The Dispute and the Quest for Peace: The Controversy Surrounding Maimonides

Maimonides is celebrated as one of the most renowned sages of all generations—Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, the Great Eagle, praised as "From Moses to Moses there was none like Moses."

Yet many years ago, in the generation following Maimonides, a significant and intense controversy erupted around his writings.

Maimonides, a brilliant scholar and philosopher, defined the core principles of Jewish faith, including the idea that Hashem has no body and no bodily image. Anyone believing otherwise, he asserted, is a heretic and an apostate.

This assertion was troubling for some Jewish scholars of the time. After all, the prophets described various acts of Hashem, and even the Talmud contained such descriptions. How could this all be relegated to metaphor?

While today this principle is well-established, in Maimonides' era, some viewed his ideas as too radical, going against traditional rabbinic literature, and they launched a campaign against his approach.

In Provence, a large group of scholars, known as "The Wise Men of the Mountain," residing in Montpellier, stated that Maimonides' books were heretical. Some went so far as to burn his books.

Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, known as the Ramban, came to Maimonides' defense. In a famous letter addressed to "The Wise Men of the Mountain," he wrote that even those who disagreed with Maimonides could not claim his words were heretical. Maimonides was a significant and respected legal authority, and no one had the right to burn his books, Heaven forbid.

One of the leaders from "The Wise Men of the Mountain," Rabbeinu Yonah of Gerona, reconsidered his position in light of the Ramban's writings and publicly apologized to Maimonides.

Over time, the tension eased, and peace returned to the Jewish communities of Western Europe. Yet, it is said that those who dared to burn Maimonides' books were cursed, and all their descendants converted away from Judaism.