NACHMANIDES, or NACIIMANI= BEN NACHMAN, MOSES, also called by the Jews Ramban, pon, from the initial letters t3 IVO inn), R. Moses b. Nachman, and by Christian writers Moses Gerundensis, was born at Gerona, in Catalonia, about 1195. So extraordinary was his proficiency in the Biblical and Talmudical writ ings, that he wrote an elaborate Treatise on the Rights of Primogeniture and Vows (1111171 when he was scarcely fifteen years of age (mo), and composed his commentaries (1:PV1117) on the greater part of the Talmud (1217-1223) before he was thirty. About the year 1262 he delivered a discourse in Saragossa, before James I., king of Aragon, and the magnates of the church and state, in defence of Judaism. This remarkable address ovni, which has for its text Ps..xix. 9, The law of the Lord is perfect,' etc., and is an im portant contribution to Biblical exegesis, the Chris tology of the O. T., and the understanding of Juda ism, was first published in 1582, with the title mon nvrin rnro, wherewith it commences, then at Prague 1595, and with corrections and notes by the learned and industrious Adolph Jellinek, Leipzig 1853. This is the best edition, and the references, both in this article and throughout this Cyclopredia, are to it. In 1263 he held a disputation at Barce lona with Pablo Christiani, a converted Jew, which lasted four days (July 20-24, 1263). Nachmanides published and circulated this disputation among his brethren, as Pablo Christiani and his friends gave an incorrect report of it ; and the pope, Cle ment IV., was so incensed at it, that he wrote to James I. of Aragon, urging on his majesty to banish him from his dominions. Whereupon the septuagenarian Nachmanides had to leave (1266) his native place, his two sons, his college with nu merous disciples, and his friends, and went to the Holy Land, which he reached Aug. 12, 1267. The disputation referred to was first published, with omis sions and interpolations, and an exceedingly bad Latin translation, by Wagenseil, Tela ?plea Satan,-r, Altorf 1681. It was then published in the collec tion of polemical writings entitled min rinri5r, where it is the first of the series, and is called ninl +N-In by iz"n1i, The Discussion of Ramban with Fra Paolo, Constantinople 1710 ; and re cently again by the erudite Steinschneider, Nach Dhputatio publica pro fide udaica, Ber lin 1860, to which are added learned notes by the editor, and Nachmanides' exposition of Is. liii. It is to this edition that the references are made.
In Palestine Nachmanides completed and revised his stupendous Commentary on the Pentateuch, which he had begun nearly twenty years before ( 249-1268). Physician by profession, thoroughly conversant not only with Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac and Arabic, but also with Greek, Latin, Spanish, etc., master of the whole cycle of Talmudic, Mid rashic, and exegetical literature, and intimately acquainted with the manners, customs, and geo graphy of the East, he frequently quotes medical works 0-nmin ino, and rim)) clears up medical difficulties (comp. comment. on Gen.
xxx. 14 ; xlv. 26 ; xlvi. 15 ; Lev. iii. 9 ; xi.!!; xii. 4 ; xiii. 3, 42 ; Num. xxi. 9), explains difficult terms by comparing the Hebrew with other lan guages (comment. on Geu. xlix. 12, 20 ; Exod. xxx. 23. 34 ; xxxii. I ; Lev. xi. 11 ; xiii. 29 ; xix.
20 ; Dent. xiii. 2, 4 ; xxxiii. 31'5), criticises Chris tian versions (Gen. xli. 45 ; Num. xi. 17), explains the customs and geography of the East (Gen. xi. 28 ; xxxiv. ; xxxviii. 18, 24), gently and rever entially attacks the rationalistic views of Maimo nides about miracles and revelation, and controverts and exposes, in unsparing language, Ibn Ezra's scepticism, concealed in unbelieving mystical doc trines Ulm Emu]. Being a thorough believer in the Kabbala, Nachmanides, though explaining the obvious sense of the Bible, yet maintains that each separate letter is imbued with a spiritual and recon dite potency, and forms a link in the grand chain of revelation, and that those who are initiated in the secrets of the Kabbala can, by the combination of these letters, penetrate, more than ordinary readers, into the mysteries of Holy Writ. When it is remarked, that no less than fifteen Jewish literati, of different periods, have written super-commen taries on this remarkable production, the import ance of this commentary, and the influence it exer cised on Biblical exegesis and the Jewish literature, will easily be comprehended. This commentary, which is alternately denominated rilmn 'in, or t:111Z, rrez ii1111 +via, and +3nrr. was first published before 1480, then in Lisbon 1489, Naples 1490, Pesaro 1514, Salonoikai 1521, with the comments of Rashi, Ibn Ezra, etc., Con stantinople 1522, with the Hebrew text of the Pentateuch, and the Five Megilloth, the Chaldee Paraphrase, the Comment of Rashi, and the Super commentary of Aboab on Nachmanides, Venice 1548 ; and, besides many other editions, lately in the excellent Pentateuch and Five Megilloth, con taining the Hebrew text, the Chaldee Paraphrases, the Commentaries of Rashi, Ibn Ezra, Rashbam, Seforno, etc., 5 vols., Vienna 1859. The references in this article and Cyclopmdia are made to the two last-mentioned editions.
Nachmanides also wrote a commentary on Job (ni+R $y tyre), which was first published in the Rabbinical Bible, Venice 1517, and is now porated in Frankfurter's Great Rabbinical Bible, Amsterdam 1724-27 [FRANKFURTER]. The Kab balistic commentary on the Song of Songs, which is ascribed to him, belongs to his teacher Asariel [KABBALAH]. He died at Acco (Ptolemais) about 1270. So great was his reputation, that the Jewish nation gave him the honourable appellation of the Pious Teacher ()+Int-tnil 31r1), and the Great Master (911)T1 Comp. Steinschneider, Cata logers Libr. lIebr. in Bibliotheca Bodleian, col. 1947-65; Furst, Bibliotheca yudaica,iii. 2-8; Perles, in Frankel's Monatschriji` fur Geschkhte end if/is senschaft des ,ndenthems, viii. 81, ff. ; 113, ff. ; Graetz, Geschichte de,- 7ilden, vii., Leipzig 1363, PP. 48, ff. ; 61, ff. ; 87, ff ; ff- 439 C. D. G