Ramban: The Disputation at Barcelona

Edited and translated by Rabbi Dr. Charles B. Chavel. The fascinating and highly educational personal account by Ramban (Nachmanides) of his forced disputation before the king of Barcelona.

To purchase this book on Amazon, click here.

This is Ramban’s transcript of his famous disputation in Barcelona. He was forced to defend the Jewish faith while it was under attack by the Catholic Church.

Pablo Christiani, a Jew who had converted to Catholicism, planned to convert the Jews of Provence. He instigated the debate with Ramban, to be held before king.  The debate had three main topics. (1) Whether the Messiah had already come. (2) Whether the Messiah foretold by the Prophets was to be divine or born by natural means. (3) What was the basis of the true eternal faith – the Pentateuch or the New Testament.

Ramban won the debate, in the judgment of the king. But this put him in grave danger, so he accepted to be exiled and leave the country alone. Already advanced in age, he traveled to the Land of Israel. He found the Jewish community there downtrodden and in disarray.  To remedy this, he founded a main synagogue in Jerusalem, and revived Jewish communal life there.