Tag Archives: Ramban

by R. Gil Student The biblical lists of generations include descriptions of very long lives. For example, Adam lived 930 years (Gen. 5:5), Noach 950 (9:29), and the longest — Mesushelach 969 (5:27). How do we relate to these descriptions of longevity, well beyond anything we can expect of human beings? Two approaches emerge from Medieval Jewish commentary. I. Theories ...

by R. Gidon Rothstein Eruvin 13b tells us a bat kol, a Heavenly Voice, told us how to rule between the houses of Shammai and Hillel. The bat kol said elu va-elu divrei Elokim chayyim, these and these are the words of the living Gd, והלכה כדברי בית הלל, but normative practice follows Beit Hillel. Although there has been some debate about whether a Heavenly Voice can establish ...

by R. Gidon Rothstein A Non-Apology I have been taking samples of Ramban’s comments on the parsha since the end of Pesach 5777 (2017; I took two weeks for each parsha of Devarim). At the end of each book of the Torah, I’ve paused to share the ideas of themes which popped up repeatedly. As I reviewed those five summary essays to see what flowed ...

by R. Gidon Rothstein Ramban to the Book of Bamidbar: Becoming Our Best Selves, with a Divine Background I built this project on an assumption: by taking comments of Ramban’s as they appealed to me, with no attempt to relate them to each other, I would over the course of time nonetheless find recurring motifs, which would reflect underlying concerns of ...

by R. Gidon Rothstein Ramban to Mas’ei: Living Spaces The last parsha of Bamidbar opens by listing the places the Jews had encamped along their forty-year journey. Rashi here and Rambam in the Guide for the Perplexed (3;50) offer reasons for the choice to include the whole list [in brief, Rashi thought the list shows Hashem’s compassion while administering the punishment of forty years of wandering, and Rambam ...

by R. Gidon Rothstein Ramban to Matot: Making Rules and Misusing Them Parshat Matot opens with rules of vows, and Ramban lays out some central differences between a vow (the common translation for neder) and an oath (shevu’ah; as with all translations, the exact meaning matters less than ensuring we know the full connotations of the word in the original language, which Ramban ...

by R. Gidon Rothstein Speaking Truth to Power Last time, we saw Ramban argue Pinchas helped the Jews by stopping the plague. Hashem had wanted the judges to calm the divine wrath which was fueling the plague by trying and punishing the demonstrably guilty, but Zimri interfered. Once the judges were prevented from doing their job, the plague would have ...

by R. Gidon Rothstein [Parshat Balak is unusual in its largely taking place outside the purview of the Jewish people. Unless the Moabite women they slept with told them (or they read about it in the Torah), the Jewish people would never have known what happened between Balak and Bil’am. To me, it’s a reminder of how we little we know ...

by R. Gidon Rothstein The Nature of the Impurity of Death My temerity in thinking I can communicate Ramban’s ideas briefly and accessibly depends on my selection process, where I often leave out deep and important claims of Ramban’s I do not know how to convey. To stretch myself a bit, let’s discuss his understanding of 19;2, where the Torah ...

by R. Gidon Rothstein The rebellion of Korach and ensuing events take up most of Pinchas. Since the rebellion itself has garnered much valuable and insightful discussion, I have chosen places where Ramban discussed ancillary aspects, to tread ground not overly overrun with others’ steps. Aharon’s Silence Korach and his group issue their challenge to both Moshe and Aharon, but 16;4 says Moshe ...