it was attributed pseudonymously to Simon bar Yochai, a disciple of Rabbi
Akiva. This text, a commentary on the Torah and a recapitulation of Bar
Yochai’s mystical journeys, is largely a theosophic attempt to understand the
true nature of God, and to unite with those parts of God that are understand-
able to human being. The Kabbalists themselves admitted that not
everything about God is comprehensible, even to Kabbalists. This kabbalistic
tradition would reach full expression in Christian Spain during the thirteenth
century, particularly under the tutelage of Moses ben Nachman of Gerona.
Moses ben Nachman, also known as Ramban or Nachmanides, embodied
this cultural tradition: a master commentator on the Bible and Talmud and
an accomplished philosopher, he was also the leading kabbalistic scholar of
the thirteenth century. His integration of conventional biblical interpretation
with kabbalistic writing is evident in his commentary on Genesis 1:1.
Noting Rashi’s comment that the verse attested to God’s bequeathing the
Land of Israel to the Jews, Nachmanides questions Rashi’s motive for won-
dering why Genesis began with creation:
because in fact it is necessary to begin the Torah with “In the beginning”
because the root of our faith and anyone who does not believe this and
instead believes that the world is eternal is a blasphemer. Rather, the
answer [i.e. why the Torah begins with “In the beginning”] is that the
story of Creation [ma’aseh bereshit] is a deeply hidden secret that is not
comprehensible from the text of the Torah and can known only from the
words of the Kabbala.In other words, Nachmanides implied a kabbalistic meaning embedded in a
biblical verse without revealing this meaning to the readership of his com-
mentary. Kabbala was to remain an esoteric tradition reserved only for the few
who have merited studying it.
There was also a key cultural difference between Muslim and Christian
Spain. In Muslim Spain, Arabic was the language of culture and religion, but
also the spoken vernacular. In Christian Spain, Latin was the language of cul-
ture and religion, but Castilian was the language of the street. Thus, Arabic
culture had a secular component; Latin culture was closely tied to religion
and theology, thus limiting Jewish access to high culture. Hebrew poetry in
Christian Spain drew virtually nothing from Latin poetry.
As a result, there was also a sharper divide between Jewish and Christian
courtiers. Jewish courtiers in Christian Spain were more susceptible to court
intrigue, leading to the emergence by the end of the thirteenth century of two
types of Jewish courtiers. Some, like those in Muslim Spain, used their power
and influence to help Jews. Others were guided more by self-interest, and
were more prone to ape the Christian nobility, and distance themselves from
the rest of the Jewish community.
The Jews of medieval Christendom 97