161 Abraham Gross GERONA: A SEPHARDIC CRADLE OF ...

Abraham Gross
This is just as accurate if we examine Gerona in
terms of its influence on the history of religious
mentality of Sephardic Jewry.
For example, while the Zohar – apparently a
Castilian creation – is undisputedly the one single
most influencial medieval qabbalistic corpus, one
should consider the following remarks by G. Scholem:
«The most important period in the history of the
older Kabbalah is linked up with the little Spanish town
Gerona in Catalonia, where a whole group of mystics
were active in the first half of the thirteenth century;
this group was also the first which succeeded in familiarizing
influencial circles of Spanish Jewry with Kabbalist
thought. It was mainly their spiritual heritage
that was brought to the fore in the Zohar» 4 .
«[...] and in particular he (i.e. Moses de Leon) has
drawn freely upon the writings published by the school
of Kabbalists whose center was the little Catalan town
of Gerona and who between the years 1230 and 1260
did more than any other contemporary group to unify
and consolidate what was pregnant and living in the
Kabbalism in Spain. There can be no doubt that the
writings of Ezra ben Solomon, Azriel and of Moses ben
Nahman, the leading figure of this group, influenced
him not only generally but also down to certain peculiar
details of his own doctrine» 5 .
This circle imported to Spain the esoteric
teachings of their Provencal masters, interpreted
them, and developed their ideas. As we shall see
in other fields as well, Gerona, due to its location
served as a virtual station which transmitted
Northern knowledge and teaching into Spain, and
itself transformed in the process 6 .
Now, it might be futile to try and look for a
trend which characterizes the famous outstanding
figures of Gerona in the span of a century.
Let us nevertheless attempt to evaluate in broad
strokes some of the major figures; Jonah Gerondi,
Moses ben Nahman (Nahmanides), and Nissim
Gerondi.
Jonah Gerondi, a prolific writer, who wrote
in the beginning of the period defined above, affords
us a comprehensive look into a figure of
tremendous influence on Spanish Jewry.
It is well-known that there are three criteria
by which one evaluates real estate property;
location, location, and location. When we
described above the geographical location of
Gerona it was not unintended. One of the major
considerations a cultural historian must take
into account in his attempt to describe and characterize
a cultural center is its geographical location
7 . Now, it is widely recognized that a rough
cultural division must be made during this period
between two major spheres of influence -
Northern France and Spain. Between these two
lies Provence, which characteristically draws
from both and demonstrates it in a special fusion
8 . This model can be extended further and
applied to the area just south of Provence. When
one examines Jonah Gerondi it becomes apparent
9 .
Jonah Gerondi represents a personal
bridge – perhaps the first significant one – between
Spain and France 10 . Educated in the famous
Tosafist yeshivah in Evreau, his way of
4 G. SCHOLEM, Major Trends in Jewish
Mysticism, New York 1961, p. 251.
5 Ibid., p. 173.
6 While we are going to emphasize here the
southbound movement, one could point to a
movement in the opposite direction through the
talmudic scholar Rabenu Zerahyah, the author of
Ha-Ma’or, who moved around 1135 to Narbonne
and then to Lunel, along with the Sefardic more
systematic methods of learning. He himself, one
must add, was deeply influenced by Rabenu Tam,
the greatest French Tosafist of his time.
7 I myself tried elsewhere to explain partially
the uniqueness of the Lisbon Jewish center on the
basis of its existence in the «edge of the west»; see:
A. GROSS, Rabbi Yosef ben Avraham Hayyun:
Manhig Qehillat Lisbon wi-Yexirato, Ramat Gan
1993, pp. 112-20.
8 I. TWERSKY, Aspects of the Social and Cultural
History of Provençal Jewry: «Cahiers d’Histoire
Mondiale» 11 (1968), pp. 185-207.
9 I include Jonah Gerondi in this survey
although we cannot conclusively determine the
extent of his roots in Gerona. However, he is of
Catalunian stock, studied in Barcelona, was a
friend and relative of Nahmanides, and blends well
into the overall picture which I am trying to paint.
10 When I say «personal» I mean to exclude
influencial literary works such as Rashi’s
supercommentaries on the Pentateuch and on the
Talmud. By and large, influencial personalities were
the ones who introduced and promoted such works.
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