The intermediate level, iyyun ( concentration ), consists of study with the help of commentaries such as Rashi and the Tosafot, similar to that practised among the Ashkenazim ( historically Sephardim studied the Tosefot ha-Rosh and the commentaries of Nahmanides in preference to the printed Tosafot ).

In Nahmanides's Torat ha-Adam, which deals with mourning rites, burial customs, etc., Nahmanides sharply criticizes writers who strove to render man indifferent to both pleasure and pain.

As the disputation turned in favor of Nahmanides, the Jews of Barcelona, fearing the resentment of the Dominicans, entreated him to discontinue ; but the King, whom Nahmanides had acquainted with the apprehensions of the Jews, desired him to proceed.

The controversy was therefore resumed, and concluded in a complete victory for Nahmanides, who was dismissed by the King with a gift of three hundred gold pieces as a mark of his respect.

During his three years ' stay in the Holy Land Nahmanides maintained a correspondence with his native land, by means of which he endeavored to bring about a closer connection between Judea and Spain.

Nahmanides ' known halakhic works are: " Mishpetei ha-Cherem ," the laws concerning excommunication, reproduced in " Kol Bo "; " Hilkhot Bedikkah ," on the examination of the lungs of slaughtered animals, cited by Shimshon ben Tzemach Duran in his " Yavin Shemu ' ah "; " Torat ha-Adam ," on the laws of mourning and burial ceremonies, in thirty chapters, the last of which, entitled " Sha ' ar ha-Gemul ," deals with eschatology ( Constantinople, 1519, and frequently reprinted ).

In 1263, Nahmanides, rabbi of Girona and later chief rabbi of Catalonia, was ordered by King James I of Aragon to take part in a public disputation with Pablo Christiani, a Jewish convert to Catholicism.

Nahmanides 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.

Nahmanides, in his commentary on the Torah, sides with Samuel and Rabbi Eliezer.

These, together with the Hiddushim of Nahmanides and others, were studied by the Sephardi Jews instead of the normal Tosafot.

Rashi is of the view that an individual is obligated to pray with a minyan, while Nahmanides holds that only if ten adult males are present are they obliged to recite their prayer together, but an individual is not required to actively seek out a minyan.

During the Disputation of Paris, 1240, and Disputation of Barcelona 1263, references to Jesus in the Talmud became a pretext for Christian persecution and Jehiel ben Joseph in Paris, Nahmanides in Barcelona, defended the Jewish community from Christian inquisitors by denying that the " Yeshu " passages had anything to do with Christianity.

Altogether Benveniste stood high in favor with King Jaume — no doubt for value received — and when on May 29, 1264, his brother Nahmanides was pardoned, two-thirds of the fine he had incurred for the alleged crime of vituperating Jesus in the celebrated controversy of 1263 was remitted, the king expressly stating that the pardon was given " amore Benveniste de Porta, fratris tui ".

Nahmanides identifies the Sambation with the Guzana River mentioned in II Kings, located in Medes.

Next to belief in miracles Nahmanides places three other beliefs, which are, according to him, the Jewish principles of faith, namely, the belief in creation out of nothing, in the omniscience of God, and in divine providence.

Nahmanides countered that Christiani's interpretations were per-se distortions ; the rabbis would not hint that Jesus was Messiah while, at the same time, explicitly opposing him as such.

Nahmanides 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.

Nahmanides countered that Christiani's interpretations were per-se distortions ; the rabbis would not hint that Jesus was Messiah while, at the same time, explicitly opposing him as such.

Although Maimonides ' opinion had been opposed by Nahmanides and others, the scholars at Safed had confidence in him, and had no doubt that, from a rabbinical standpoint, no objection to his plan could be raised.

Zerachiah's independence also displeased the conservatives, however, and refutations of his criticisms were written by Nahmanides under the title Milḥamot hashem, and by Abraham ben David of Posquières, who alluded in his harsh fashion to Zerahiah as an immature youth who had had the audacity to criticize his master, and even accused him of having appropriated some of his ( Abraham's ) own interpretations without mentioning the author.

The most important writers are Yose ben Yoseh, probably in the 6th century, chiefly known for his compositions for Yom Kippur ; Eleazar Kalir, the founder of the payyetanic style, perhaps in the 7th century ; Saadia Gaon ; and the Spanish school, consisting of Joseph ibn Abitur ( died in 970 ), ibn Gabirol, Isaac Gayyath, Moses ibn Ezra, Abraham ibn Ezra and Judah ha-Levi, Moses ben Nahman ( Nahmanides ) and Isaac Luria.

The successors of Maimonides, from the 13th to the 15th century — Nahmanides, Abba Mari ben Moses, Simon ben Zemah Duran, Joseph Albo, Isaac Arama, and Joseph Jaabez — narrowed his 13 articles to three core beliefs: Belief in God ; in Creation ( or revelation ); and in providence ( or retribution ).

; 1267: Nahmanides ( Ramban ) settles in Jerusalem and builds the Ramban Synagogue.

Nahmanides studied medicine which he practiced as a means of livelihood ; he also studied philosophy.

Rabbis who believed in the idea of reincarnation include, from Medieval times: the mystical leaders Nahmanides ( the Ramban ) and Rabbenu Bahya ben Asher ; from the 16th-century: Levi ibn Habib ( the Ralbah ), and from the mystical school of Safed Shelomoh Alkabez, Isaac Luria ( the Ari ) and his exponent Hayyim Vital ; and from the 18th-century: the founder of Hasidism Yisrael Baal Shem Tov, later Hasidic Masters, and the Lithuanian Jewish Orthodox leader and Kabbalist the Vilna Gaon.

The Tosafot were also used by the scholars of the Catalonian school, such as Nahmanides and Solomon ben Adret, who were also noted for their interest in Kabbalah.

He was " no friend of mysticism ", and even reproved Nahmanides for devoting too much time to the Kabbalah.

Unlike the latter, Bahya did not devote his attention to Talmudic science, but to Biblical exegesis, taking for his model Rabbi Moses ben Nahman who is known as Nahmanides or Ramban, the teacher of Rabbi Solomon ben Adret, who was the first to make use of the Kabbalah as a means of interpreting the Torah.

Other Jewish thinkers, such as Nahmanides, Samuel ben Uri Shraga Phoebus, and Jacob Emden, strongly object to the idea that concubines should be forbidden.

* c. 1270 – Nahmanides, prominent Jewish rabbi and philosopher ( approximate date )

In 1263, James presided over a debate in Barcelona between the Jewish rabbi Nahmanides and Pablo Christiani, a prominent converso.

Although Hirsch does not mention his influences ( apart from traditional Jewish sources ), later authors have identified ideas from the Kuzari ( Yehuda Halevi ), Nahmanides and the Maharal of Prague in his works.

Nahmanides, also known as Rabbi Moses ben Naḥman Girondi, Bonastruc ça ( de ) Porta and by his acronym Ramban ( 1194 – 1270 ), was a leading medieval Jewish scholar, Catalan rabbi, philosopher, physician, kabbalist, and biblical commentator.

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.

In a letter addressed to the French rabbis, he draws attention to the virtues of Maimonides and holds that Maimonides ' Mishne Torah – his Code of Jewish Law – not only shows no leniency in interpreting prohibitions within Jewish law, but may even be seen as more stringent, which in Nahmanides ' eyes was a positive factor.

To reconcile the two parties Nahmanides proposed that the ban against the philosophical portion of Maimonides's Code of Jewish law should be revoked, but that the ban against the study of the " Guide for the Perplexed ", and against those who rejected allegorical interpretation of the Bible, should be maintained and even strengthened.

For Nahmanides, divine revelation is the best guide in all these questions, and proceeds to give his views on Jewish views of the afterlife.

Nahmanides was an adversary of Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra, an influential Jewish Bible commentator.

Furthermore, Nahmanides demonstrated from numerous biblical and talmudic sources that traditional Jewish belief ran contrary to Christiani's postulates.

Nahmanides then settled at Acre, where he was very active in spreading Jewish learning, which was at that time very much neglected in the Holy Land.

Nahmanides ' wrote glosses on the whole Talmud, made compendiums of parts of Jewish law, after the model of Isaac Alfasi.

The Jewish philosopher, Nahmanides, mentions the universe expanded from the time of its creation, in which it was the size of a mustard seed.

In 1267 the Jewish Catalonian sage Nahmanides travelled to Jerusalem.

These discrepancies were noted by Jewish scholars who were contemporaries of Jesus, as later pointed out by Nahmanides, who in 1263 observed that Jesus was rejected as the Messiah by the rabbis of his time.

Furthermore, Nahmanides demonstrated from numerous biblical and talmudic sources that traditional Jewish belief ran contrary to Christiani's postulates.

ISBN 0-14-042197-1 ( includes translations of Judah Al-Harizi, Nahmanides, Todros Abulafia and other Jewish poets from Spain ).

Vidal Benveniste de Porta (; died 1268 ) was the Jewish batlle of Barcelona, Girona and Leida and a brother of Nahmanides.