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

Abraham Gross
Solomon ben Adret’s. Nissim achieved fame as the
head of the yeshivah in Barcelona, and among his
disciples we find Isaac ben Sheshet Perfet, Hasdai
Crescas, and Joseph Haviva.
His anti-philosophical attitude – though
without adopting any other spiritual alternative
such as Qabbalah, contrary to most of the antiphilosophers
in the 12 th -13 th centuries – is evident
in his celebrated book of sermons known as
Derashot ha-RaN (Rabbi Nissim).
***
How significant and long-lasting was the
«Golden Age» of Gerona as a vibrant and creative
religious and intellectual center on its own
history and on the history of the Sefaradim? As
to Nahmanides, let us quote a short excerpt from
a recent evaluation of his centrality for Jewish
intellectual history:
«It would seem to me that we may say that he
actually helped crystallize majors areas of study;
by this I mean that his own works in these fields
were pivotal contributions, intrinsically important
and repercussive, as well as formative and directive.
They provided substrata and molds for further
activity» 14 .
Nahmanides halakhic decisions apparently
became binding in Catalunia, as we read in Isaac
ben Sheshet Perfet’s responsum in the end of the
14 th century:
«In all the regions of Catalunia they rely on him
as if it was Moses from the mouth of God [ke-Moweh
mi-pi ha-Wekinah ]» 15 .
The centrality of two of the above mentioned
Geronese scholars in the Sephardic curriculum
of talmudic studies in the 15 th century –
including that of Castile – is documented. Isaac
Qanpanton, the father of the Sefardi pilpul, instructs
how one should analyze Nahmanidean
super-commentaries on the Talmud. Nahmanides
and Nissim Gerondi are mentioned together in
an interesting autobiographical note by Judah
Khalax, a Castilian rabbi who fled his homeland
a few years before the expulsion of the Jews from
Spain:
«[...] and I came to Granada and stayed there
for five years [...] and after the first year I did not
agree to teach them super-commentaries [on the
Pentateuch] but only the Talmud and Alfasi with
the super-commentary of Rabenu Nissim [...] afterwards
I came to Malaga and stayed for four years,
and there too I taught only Talmud with the supercommentaries
by Nahmanides. After that I arrived
at Hunein and I taught my students there a small
part of the week Rashi [on the Pentateuch] and the
rest of the time I spent with them studying Talmud
with Nahmanides [i.e. Nahmanides’ super-commentary]»
16 .
While it is beyond the scope of this paper
to evaluate the ideas contained in the
thought of Nissim Gerondi and how current
they were in the 15 th century. I will remark only
that it was significant in the writings of important
figures such as R. Joseph Hayyun and of
his student, Isaac Abravanel, and merits a
separate study.
Indeed to sum up the significance of
Gerona in the broadest manner, I would use the
following recent evaluation. It is the closing sentence
of Y.T. Assis recent book on the «Golden
Age of Aragonese Jewry», with which he attempts
to capture the importance of the relatively
small Jewish community of the Crown of
Aragon:
«Their literary production remains, to the present
day, one of the richest contributions to Jewish culture
and civilization» 17 .
Come to think of it, this precise wording
would be perfectly suitable as the final sentence
14 I. TWERSKY, Introduction, in Rabbi Moses
Nah manides (Ramban): Explorations in His
Religious and Literary Virtuosity, p. 3.
15 We’elot u-Tewuvot ha-RiBaSh (Isaac ben
Sheshet Perfet), Jerusalem 1968, no. 415.
16 Mewiah Ilmim, Jerusalem 1986, p. 10.
17 Y.T. ASSIS, The Golden Age of Aragonese
Jewry: Community and Society in the
Crown of Aragon, 1213-1327, London 1997,
p. 334.
164