The Rabbi Called Ramban

When traveling to Portugal on a Jewish heritage tour, chances are you will learn about the many influencial personalities of the Jewish community in the past. One of those people is Rabbi Moshe Ben Nachman.

Moshe Ben Nachman (משה בן נחמן) was a leading medieval Jewish scholar, Sephardic rabbi, philosopher, physician, kabbalist, and biblical commentator. He was an outstanding Talmudist, biblical interpreter, and also mastered the “secular“ sciences of astronomy and poetry. He was a physician by profession. Ramban is one of the classical authors of the so-called Golden Age of Sephard, a period of approximately four to five centuries before 1492, when Jews were expelled form the Iberian peninsula. 

He is known in European literature as Nachmanides and also referred to by the acronym RaMBbaN (רמב״ן‬) and by the nickname Bonastruc ça Porta (literally "Mazel Tov near the Gate") in Catalunian.

Ramban was born, raised in 1194 and got his education in Spain, in the Catalonian town of Girona. One of his teachers was Rabbi Yehuda ben Yakar. He spent most of his life there, before finally deciding to move to the Holy Land where he became an important figure in the re-establishment of the Jewish community in Jerusalem following its destruction by the Crusaders in 1099.

In philosophy, he was a supporter of Maimonid's teachings. In Biblical literature, he opposed commentator Abraham Ibn Ezra. His Commentary on the Torah is one of the most important Jewish biblical commentaries of all time. He began to write it around 1250.  He wanted to provide it with extensive Kabbalistic explanations.

But he was discouraged after a warning that came to him in a dream. The longer explanation of the Kabbalistic character, which was inspired by the phrase "in a true way," survived only the first chapter of Genesis. These explanations were expanded by his pupils, including Shlomo ben Aderet.

According to fragmented historical sources, it is unclear whether Ramban lead a yeshiva in his hometown. Although according the tradition he did so, many historians doubt it. One way or another, he had an undoubted influence on his surroundings. After the death of his cousin Rabbi Johosha ben Abraham Gerondi in 1264, the Ramban became – until his forced departure from Spain three years later – the chief rabbi of Catalonia.

He arrived to the port city Akka, where he did not stay for long and went directly on to Jerusale.  He managed with, impressive effort, to rebuild the Jewish community and synagogue again after it was destroyed when the crusades and the Mongols rampaged the town. 

In 1268 he returned to Akka until his death in 1270. He was a spiritual representative of the Jewish community there. The final resting place of Ramban is still disputed, althought the tradition claims he was buried at the Mount Carmel in Haifa.

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