Rabbi Moses ben Nachman
Historical - This post describes Nachmanides in 1220 and forward in time until his death. Sadly the name of Nachmanides’s wife has been lost to history, as are many details of his personal life. He certainly had three sons, the existence of a fourth son is more speculative. It is not recorded if he had any daughters. Nachmanides is a contemporary of wizards gauntleted in 1220, such as the player characters. As such he can be a character who comes back again and again over the course of a saga.
Moses ben Nachman, known later as Nachmanides or Ramban, in 26 in the year 1220. He lives in the city of Girnoa in Catalonia. Growing up the city was a center of kabbalism featuring several important figures, such as Issac the Blind and Azriel of Girona.
Moses studied in the beit midrash with these great kabalists, but he was personally mentored by Rabbi Judah ben Yakar. By the age of 16 he started to offer rulings about halakah. He wrote defending some halakic decisions by the Rif, against a native of Girona, ReZaH. The Rif had shown great deference to the ancient sages in his writings, and Moses came to agree with this sort of respect for the rabbis of the Talmud.
He was married in his early 20s, and in 1220 he has two children, Shlomo and Nachman. In the next few years he will have Yehuda and Yoseph as well. He is part of an extended family in Girona, most notably his cousin Jonah ben Abraham Gerondi who is a noted writer on ethics.
Moses is more interested in writing about halakha, and in commenting on the Torah. His instinct is to be strict in his rulings. He values adherence to the law, and is interested in building fences around the Torah - rulings that prevent even the possibility of trespass against Torah law. He is an eager and impassioned writer, ready to send letters disputing with rabbis all over the Sephardic communities of Provance and Iberia.
Moses ben Nachman in 1220
Characteristics: Int +4, Per -2, Pre +3, Com +2, Str -2, Sta -1, Dex +2, Qik -1
Size: 0
Age: 26 (26)
Decrepitude: 0 (0)
Warping Score: 0 (0)
Confidence Score: 1 (3)
Virtues and Flaws
Free: Craftsman (Physician)
Virtues: Educated (Hebrew) x 2, Clear Thinker, Book Learner. Affinity for Rabbinic Law, Improved Characteristics, Great Intelligence, Wealthy
Flaws: Outsider (Major), Close Family Ties (His Extended Family), Pious (Minor), Driven (Major, Encourage Strict Adherence to Halakha), Ability Block (Combat), Powerful Yetzer Hara
Personality Traits: Stubborn +3, Believes in Miracles +3, Values Halakah +3, Faithfully Jewish +3.
Reputations: Skilled Scholar +2
Combat:
Dodging: Init -1, Atk n/a, Def +2, Dam n/a
Soak: -1 (Stamina)
Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: –1 (1–5), –3 (6–10), –5 (11–15), Incapacitated (16–20)
Abilities: Girona Lore 2 (jews), Athletics 1 (walking), Awareness 2 (rivals), Bargain 1 (writing materials), Carouse 1 (purim), Charm 1 (rabbis), Chirurgy 4 (broken bones), Concentration 4 (prayer), Etiquette 1 (rabbis), Folk Ken 3 (jews), Leadership 2 (jews), Ladino 5 (debate), Arabic 2 (philosophy), Music 1 (torah trope), Judaic Lore 2 (synagogue customs), Profession: Scribe 3 (letters), Teaching 1 (jewish law), Artes Liberales 4 (philosophy), Rabbinic Law 6 (talmud halakah), Hebrew 5 (torah), Aramaic 3 (talmud), Medicine 5 (disease), Philosophiae 2 (greeks), Theology: Jewish 2 (miracles), Dominion Lore 1 (miracles)
Equipment: Books
Encumbrance: 0 (0)
By the 1230s Moses is considered a sage, a hakham, in the Jewish community, and he has gained the title of rabbi. When a series of disputes in the communities of Provance and Iberia erupt around Rambam, Rabbi Moses is a central figure. He defends Rambam’s most virulent critic, Solomon ben Abraham of Montpellier, who had been excommunicated by Rambam’s supporters. But he also defends Rambam in letters to the Rabbis of France and Germany.
He respects Rambam’s strictness when it came to halakhic rulings. But he disagrees with him in areas of theology. Where Rambam took an Aristotelian approach to Jewish philosophy, Rabbi Moses emphasizes the miraculous nature of the universe. He writes “A person has no portion in the Torah of Moshe Rabeinu unless he believes that all our matters and circumstances are miracles and they do not follow nature or the general custom of the world.”
To find a middle ground between both sides, and in a compromise with his own beliefs, he supports allowing the teaching of Rambam’s philosophical teachings in the Mishneh Torah. But he proposes that the Guide for the Perplexed should be banned and anyone who interprets the Torah allegorically should be shunned.
Despite his prestige, Rabbi Moses works as a doctor to earn a living. His four sons are growing fast, and are all students at the beit midrash. The eldest, Shlomo, has even married.
Rabbi Moses ben Nachman in 1235
Characteristics: Int +4, Per -2 (1), Pre +3 (1), Com +2, Str -2, Sta -1, Dex +2, Qik -1
Size: 0
Age: 41 (41)
Decrepitude: 0 (2)
Warping Score: 0 (0)
Confidence Score: 1 (3)
Virtues and Flaws
Free: Craftsman (Physician)
Virtues: Educated (Hebrew) x 2, Clear Thinker, Book Learner. Affinity for Rabbinic Law, Improved Characteristics, Great Intelligence, Wealthy
Flaws: Outsider (Major), Close Family Ties (His Extended Family), Pious (Minor), Driven (Major, Encourage Strict Adherence to Halakha), Ability Block (Combat), Powerful Yetzer Hara
Personality Traits: Stubborn +3, Believes in Miracles +3, Values Halakah +3, Faithfully Jewish +3.
Reputations: Skilled Scholar +2
Combat:
Dodging: Init -1, Atk n/a, Def +2, Dam n/a
Soak: -1 (Stamina)
Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: –1 (1–5), –3 (6–10), –5 (11–15), Incapacitated (16–20)
Abilities: Girona Lore 3 (jews), Jewish Sephardic World Lore 2 (rabbis), Athletics 1 (walking), Awareness 2 (rivals), Bargain 1 (writing materials), Carouse 1 (purim), Charm 1 (rabbis), Chirurgy 4 (broken bones), Concentration 5 (prayer), Etiquette 2 (rabbis), Folk Ken 3 (jews), Leadership 4 (jews), Ladino 5 (debate), Arabic 4 (philosophy), Music 1 (torah trope), Judaic Lore 3 (synagogue customs), Profession: Scribe 3 (letters), Teaching 1 (jewish law), Artes Liberales 4 (philosophy), Rabbinic Law 8 (talmud halakah), Hebrew 5 (torah), Aramaic 4 (talmud), Medicine 6 (disease), Philosophiae 3 (greeks), Theology: Jewish 5 (miracles), Dominion Lore 4 (miracles)
Equipment: Books
Encumbrance: 0 (0)
By 1263 Rabbi Moses has become a leader in the Jewish community. He is the head rabbi of Catalonia, and his works are so important that he has become known by the acronym Ramban. (Note that Ramban is Nachmanides and Rambam is Maimonides). He has just published his commentary on the Torah, which will prove to be his final major work.
In this year a public debate is organized in the court of King James of Aragon. The Dominican Friar Pablo Christiani, a convert to Christianity from Judaism, had been preaching to the local Jewish community with little effect. Christiani believed he could win converts if he defeated the Jewish champion and prove the suposed superiority of Christian thought over rabbinic writings.
Rabbi Moses is reluctant, but he understands that he is the best champion to advance the Jewish cause. He knows that Jews had suffered in previous disputations because they had been reluctant to criticize Christianity to heavily, for fear of persecution. Moses speaks to the King in advance of the debate and extracts a promise that he could speak freely. In addition, he convinced the King to personally attend the disputation, so that he could hear the truth, not just the reports of the biased Dominicans.
Moses takes advantage of that freedom. To disprove the idea that Jesus was the Messiah, he says, “The prophet says that at the time of the Messiah ‘they shall not teach their friends war, etc.’… and from the days of Jesus until now, the entire world is full of robbery and pillaging, and the Christians have spilled more blood than any of the other nations, and they are also sexually immoral. How hard it would be for you, my great king, and for your knights, to survive if there would be an end to warfare!”
Speaking frankly throughout, Moses refuted the idea that Jesus was the Messiah and asserted the truth of Judaism. The King did not concede that Moses had won the debate, but he does award the rabbi 300 gold coins and, on the shabbat after the debate he comes to the geat synagogue of Barcelnoa and addressed the Jewish congregations there, as a mark of respect for the community.
None-the-less the Dominicans claim victory, and in response Rabbi Moses publishes a transcript of the proceedings that argues that he was actually the victor. The Dominicans demand that Moses is punished, but the King remembers his promise to allow Moses free expression. He banishes the rabbi for two years. Unfortunately, at the order of Pope Clement this banishment is extended to a lifetime ban.
Rabbi Moses has to say a difficult good bye from his wife, his children, and his grandchildren. He wanders Provance for four years before departing for Jerusalem, which he reaches in 1267. His writing from Jerusalem inspires many other Jews to come there, and restores the Jewish community after its devastation in the First Crusade. He dies in Akko in 1270.
Rabbi Moses ben Nachman in 1263
Characteristics: Int +3, Per -3, Pre +3 (2), Com +1, Str -3, Sta -2, Dex +1, Qik -2
Size: 0
Age: 69 (69)
Decrepitude: 3 (1)
Warping Score: 0 (0)
Confidence Score: 1 (3)
Virtues and Flaws
Free: Craftsman (Physician)
Virtues: Educated (Hebrew) x 2, Clear Thinker, Book Learner. Affinity for Rabbinic Law, Improved Characteristics, Great Intelligence, Wealthy
Flaws: Outsider (Major), Close Family Ties (His Extended Family), Pious (Minor), Driven (Major, Encourage Strict Adherence to Halakha), Ability Block (Combat), Powerful Yetzer Hara
Personality Traits: Stubborn +3, Believes in Miracles +3, Values Halakah +3, Faithfully Jewish +3.
Reputations: Skilled Scholar +2
Combat:
Dodging: Init -1, Atk n/a, Def +2, Dam n/a
Soak: -1 (Stamina)
Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: –1 (1–5), –3 (6–10), –5 (11–15), Incapacitated (16–20)
Abilities: Girona Lore 3 (jews), Jewish Sephardic World Lore 4 (rabbis), Athletics 1 (walking), Awareness 2 (rivals), Bargain 1 (writing materials), Carouse 1 (purim), Charm 2 (rabbis), Chirurgy 4 (broken bones), Concentration 5 (prayer), Etiquette 4 (rabbis), Folk Ken 3 (jews), Leadership 6 (jews), Ladino 5 (debate), Arabic 5 (philosophy), Music 1 (torah trope), Judaic Lore 4 (synagogue customs), Profession: Scribe 4 (letters), Teaching 2 (jewish law), Artes Liberales 6 (philosophy), Rabbinic Law 12 (20) (talmud halakah), Hebrew 5 (torah), Aramaic 5 (talmud), Medicine 6 (disease), Philosophiae 4 (greeks), Theology: Jewish 7 (miracles), Dominion Lore 5 (miracles)
Equipment: Books
Encumbrance: 0 (0)
Notes: Moses benefited from the Shinnui Shem ritual, performed by a kabbalist in Girona when he gained the name Ramban. (RoPD 141)