Nissim ben Reuven (1320–1376, Hebrew: נסים בן ראובן) of Girona, Catalonia was an influential talmudist and authority on Jewish law. He was one of the last of the great Spanish medieval talmudic scholars. He is also known as the RaN (ר"ן, the Hebrew acronym of his name).
The Ran was born in Barcelona, Catalonia. He was a Physician and had knowledge of astronomy. The RaN's teacher is not known; his works refer to a R. Perez as "morenu" ("our teache...
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Nissim ben Reuven (1320–1376, Hebrew: נסים בן ראובן) of Girona, Catalonia was an influential talmudist and authority on Jewish law. He was one of the last of the great Spanish medieval talmudic scholars. He is also known as the RaN (ר"ן, the Hebrew acronym of his name).
The Ran was born in Barcelona, Catalonia. He was a Physician and had knowledge of astronomy. The RaN's teacher is not known; his works refer to a R. Perez as "morenu" ("our teacher"), but it is thought that his father, Reuben b. Nissim, was his primary teacher. RaN was considered the greatest Halachic authority of his generation, and queries were sent to him from throughout the Jewish diaspora. His closest disciples were the Rivash (Isaac ben Sheshet) and Hasdai Crescas.
In his analyses, Nissim frequently refutes other rishonim; in his legal rulings however, he generally adopts their opinions in practice. He was "no friend of mysticism", and even reproved Nahmanides for devoting too much time to the Kabbalah.
His best...
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