WALTER JACOB
Nahmanides’ general critique of Maimonides . Nothing practical came from Nahmanides’ statement. No rabbinic scholar in the Ashkenazic or Sephardic world propagandized for settlement in Israel . The statement undoubtedly encouraged those who lived there, but it had no other effect.
When Alfas(1013-1103) created his major halakhic code, he omitted legal material connected with the Temple and the Land of Israel. This was the first successful and influential effort at codification. Moses Maimonides (1135-1204), on the other hand, followed a different path and included all those laws, either because he wished to present a complete code or because he sought to express his Messianic longings in this fashion. Scholars continue to debate the reason. Although he spent most of his life in Egypt , Maimonides made no attempt to visit the Land of Israel; after his death he was buried in Tiberias . We should also note that Maimoni des
warned the Jews of Yemen against following a false Messianic leader who sought to resettle them in the Land of Israel(Iggeret Yemen).
In this matter most codes followed the pattern Alfasi set, as they, too, omitted the priestly material and the laws connected with the Land of Israel.” Each of them sought to simplify access to Jew ish learning and the religious life, as the Talmud proved to be too difficult for the average Jew. The codes provided the means by which every Jew could create a Jewish life. Along with erudite discussions, they omitted the vast aggadic material of the Talmud and laws connected with the Land of Israel of only Messianic interest and of no practical concern to the average Jew. The same pattern was followed by the summary of medieval piety expressed by the Sefer Hasidim, contemporary with the Crusades ; it did not deal with
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