 1862

4) Jerusalem 1982

Printed Editions With Ezra

1) Jerusalem 1975 (facsimile of Spanish/Portugal pre-1492)

2) Venice 1574

3) Venice 1615

4) Jerusalem 2001 (R. Nachum Rabinovitch)

5) R. Yosef Kafih 4th edition 2004

6)

7) Venice 1550

8)

9) Jerusalem 1958 (Mossad Harav Kook)

10) Jerusalem 2006 (Sheilat)

11)

12)

This one seems to be just a slight variant of the previous one (neither one has publishing information)

13) New York 1985 (Facsimile of old printed editions found in Cairo Geniza)

14) Jerusalem-Benei Brak 2017 (Frankel)

I have no image for this one, but here is the text of the relevant section of the Yalkut Shinuyei Nuschaot (Collection of textual Variants):

ועזרא כ"ה בכתה"י (חוץ מכית"ט וכית"נ וכיס"א) ובדפו"ס א' ובדפו"י ובשל"ד. בכית"ט וכית"נ וכיס"א ובשאל' עזרא. בדפו"ס ב' וספר עזרא. בדפו"א ליתא (בברדיט' הובא בסוגרים

Manuscripts

1) MS Kaufmann A 77

2) Oxford Huntington 80

3) The National Library of Russia, St. Petersburg, Russia Ms. EVR I 196

4) The British Library, London, England Or. 1486

5) The National Library of France, Paris, France Ms. hebr. 339

6) Hebrew Union College Library, Cincinnati, OH, USA Ms. 671

7) The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, New York, NY, USA Ms. 8282

8) The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, Oxford, England Ms. Can. Or. 78

9) Austrian National Library, Vienna, Austria Cod. hebr. 1

10) The Palatina Library, Parma, Italy Cod. Parm. 2760

11) The National Library of Russia, St. Petersburg, Russia Ms. EVR I 193

12) The National Library of Russia, St. Petersburg, Russia Ms. EVR I 191

13) The British Library, London, England Or. 10041

14) The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, New York, NY, USA Ms. 6100

15) The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, Oxford, England Ms. Marsh 116

16) The National Library of France, Paris, France Ms. hebr. 338

17) The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, New York, NY, USA Ms. 6137

18) The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, New York, NY, USA Ms. 6509

19) The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, New York, NY, USA Ms. 6105

20) The National Library of Russia, St. Petersburg, Russia Ms. EVR I 207

21) The National Library of France, Paris, France Ms. hebr. 341

22) The Palatina Library, Parma, Italy Cod. Parm. 3275

23) The British Library, London, England Add. 17056

24) The National Library of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel Ms. Heb. 4°367

25) Braginsky Collection of Hebrew Manuscripts and Printed Books, Zurich, Switzerland Ms. 345

26) The Palatina Library, Parma, Italy Cod. Parm. 2604

27) The Palatina Library, Parma, Italy Cod. Parm. 3149

28) The British Library, London, England Or. 10042