The Ramban Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman
( information from JewishEncyclopedia.com)
For video presentation, go to:
MOSES BEN NAḤMAN GERONDI (RaMBaN; known
also as Naḥmanides and Bonastruc da Porta):
By: Joseph Jacobs, Wilhelm Bacher, Isaac Broydé
Spanish Talmudist,
exegete, and physician; born at Gerona (whence his name "Gerondi") in
1194 .Besides rabbinics, Moses studied & practiced medicine…extensive
knowledge of philosophy. Just past puberty, began to be counted among the
Talmudical authorities of his time. In his sixteenth year he commenced to
compose compendiums of some parts of the rabbinical law… To him the wisdom of
the ancients was unquestionable, and their utterances were to be neither
doubted nor criticized.
He lived in Catalonia,
hence, his involvement in the Disputation of Barcelona, which he won, and as a
result, was exiled. Moses left Aragon and sojourned for three years somewhere
in Castile or in southern France. In 1267 he emigrated to Palestine, and, after
a short stay in Jerusalem, settled at Acre, where he was very active in
spreading Jewish learning, which was at that time very much neglected in the
Holy Land. … wrote the greatest of his works, commentary on the Pentateuch.
Although surrounded by friends and pupils, Moses keenly felt the pangs of
exile. "I left my family, I forsook my house. There, with my sons and
daughters, the sweet, dear children I brought up at my knees, I left also my
soul. My heart and my eyes will dwell with them forever."
Moses died after
having passed the age of seventy, and his remains were interred at Haifa, by
the grave of Jehiel of Paris. died in Palestine about 1270
His Perspective
the rapid progress
made by Greco-Arabic philosophy among the Jews of Spain and Provence after the
appearance of the "Moreh Nebukim" gave rise to a tendency to
allegorize Biblical narratives and to refuse credit to the miraculous element
in the Talmud. Moses strove, against , went to the other extreme…
[Note-refused to be
part of “ cancel culture “ of his day.]
However, the great
respect he professed for Maimonides … led him to assume the rôle of a
conciliator. In a letter addressed to the French rabbis he draws attention to
the virtues of Maimonides . . . As to the "Guide," it was intended
not for those of unshaken belief, but for those who had been led astray by the
works of Aristotle and Galen.
Opening of the Book of Leviticus in a Mikraot gedolot editon that features the major Bible Commentators. The Ramban, at the bottom , dominates the page. |
His chef-d'œuvre. …
Moses brought into play his peculiar genius, his warm and tender disposition,
and his mystical visions. His exposition, rendered in a most attractive style
and intermingled with haggadic and cabalistic interpretations, is based upon
careful philology and original study of the Bible. . . .While Maimonides
endeavored to reduce the miracles of the Bible to the level of natural
phenomena, Moses emphasized them, declaring that "no man can share in the
Torah of our teacher Moses unless he believes that all our affairs, whether
they concern masses or individuals, are miraculously controlled, and that
nothing can be attributed to nature or the order of the world." Next to
belief in miracles Moses places three other beliefs, which are, according to
him, the foundations of Judaism, namely, the belief in creation out of nothing,
in the omniscience of God, and in divine providence.
Moses' share in the
development of the Cabala, though universally recognized, was rather moral than
literal; he sanctioned it by the great authority of his name, but not by any
contributive activity.
He finds, In accounts
of the Torah hints of the later history of man. Thus the account of the six
days of Creation constitutes a prophecy of the events of the following six
thousand years, and the seventh day is typical of the Messianic millennium.
Jacob and Esau are the prototypes of Israel and Rome, and the battle of Moses
and Joshua with the Amalekites is a prophecy of the war which Elijah and the
Messiah ben Joseph will wage against Edom (Rome) before the arrival of the
Messiah ben David, which was fixed by the commentator for the year 1358.
Here is an example
On Love Your Neighbor:
Compare
MAIMONIDES HILCHOT DEOT: LAWS OF COUNSEL
It is a mitzvah for every human to love each and everyone from Israel as he
loves his own body.
Nachmanides:
NACHMANIDES ON "BE LOVING TO YOUR
NEIGHBOR" The reason behind, "be-loving to your neighbor (as one)
like yourself" is in fact an exaggeration for no human's heart can accept
loving one's fellow as one loves one's own soul, and furthermore Rabbi Akiva
already learned that "your life comes before the life of your
friend." It means that it is a mitzvah to love one's friend through all
the good things that he loves himself, and it is possible that since the verse
says "to your neighbor" (instead of merely stating "loving one's
neighbor like yourself") The verse is comparing this love to the commandment
to love the sojourner (Leviticus 19:34 where it says that you should be-loving
to him as yourself) i.e. to make the love of both comparable in his mind. . . .
Views
on Marriage- Iggeret Hakodesh- It is either his work ( earlier assumption)
influenced by him.
Various candidates: Rabbi Joseph ben Abraham Gikatilla … Rabbi Joseph of
Shushan (thirteenth century… Ezra ben Solomon of Gerona (d. 1238 or 1245), one
of the significant kabbalists of the thirteenth century. Or anonymous author
and its date to approximately 1280.
It was copied in entirety by Rabbi Yisrael
Elnekaveh (d. 1391in Menorat ha-Meor, an attribution to the
Ramban.From there , recopied widely.See below- Yemenite manuscript Printed text with German translation
Yemenite Handwritten copy of Menorat Hamaor |
Old German and Hebrw printed copy of the same |
The basic notion of the Iggeret
ha-Kodesh is that sexual relations between husband and wife are sacred
and that the state of both husband and wife during intimacy determines the
character of the future child. The child’s nature and essence are determined by
its parents’ spiritual consciousness and the holiness of their intentions at
the time of conception.
Thus, Rambam , like Aristotle:Guide, Pt2, Ch 36
There must be an absence of the lower
desires and appetites, of the seeking after pleasure in eating, drinking, and
cohabitation: and, in short, every pleasure connected with the sense of touch.
(Aristotle correctly says that this sense is a disgrace to us, since we possess
it only in virtue of our being animals)
Thus counter, by the Iggeret Hakodesh:
“The matter is not as Rabbi Moses of blessed
memory thought and believed in his Guide to the Perplexed, when
he praised Aristotle’s statements. … Heaven forbid! Matters are not as the
Greek work states, since this work contains subtle traces of heresy. If that
heretic Greek had believed that the world is renewed by intent, he would not
have said that. But we, who possess the holy Torah, believe that
the blessed God created everything as His wisdom decreed and created nothing
shameful or ugly. For if we say that copulation is shameful, then the sexual
organs are contemptible. But God, blessed be He, created them according to His
word: ‘And you established them….”
If you want to see how this was applied, see
the movie Yentl or A Stranger Among Us where it is quoted.
Disputation
at Barcelona, 1263.
1263, in the presence
of King James of Aragon, with the apostate Pablo Christiani. The latter,
failing to make proselytes among the Jews of Provence, to whom he had been sent
by his general Raymond de Penyaforte, requested King James to order Moses to take
part in a public disputation. Relying upon the reserve his adversary would be
forced to maintain through fear of wounding the feelings of the Christian
dignitaries, Pablo assured the king that he could prove the Messianic claims of
Jesus from the Talmud and other rabbinical writings. Moses complied with the
order of the king, but stipulated that complete freedom of speech should be
granted, and for four days (July 20-24) debated with Pablo Christiani in the
presence of the king, the court, and many ecclesiastical dignitaries…
As the disputation
turned in favor of Moses the Jews of Barcelona, fearing the resentment of the
Dominicans, entreated him to discontinue; but the king, whom Naḥmanides had
acquainted with the apprehensions of the Jews, desired him to proceed. The
controversy was therefore resumed, and concluded in a complete victory for
Moses, who was dismissed by the king with a gift of three hundred maravedis as
a mark of his respect.
The Dominicans claimed
victory and he felt constrained to publish a response ..Pablo selected certain
passages …as blasphemies against Christianity and denounced to his general
Raymond de Penyaforte. A capital charge was then instituted, lodged with the
king. … Moses admitted that he had stated many things against Christianity, but
he had written nothing which he had not used in his disputation in the presence
of the king, who had granted him freedom of speech. The justice of his
defense was recognized by the king and the commission, but to satisfy the
Dominicans Moses was sentenced to exile for two years and his pamphlet was
condemned to be burned. He was also fined, but this was remitted as a favor
to Benveniste de
Porta, Naḥmanides' brother (Jacobs, "Sources," p. 130). The
Dominicans, however, found this punishment too mild and, through Pope
Clement IV., they seem to have succeeded in turning the two years' exile into
perpetual banishment.
So now, here is a
segment from a dramatization:Originally a play, then adapted to British TV
King |
Rabbi |
In 1263,
King James I of Aragon organizes a debate between representatives of Judaism
and Christianity regarding whether or not Jesus was the Messiah.Director: Geoffrey
Sax
Writer: Hyam Maccoby- Jewsih Acadmician and
Librarian at Leo Baeck College
Stars: Alan Dobie, Bernard Hepton, Christopher Lee |
https://youtu.be/lIyhC0vnRYc for full video
Selected clips
Intro Rabbi Moses https://youtu.be/lIyhC0vnRYc?t=424
To 8:45
What about the Talmud https://youtu.be/lIyhC0vnRYc?t=734
To 15:09 The Talmud as
non binding, Jewish key principals open to interpretation
Has the Messiah Come? https://youtu.be/lIyhC0vnRYc?t=948
To 18:54 not taken
literally
The proof of history
https://youtu.be/lIyhC0vnRYc?t=1223
to 27:50 Messiah will
come only when the world is prepared
https://youtu.be/lIyhC0vnRYc?t=2014
stop at 37:50 a side
discussion between the Rabbi and the king
The King justifies his
support of Nachmanides:
https://youtu.be/lIyhC0vnRYc?t=2676
A final note as the
rabbi leaves, exiled by the Dominicans and the Pope because he won the dispute:
https://youtu.be/lIyhC0vnRYc?t=2920
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