Editing Nachmanides (section)

== In Jerusalem ==
Nachmanides left Aragon and sojourned for three years somewhere in Castille or in the southern part of the [[Kingdom of France]].<ref name="jewishencyc"/> In 1267, seeking refuge from Christian persecution in Muslim lands,<ref>p. 73 in Jonathan Sacks (2005) ''To Heal a Fractured World: The Ethics of Responsibility''. London: Continuum ({{ISBN|9780826480392}})</ref> he made [[aliyah]] to [[Jerusalem]]. There he established a synagogue in the [[Old City (Jerusalem)|Old City]] that exists until the present day, known as the [[Ramban Synagogue]]. Nachmanides then settled at [[Acre, Israel|Acre]], where he was very active in spreading Jewish learning, which was at that time very much neglected in the Holy Land. He gathered a circle of pupils around him, and people came in crowds, even from the district of the Euphrates, to hear him. [[Karaite Judaism|Karaites]] were said to have attended his lectures, among them Aaron ben Joseph the Elder, who later became one of the greatest [[Karaite Judaism|Karaite]] authorities (although [[Heinrich Graetz|Graetz]] writes that there is no veracity to that). It was to arouse the interest of the local Jews in the exposition of the Bible that Nachmanides wrote the greatest of his works, the above-mentioned commentary on the Torah.<ref name="jewishencyc"/>

[[File:Ramban St sign, Jerusalem.JPG|thumb|left|200px|A street in Jerusalem bears his name]]
Although surrounded by friends and pupils, Nachmanides keenly felt the pangs of exile. "I left my family, I forsook my house. There, with my sons and daughters, the sweet, dear children I brought up at my knees, I left also my soul. My heart and my eyes will dwell with them forever." During his three-year stay in the [[Holy Land]], Nachmanides maintained a correspondence with his native land, by means of which he endeavored to bring about a closer connection between Judea and Spain. Shortly after his arrival in Jerusalem, he addressed a letter to his son Nahman, in which he described the desolation of the Holy City, where there were at that time only two Jewish inhabitants—brothers, dyers by trade. In a later letter from Acre he counsels his son to cultivate humility, which he considers to be the first of virtues. In another, addressed to his second son, who occupied an official position at the Castilian court, Nachmanides recommends the recitation of the daily prayers and warns above all against immorality.<ref name="jewishencyc"/>