Page "Nahmanides" Paragraph 4

In the view of Nahmanides, the wisdom of the rabbis of the Mishnah and Talmud, as well as the Geonim ( rabbis of the early medieval era ) was unquestionable.

Their words were to be neither doubted nor criticized.

" We bow ," he says, " before them, and even when the reason for their words is not quite evident to us, we submit to them " ( Aseifat Zekkenim, commentary on Ketubot ).

Nahmanides ' adherence to the words of the earlier authorities may be due to piety, or the influence of the northern French Jewish school of thought.

However, it is thought that it also may be a reaction to the rapid acceptance of Greco-Arabic philosophy among the Jews of Spain and Provence ; this occurred soon after the appearance of Maimonides ' Guide for the Perplexed.

This work gave rise to a tendency to allegorize Biblical narratives, and to downplay the role of miracles.

Against this tendency Nahmanides strove, and went to the other extreme, not even allowing the utterances of the immediate disciples of the Geonim to be questioned.