The Traditions of Ramban and Christian Spain

Rabbi Mintz on Jewish History - Glimpses into the religious Lives of Early Modern European Jewry

This lecture will explore the transition from the Gaonic tradition of the Moslem period to the rabbinic tradition of the Ramban in Christian Spain. In what ways did the Ramban integrate the traditions of the Gaonim and his predecessors in Moslem Spain with the approach of Tosafot and the Franco/German school of rabbinic teaching? Why is the position of the Ramban as a transitional figure from the traditions of the Moslem world to the approach of the Christian world a significant moment in the development of Jewish law in the medieval period?