Gerondi, Nissim ben Reuben

Abstract

Rabbi Nissim Gerondi was the leading Jewish Spanish juridical scholar between 1350 and 1376. He was in fact the spiritual and the juridical leader of the Jewish community of Aragon despite apparently not having an official position as rabbi of the city but only as head of the local Yeshiva. The huge majority of his works relate to Jewish Law. His major philosophical work was a collection of 12 sermons that address several philosophical and religious questions. His major philosophical impact was with regard to the question of political philosophy. He employed a sharp division between the law of the Torah and the law of the king, with each having distinct religious and practical roles. Rabbi Nissim was also the founder of a specific school within Jewish philosophy which continued until the middle of the fifteenth century. The defining characteristics of this school were its anti-Aristotelian approach and its conservative answers to metaphysical questions.