Abraham Gross GERONA: A SEPHARDIC CRADLE OF JEWISH LEARNING AND RELIGIOUSITY In Jewish intellectual history we encoun- tween the scholars of Provence and those of ter from time to time a small place which is drawn Gerona»2. to the limelight as a major center of learning seem- ingly beyond any logical proportion to its physi- While we do not possess much hard evi- cal size and to the actual number of its popula- dence to substanciate our claim for Gerona as an tion. This can be demonstrated beginning with independent religious entity (besides the general Yavneh in the 1st century A.D. until a number of impression we glean from parading the leading East European yeshivot in the 20th century. This intellectual Geronese figures), one should men- phenomenon could be caused sometimes by de- tion at least one case in which we know of a «cus- mographical changes due to persecutions and in- tom of Gerona» (minhag Gerona), concerning the securities which Jews were subjected to. More of- recital of Selihot , which differs from the «minhag ten it happened by the presence of personal lu- Barcelona». Nissim Gerondi in his commentary minaries who drew to their schools students from on Alfasi writes: afar. Such personalities would be also the ones to lend the place its unique intellectual and religious «[...] and therefore they are accustomed in Barce- character. Another major consideration in at- lona and its region [u-geliloteah] to get up early in the th tempting to explain such a character is to be found morning on the 25 day of Elul [...], and therefore in with the aid of a simple geographical map. Gerona and its region they do not get up early until Rosh ha-Shanah»3. In this respect, Gerona, which has been right- fully described as a community «famous for its scholars»1 serves as an interesting case-study. We Thus, just like the larger community of could certainly describe it, pose some research ques- Barcelona, Gerona’s sphere of religious influence tions and offer some hypotheses if not a complete too includes some satellite communities. waterproof, empirically-based, set of answers. Gerona, a Northern Catalunian town just If we are to judge by the scholars known to south of Provence, was during the 13th c. the have left their imprints on the literary creation hometown for a Jewish community which num- in various fields of Jewish learning, then we must bered up to 100 families. Relative to other define as its heydays between the first half of the th th Catalunian communities it was not small, but it 13 century and the middle of the 14 . We have could not be considered on par with a larger one to emphasize this, since we know that it is not such as Barcelona. always the written records that tell us everything we would like to know about branches of oral *** learning, among which we must include talmudic and certainly esoteric teachings. Nevertheless, we Gerona is described as an independent ac- believe that the proposed periodization in this claimed talmudic school in a passage attributed case is quite accurate. to the «Disciples of Rabenu Jonah», who write: During this period we meet in Gerona sev- eral outstanding figures without whom no history «And concerning a robber [gazlan], whether he of Jewish learning in general, and that of is trustworthy [ne’eman], there is disagreement be- Sephardic learning in particular, can be written. 1 Y. BAER, Toledot ha-Yehudim bi-Sefarad ha- 3 In H.D. CHAVEL, Ramban, Jerusalem 1973, Noxrit, Tel Aviv 1965, p. 115. p. 29 n. 12. B.T. Tractate Rosh ha-Shanah, ch. 1, 2 Shittah Mequbbexet, Ketubbot 18a. Mishnah: Be-Arba‘ah Peraqim. 161 Abraham Gross This is just as accurate if we examine Gerona in Now, it might be futile to try and look for a terms of its influence on the history of religious trend which characterizes the famous outstand- mentality of Sephardic Jewry. ing figures of Gerona in the span of a century. For example, while the Zohar – apparently a Let us nevertheless attempt to evaluate in broad Castilian creation – is undisputedly the one single strokes some of the major figures; Jonah Gerondi, most influencial medieval qabbalistic corpus, one Moses ben Nahman (Nahmanides), and Nissim should consider the following remarks by G. Scholem: Gerondi. Jonah Gerondi, a prolific writer, who wrote «The most important period in the history of the in the beginning of the period defined above, af- older Kabbalah is linked up with the little Spanish town fords us a comprehensive look into a figure of Gerona in Catalonia, where a whole group of mystics tremendous influence on Spanish Jewry. were active in the first half of the thirteenth century; It is well-known that there are three cri- this group was also the first which succeeded in famil- iarizing influencial circles of Spanish Jewry with Kab- teria by which one evaluates real estate prop- balist thought. It was mainly their spiritual heritage erty; location, location, and location. When we that was brought to the fore in the Zohar»4. described above the geographical location of «[...] and in particular he (i.e. Moses de Leon) has Gerona it was not unintended. One of the major drawn freely upon the writings published by the school considerations a cultural historian must take of Kabbalists whose center was the little Catalan town into account in his attempt to describe and char- of Gerona and who between the years 1230 and 1260 acterize a cultural center is its geographical lo- did more than any other contemporary group to unify cation7. Now, it is widely recognized that a rough and consolidate what was pregnant and living in the cultural division must be made during this pe- Kabbalism in Spain. There can be no doubt that the writings of Ezra ben Solomon, Azriel and of Moses ben riod between two major spheres of influence - Nahman, the leading figure of this group, influenced Northern France and Spain. Between these two him not only generally but also down to certain pecu- lies Provence, which characteristically draws liar details of his own doctrine»5. from both and demonstrates it in a special fu- sion8. This model can be extended further and This circle imported to Spain the esoteric applied to the area just south of Provence. When teachings of their Provencal masters, interpreted one examines Jonah Gerondi it becomes appar- them, and developed their ideas. As we shall see ent9. in other fields as well, Gerona, due to its location Jonah Gerondi represents a personal served as a virtual station which transmitted bridge – perhaps the first significant one – be- Northern knowledge and teaching into Spain, and tween Spain and France10. Educated in the fa- itself transformed in the process6. mous Tosafist yeshivah in Evreau, his way of 4 G. SCHOLEM, Major Trends in Jewish Manhig Qehillat Lisbon wi-Yexirato, Ramat Gan Mysticism, New York 1961, p. 251. 1993, pp. 112-20. 5 Ibid., p. 173. 8 I. TWERSKY, Aspects of the Social and Cultural 6 While we are going to emphasize here the History of Provençal Jewry: «Cahiers d’Histoire southbound movement, one could point to a Mondiale» 11 (1968), pp. 185-207. movement in the opposite direction through the 9 I include Jonah Gerondi in this survey talmudic scholar Rabenu Zerahyah, the author of although we cannot conclusively determine the Ha-Ma’or, who moved around 1135 to Narbonne extent of his roots in Gerona. However, he is of and then to Lunel, along with the Sefardic more Catalunian stock, studied in Barcelona, was a systematic methods of learning. He himself, one friend and relative of Nahmanides, and blends well must add, was deeply influenced by Rabenu Tam, into the overall picture which I am trying to paint. the greatest French Tosafist of his time. 10 When I say «personal» I mean to exclude 7 I myself tried elsewhere to explain partially influencial literary works such as Rashi’s the uniqueness of the Lisbon Jewish center on the supercommentaries on the Pentateuch and on the basis of its existence in the «edge of the west»; see: Talmud. By and large, influencial personalities were A. GROSS, Rabbi Yosef ben Avraham Hayyun: the ones who introduced and promoted such works. 162 A Sephardic Cradle of Jewish Learning and Religiosity thinking – be it in studying Talmud or in his reli- Halakhah (including responsa), anti-Chris- gious-pietistic Weltanschauung – is conspicuously tian polemics, liturgical and non-liturgical influenced by it, even if the extent of the distinct poetry, sermons, ethical treatises, and marks of Haside Ashkenaz in his writings are still Qabbalah13. a subject for debate. His pious stand in the con- Unlike Jonah Gerondi, Nahmanides’ life, troversy over the philosophical writings of almost in its entirety, is bound with Gerona. His Maimonides, his tendency to mysticism, his ethi- two main teachers were Judah ben Yaqar, who cal literary works, and his courageous struggle carried with him French traditions of learning against corrupted Jewish leadership in Barcelona and spirituality, and Nathan ben Me’ir, who all point to his Ashkenazic education. brought with him Provencal methods, tendencies, He return to Spain and – possibly after and traditions, including mystical ones. spending some time in Gerona11 – he became a It would be problematic, to say the least, distinguished religious authority in Barcelona and to attempt to summarize here such a versatile, then in Toledo. As such he served as an impor- complex, and multi-faceted personality. However, tant ring in the historical chain – culminating in at the risk of sounding over-simplistic, I would the «easy absorption»12 of Asher ben Yehi’el as say that his stand on major issues of his time, the rabbi of Toledo – that linked Spanish Jewry such as the controversy over the philosophical with Ashkenaz.