Editing Nachmanides (section)

==Biography==
Nachmanides was born in [[Girona]] in 1194, where he grew up and studied (hence he is also called ''Mosheh ben Nahman Gerondi'', or "Moses son of Nahman the Gironan"), and died in the [[Land of Israel]] about 1270.<ref>Bar Ilan CD-ROM</ref> He was a descendant of Isaac ben Reuben of [[Barcelona]] and cousin of [[Jonah Gerondi]] (Rabbeinu Yonah).<ref name="auto">Encyclopaedia Judaica | second edition | vol 14 | pg 741</ref><ref name="jewishencyc">{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/11129-moses-ben-nahman-gerondi|title=MOSES BEN NAḤMAN GERONDI - JewishEncyclopedia.com|website=www.jewishencyclopedia.com}}</ref> Among his teachers in [[Talmud]] were [[Judah ben Yakar]] and Nathan ben Meïr of [[Trinquetaille]], and he is said to have been instructed in [[Kabbalah]] (Jewish mysticism) by his countryman [[Azriel of Gerona]],<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | title=AZRIEL (EZRA) BEN MENAHEM (BEN SOLOMON) | author= [[Kaufmann Kohler]] & [[Isaac Broydé]]| encyclopedia=Jewish Encyclopedia | url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=2224&letter=A | access-date=2006-10-08}}</ref> who was in turn a disciple of [[Isaac the Blind]].

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{{chart|boxstyle=background:lightgreen;|Yakar| |Natan| |Azriel|Yakar=[[Judah ben Yakar]]|Natan=[[Natan ben Meir]]|Azriel=[[Azriel of Gerona]]}}
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According to the responsa of [[Shlomo ibn Aderet]]<ref>Section 1, responsa 120 and 167</ref><ref name="auto"/> Nachmanides studied [[medicine]]. During his teens he began to get a reputation as a learned Jewish scholar. At age 16, he began his writings on [[halakha|Jewish law]]. In his ''Milhamot Hashem'' (Wars of the Lord) he defended [[Isaac Alfasi|Alfasi]]'s decisions against the criticisms of [[Zerachiah ha-Levi of Girona]]. These writings reveal a conservative tendency that distinguished his later works — an unbounded respect for the earlier authorities.<ref name="jewishencyc"/>

In the view of Nachmanides, the wisdom of the rabbis of the [[Mishnah]] and [[Talmud]], as well as the [[Geonim]] (rabbis of the early medieval era) was unquestionable. Their words were to be neither doubted nor criticized. "We bow," he says, "before them, and even when the reason for their words is not quite evident to us, we submit to them" (''Aseifat Zekkenim'', commentary on ''Ketubot''). Nachmanides' adherence to the words of the [[rishonim|earlier authorities]] may be due to piety, or the influence of the northern French Jewish school of thought. However, it is thought that it also may be a reaction to the rapid acceptance of [[greek philosophy|Greco-Arabic philosophy]] among the Jews of Spain and [[Provence]]; this occurred soon after the appearance of [[Maimonides]]' ''[[Guide for the Perplexed]]''. This work gave rise to a tendency to allegorize Biblical narratives, and to downplay the role of miracles. Against this tendency Nachmanides strove, and went to the other extreme, not even allowing the utterances of the immediate disciples of the Geonim to be questioned.<ref name="jewishencyc"/>