The Rabbi and the English scholar

Religious Disputation in the Middle Ages

Nahmanides (1194-1270), Bi’ur al ha-Torah (or Perush al ha-Torah, Commentary on the Pentateuch), Venice, 1544. Page showing the beginning of the commentary's section on Leviticus.

In a public debate called by King James I of Aragon, the Barcelona Disputation of 1263, Nahmanides defended the Jewish faith. In the end Nahmanides was exiled, and it was ruled that all Jewish manuscripts had to be censored of ‘controversial claims’. On display is Nahmanides’ Commentary on the Pentateuch, which was essential reading for Christian Hebraists.