Nachmanides (Moses ben Nahman, Ramban)
1194 – 1270 Catalan (Sephardic Jewish) Rabbi, Bible commentator, kabbalist, physician
Catalan sage who blended law and early Kabbalah and was forced into the Disputation of Barcelona.
- Religion
- Judaism (Rabbinic, with Kabbalah)
- Affiliations
- Girona; Crown of Aragon
Nachmanides was the leading Jewish scholar of 13th-century Spain, weaving mystical Kabbalah into his mainstream Bible commentary. In 1263 King James I of Aragon compelled him to defend Judaism in a public disputation against the convert Pablo Christiani. Pressure after the debate led him to leave Spain for the Land of Israel, where he spent his final years.
In the timeline
- 1260 Nachmanides lends Kabbalah rabbinic authority central figure