Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman was born in an area in northeast Spain that was heavily influenced by Spanish Muslim culture and by French Ashkenazic culture. The Ramban’s writings reflect Spanish philosophy as well as the studiousness which characterized Ashkenazic Jewry.
A poem that the Ramban pens in the introduction to his commentary on the Torah reveals a number of its characteristics:
- He intends to offer new interpretations and not to explain the verses sequentially.
- When the Ramban does not interpret a given verse, we may assume that he intends to accept Rashi’s approach.
- It is a wide-ranging, comprehensive commentary, in which the Ramban uses specific verses as jumping boards to general topics.
By viewing two examples, one can observe that the Ramban, in his commentary to a lone verse, may relate to many facets of exegetical, halakhic and philosophical issues; he seeks an explanation which jibes with the details of many wider contexts. The proof is not local, but wide-ranging, comprehensive, taking in a broad perspective. One may see also the analytical style constructed, in which the Ramban, in an organized, consistent way, lays out the issues, brings different opinions and deals with them until he develops his own view.
