My learning partner just received from the USA the book in English of Chaval.
In that book is the letter of the Ramban (Nachmanides) to the sages of France about their ban on the Guide of the Rambam (Maimonides). I don't know what it says but I think it must be very important to see how someone of the stature of the Ramban (Nachmanides) understood the Guide.
What I mean to say is that the Sages of France were the people that were still continuing the work of the original Baali Hatosphot. As soon as the Guide came out in Hebrew a cousin of Nachmanides went to the sages in France and asked them to make a ban on the book. And they obliged. Then Nachmanides wrote to them asking them to rescind the ban.
What makes this interesting is that the Nachmanides has no problem attacking the Rambam constantly in his commentary on the Five Books of Moses. And he had a very different world view. He was in fact the last of the true mystics until the Ari. So how he understood the Guide and why he defended it must have great significance.
The Ramban {Nachmanides} states in that letter that one who separates himself from the Guide or the Sefer HaMada is as one who separates himself from the Source of Life. So even if on individual points the Ram'ban had no problem disagreeing with the 'Rambam still he is clearly as emotional and upset about the ban on the Rambam as one could possibly be. (Chavel writes there that there is nothing in all of Jewish literature the reflects the depth and intensity of emotion of that letter.)
In that book is the letter of the Ramban (Nachmanides) to the sages of France about their ban on the Guide of the Rambam (Maimonides). I don't know what it says but I think it must be very important to see how someone of the stature of the Ramban (Nachmanides) understood the Guide.
What I mean to say is that the Sages of France were the people that were still continuing the work of the original Baali Hatosphot. As soon as the Guide came out in Hebrew a cousin of Nachmanides went to the sages in France and asked them to make a ban on the book. And they obliged. Then Nachmanides wrote to them asking them to rescind the ban.
What makes this interesting is that the Nachmanides has no problem attacking the Rambam constantly in his commentary on the Five Books of Moses. And he had a very different world view. He was in fact the last of the true mystics until the Ari. So how he understood the Guide and why he defended it must have great significance.
The Ramban {Nachmanides} states in that letter that one who separates himself from the Guide or the Sefer HaMada is as one who separates himself from the Source of Life. So even if on individual points the Ram'ban had no problem disagreeing with the 'Rambam still he is clearly as emotional and upset about the ban on the Rambam as one could possibly be. (Chavel writes there that there is nothing in all of Jewish literature the reflects the depth and intensity of emotion of that letter.)
