ALIYAH: CONFLICT AND AMBIVALENCE
because of the dangerous trip and the impossibility of observing the agricultural commandments in the Land. Against him were aligned the Mabit and his son, who claimed that in their time, three hundred years later, the superpowers were at peace and one could join convoys from any number of European countries to the Land of Israel This is a continuation of the debate whether one could study Torah and observe mit=vot better in the Holy Land or in the Diaspora. Throughout this essay, we have witnessed the pluralistic views of medieval times.
3. RABBINIC TEACHING AND APPLICATION—Three great rabbinic leaders of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries taught about the importance of aliyah. Maimonides codified Talmudic halakhot that instructed his readers to go up to the Land and to avoid returning to Egypt . Maimonides did not treat this as a biblical commandment, but rather as a rabbinic precept. He found a way of explaining away
the Talmudic dictate in his responsa, as he has done in a number of instances.” He codified according to halakhic standards with which he may or may not have agreed. When he dealt with case law of individuals, the acute situation at times called for a radical departure from these standards.
So it appears to have been the situation in his own life. He went to the Land of Israel only as a sanctuary from persecution and possibly execution in Morocco . He spent six months or so touring the Land and then descended to Egypt . Nowhere does he try to justify this action, except for possible veiled hints.
Nahmanides wrote everything about Zion and the commandment to settle there that Maimonides had left unwritten. He wrote and he preached, but he remained in Spain . Only when his life was in danger, in the aftermath of the disputation, did he leave alone for his
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