JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

and a Maccabi movement. An old-age home supported
by Jewish agencies outside Spain is maintained. The University
of Barcelona offers courses in Jewish studies. Together
with leaders of the Madrid community, Barcelona community
heads were received in 1965 by General Franco, the first
meeting between a Spanish head of state and Jewish leaders
since 1492.
Bibliography: J. Fiter Ingles, Expulsíon de los judios de
Barcelona (1876); Loeb, in: REJ, 4 (1882), 57–77; F. de Bofarull y Sans,
Los judíos en el territorio de Barcelona (1910); J. Miret y Sans and M.
Schwab, Documents de juifs Catalans des XIe, XIIe et XIIe siécles (1915),
191; idem, in: Boletin de la Real Academia de la Historia, 69 (1916),
569–82; Baer, Urkunden, 1 pt. 1 (1929), index; Prevosti, in: Sefarad, 10
(1951), 75–90; A. López de Meneses, in: Estudios de Edad Media de la
Corona de Aragón, 5 (1952), 677; idem, in: Sefarad, 19 (1959), 97–106,
323ff.; Madurell y Marimón, ibid., 16 (1956), 369–98; 17 (1957), 73–102;
18 (1958), 60–82; 21 (1961), 300–38; 22 (1962), 345–72; 23 (1963), 74–104;
25 (1965), 247–82; 27 (1967), 290–8; Baron, Social2, 4 (1957), 34, 249,
notes 37f.; Cardoner, in: Sefarad, 22 (1962), 373–5; Suárez Fernández,
Documentos, index; Baer, Spain, index; Millás Vallicrosa, in: Sefarad,
27 (1967), 64–70. Add. Bibliography: J. Shatzmiller, in: Meḥkarim
be-Toledot Am Yisrael, 3 (1980), 121–37; J-L. Palos, in: L’Aven, 47 (1982),
21–31; L. Feldman, in: Genuzot, 1 (1984), 67–98; D. Abulafia, in: Viator,
16 (1985), 209–42; D. Romano, in: G. Dahan (ed.), Les juifs au regard
de l’histoire, (1985), 195–99; E. Lourie, in: Mediterranean Historical Review
I (1986), 187–220; E. Feliu i Mabres, in: Calls, 2 (1987), 145–79; Y.
Assis, in: Galut aḥar Golah (1988), 257–83; idem, in: Jornades d’história
dels jueus a Catalunya (1987), Actes, (1990), 77–92; M. Cinta Mañé,
The Jews in Barcelona, 1213–1291; Y Assis (ed.), Regesta of Documents
from the Archivo Capitular (1988); Y. Assis, The Golden Age of Aragonese
Jewry (1997), index, S. V. Barcelona; idem, Jewish Economy in
the Medieval Crown of Aragon, (1997), index, S.V. Barcelona. MODERN
PERIOD: M. Fernández Matorell, Estudio antropológico: una comunidad
judía (1984); M. Berthlot, Historia oral de la comunidad israelita
de Barcelona (Barcelona 1914–1954) (2001).
[Zvi Avneri and Haim Beinart / Yom Tov Assis (2nd ed.)]
BARCELONA, DISPUTATION OF, religious disputation
between Jews and Christians in 1263. The apostate Paulus
[Pablo] *Christiani proposed to King James I of Aragon
that a formal public religious disputation on the fundamentals
of faith should be held between him and R. Moses b.
Naḥman (*Naḥmanides) whom he had already encountered
in *Gerona. The disputation took place with the support of the
ecclesiastical authorities and the generals of the Dominican
and Franciscan orders, while the king presided over a number
of sessions and took an active part in the disputation. The
Dominicans *Raymond de Peñaforte, Raymond *Martini, and
Arnold de Segarra, and the general of the Franciscan order
in the kingdom, Peter de Janua, were among the Christian
disputants. The single representative for the Jewish side was
Naḥmanides. The four sessions of the disputation took place
on July 20, 27, 30, and 31, 1263 (according to another calculation,
July 20, 23, 26, and 27). Naḥmanides was guaranteed
complete freedom of speech in the debate; he took full advantage
of the opportunity thus afforded and spoke with remarkable
frankness. Two accounts of the disputation, one in He-
barcelona, disputation of
brew written by Naḥmanides and a shorter one in Latin, are
the main sources for the history of this important episode in
Judeo-Christian polemics. According to both sources the initiative
for the disputation and its agenda were imposed by the
Christian side, although the Hebrew account tries to suggest
a greater involvement of Naḥmanides in finalizing the items
to be discussed. The initiative in the debate remained on the
Christian side throughout.
Basing himself on the Talmud as a whole, and in particular
on the aggadic and homiletical passages, the Christian
contestant sought to prove three points: that the Messiah had
already appeared; that he was “both human and divine,” and
had died to atone for the sins of mankind; and that, in consequence,
the precepts of Judaism had lost their validity. Against
this Naḥmanides argued that the literal meaning of the passages
quoted from the Talmud do not admit this christological
interpretation. On the question of aggadah he claimed that
the homiletical passages in the Talmud are not obligatory for
Jews. Rabbis and eminent scholars, such as Yitzhak Baer, H.H.
Ben-Sasson, and Martin Cohen maintained that Naḥmanides’
claim was purely political, put forward in a disputation that
had been imposed on him, so that he even had to use arguments
in which he did not believe in order to overcome the
Christian attack. Other scholars, such as Cecil Roth and Robert
Chazan, expressed a more moderate opinion. Chavel, H.
Maccoby, and B. Septimus suggested that Naḥmanides’ view
was fully compatible with a well-established Jewish tradition.
Marvin Fox argues that this latter attitude is based on a complete
misunderstanding of Naḥmanides’ views and beliefs as
they are found so clearly throughout his commentary on the
Torah and that Nahmanides’ view follows a Jewish tradition
that, though paying full respect to the midrashic commentaries,
does not accept them as necessarily binding, and avows
that the main issue between Judaism and Christianity does not
depend on belief in the Messiah. Naḥmanides even went on to
attack the illogicality in Christian dogma concerning the nature
of the Divinity. Some of his utterances hint at the future
destruction of Christendom. He referred slightingly to the fate
of Jesus, who was persecuted in his own lifetime and hid from
his pursuers. Rome, which had been a mighty empire before
Jesus lived, declined after adopting Christianity, “and now
the servants of Muhammad have a greater realm than they.”
Naḥmanides also made the point that “from the time of Jesus
until the present the world has been filled with violence and
injustice, and the Christians have shed more blood than all
other peoples.” He similarly attacked the whole concept of the
combination of human and divine attributes in Jesus.
A number of ecclesiastics who saw the turn the disputation
was taking urged that it should be ended as speedily as
possible. It was, therefore, never formally concluded, but interrupted.
According to the Latin record of the proceedings,
the disputation ended because Naḥmanides fled prematurely
from the city. In fact, however, he stayed on in Barcelona for
over a week after the disputation had been suspended in order
to be present in the synagogue on the following Sabbath when
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