The Rabbi Who Saved Maimonides Twice: The Untold Ramban Story

Welcome to Torah with Rabbi Heschel Greenberg: Lesson IV in our series on the History of Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jewry How did the Jews of Spain go from the most powerful, culturally integrated community in the medieval Jewish world to the ashes of the Inquisition — and why does that story turn on one 13th-century rabbi almost nobody remembers today? In this class — the final one focused specifically on Sephardic Jewry — Rabbi Greenberg traces the arc from the Golden Age under Muslim rule through the slow decline of Jewish life under the Reconquista, and lands on the towering figure of the Ramban (Nachmanides): the scholar who was simultaneously Maimonides' sharpest critic and his most effective defender, and who held Spanish Jewry together through two existential crises — an internal civil war over Maimonides' legacy, and a forced public debate for the future of Judaism itself. The class closes with the tragic unraveling of Spanish Jewry from 1391 to the expulsion of 1492, and a modern lesson Rabbi Greenberg draws from it about assimilation and Jewish identity. 🔎 In this video we explore: Why Jewish tax collectors and moneylenders went from indispensable to resented as the Reconquista progressed How the Ramban became the central figure of 13th-century Jewry — both banning-adjacent critic and greatest defender of Maimonides' most controversial writings The real story of the 1263 Disputation of Barcelona, where the Ramban was granted free speech, humiliated his opponent, and still had to flee for his life over what he wrote down afterward How the Maimonidean Controversy escalated from a rabbinic ban into the burning of 24 wagonloads of Talmud manuscripts in Paris Why the Inquisition targeted Jews who had converted more fiercely than those who refused The unproven but startling claims that both Torquemada and Christopher Columbus may have had Jewish ancestry Where Sephardic Jews scattered after 1492 — and why they stayed distinctly Sephardic wherever they landed ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Recap: From Rome to the Reconquista — Spain's Jews Before the 13th Century 01:06 Introduction: The Final Class on Sephardic Jewry 02:17 The Golden Age Ends: Fleeing the Almohads into Christian Spain 03:07 Tax Collectors and Moneylenders: How Jews Survived Under Christian Rule 06:12 Jewish Autonomy — Courts, Punishment, and Even Capital Cases 08:23 Decline Begins: The Yellow Badge and the Disproportionate Tax Burden 09:12 Introducing the Ramban (Nachmanides), 13th-Century Jewry's Central Figure 11:08 His Works: Torah Commentary, Kabbalah, and a 20-Volume Talmud Commentary 13:34 Defending the Rif — and the Battle of the Baal HaMaor 16:03 Critic and Defender: How the Ramban Rescued Maimonides' Reputation 18:43 Bridging Sepharad and Ashkenaz Through His Teacher from Provence 20:21 The Disputation of Barcelona, 1263 — Forced to Debate for Jewish Survival 23:28 Winning the Debate, Losing the War: Exile to the Land of Israel 26:24 The Maimonidean Controversy — Banning the Guide for the Perplexed 34:35 The Talmud Is Burned in Paris — 24 Wagonloads, Ordered by "St. Louis" 37:10 Rabbi Yona's Guilt and His Lifelong Penance, Shaarei Teshuva 39:09 The Rashba: Nachmanides' Disciple and History's Most-Preserved Posek 43:00 The Beginning of the End: 1391 to 1492 44:45 Why Assimilation Never Bought Safety — From Conversos to Weimar Germany 47:41 Torquemada: The Inquisition's Fiercest Enforcer, Allegedly a Jew Himself 48:16 Don Isaac Abarbanel and the Columbus Theory 50:00 1492: The Expulsion, and Why the Deadline Fell on Tisha B'Av 51:06 Where Sephardic Jews Scattered — And Why They Stayed Sephardic 54:39 Sephardic in Name Only: Iraqi, Iranian, and Yemenite Jews 55:20 Q&A: Every Country That Has Expelled Its Jews 56:37 Closing Lesson: We Can't Escape Being Different — So Let's Own It 57:52 Preview: Next Up, the Ashkenazic Jews 58:20 Bonus Q&A: Did Maimonides Know Kabbalah? 📚 Sources discussed: Ramban (Nachmanides) — Torah commentary, Talmud commentary, Milchamot Hashem, Iggeret HaRamban; Rambam (Maimonides) — Mishneh Torah, Sefer HaMitzvot, Guide for the Perplexed; Rashba (Rabbi Shlomo Ben Aderet) — Torat HaBayit, Responsa; Rif (Rabbi Yitzchak Alfasi); Ra'avad (Rabbi Abraham Ben David); Rabbi Zerachia HaLevi (Ba'al HaMaor); Rabbi Meir HaLevi Abulafia; Rabbi Yona of Gerona — Shaarei Teshuva; Rabbi Aharon HaLevi — Bedek HaBayit; Don Isaac Abarbanel #SephardicJewry #JewishHistory #Nachmanides #Ramban #SpanishInquisition #Maimonides #RabbiGreenberg *Join our vibrant Torah learning community:* 🌐 *Website:* https://www.rabbigreenberg.com 📚 *"Jewish Wisdom for Modern Life" - Latest book:* https://a.co/d/6Sz88At ▶️ *YouTube:* https://www.youtube.com/RabbiHeschelGreenberg 📸 *Instagram:* https://www.instagram.com/rabbi_greenberg 🐦 *Twitter:* https://x.com/Rabbi_Greenberg 📘 *Facebook:* https://www.facebook.com/rabbihgreenberg 🎵 *TikTok:* https://www.tiktok.com/@rabbi_greenberg 💼 *LinkedIn:* https://www.linkedin.com/in/rabbihgreenberg