Maimonides and Nachmanides

Around the end of the 600s, Spain’s Christian rulers outlawed Judaism. Then, in 711, the Moors invaded, and Spain became part of a vast Islamic empire. Under Moorish rule, Spain became a centre of Jewish learning and culture, with Jewish poets, philosophers, and statesmen. This period was known as the Jewish Golden Age in Spain.

Two thinkers of this period were Moses Maimonides (1135-1204) and Moses ben Nachman (1194-1270).

Moses Maimonides was born in Spain and moved to Cairo in 1165. In Egypt, he spent a great deal of time studying the Talmud. Maimonides focused on the human intellect. He wrote about the importance of studying, the “work of the mind.”

Moses ben Nachman – also known as Nachmanides – spent most of his life in Spain, moving to Israel just a few years before his death. Like Maimonides, Nachmanides was both a physician and a Talmud scholar. However, Nachmanides wrote that the human soul and spirit were more important than intellect and studying.

Which is more important to you, the intellect or spirit?