336 A History of Judaism
concept need not conflict with the notion that the soul might return to
the body). The hardening of positions between rationalists and mystics
was encouraged by upheavals in the wider world, both Jewish and
Christian. The Maimonidean controversy in the twelfth century was
parallel to the conflict in Christian circles between Peter Abelard and
Bernard of Clairvaux, but with the added stimulus for Jews of Crusader
armies passing through the Rhineland and the Reconquista in the Iber-
ian peninsula, with the dread that rational religion would not work.^32
Meir b. Todros haLevi Abulafia, originally from Castile but teaching in
Toledo, precipitated the attack, noting that if there is no bodily resurrec-
tion, ‘to what end did the bodies stand watch for their God, did they go
in darkness for the sake of their God? If the bodies are not resurrected,
where is their hope and where are they to look for it?’ Opponents of
Maimonides attacked all attempts to explain miracles rationally. Mai-
monides’ supporters responded by allegorizing all the more, with
miraculous tales in the Talmud providing much suitable material.
Opponents of Maimonides in Spain and Provence called for support
from the rabbis of northern France, whose admired expertise in the Tal-
mud and halakhah had never been sullied with knowledge of Aristotle.
Their support was encouraged by distaste for the luxurious way of life
enjoyed by the philosophically educated Jews of Islamic Spain. Philos-
ophy did not in itself lead to hedonism, but it must have looked that way
to the impoverished Jews of northern Europe. Such prejudices were
acknowledged in the thirteenth century by the only rabbinic leader from
Spain with sufficient stature to mediate between the parties, Moshe b.
Nahman, also known as Nahmanides or Ramban.^33
Nahmanides’ own halakhic works synthesized the traditions of tal-
mudic analysis in northern France with the analytical methods of
Maimonides, and he was sufficiently involved in mystical and messianic
speculation to receive a sympathetic hearing from the kabbalists of
Provence in the 1230s, not least because his search for the deeper mean-
ing of the biblical text led him to oppose Maimonides’ search for
rational explanation for miracles. But he was horrified by the herem
(ban) imposed in 1232 by the rabbis of Provence on the study of Mai-
monides’ philosophy, and by the attempts of the Provençal rabbis to
persuade the talmudists of northern France to enforce a similar ban.
Nahmanides’ letter to the rabbis of northern France arguing against the
ban asserted not that philosophy was good in itself, but that in the
hands of Maimonides it had been an important weapon in the fight to
keep from more profound error the upper- class Jews of Spain, who