The Reasons for the Commandments

This chapter analyzes the meaning of halakhah and religious praxis as a signal indicator of the originality, profundity, and influence of a particular mode of thinking in the history of Jewish thought. It looks at Nahmanides's insights into the realm of the Godhead and into the process of emanation from within Absolute Privation. It also explores Nahmanides's ideas about humanity's place in the cosmos and his theories of prophecy and the miraculous. The chapter discusses how Nahmanides invested much energy into supplying reasons for the commandments. It points out Nahmanides's intention to translate his metaphysical and anthropological ideas into a meaningful framework for the performance of the commandments.

Nahmanides’s Conception of History

This chapter this explores Nahmanides's conception of history that reflects a profound departure from the linear model in favor of a cyclical one. It looks into the cyclical model of time as the doctrine of cosmic cycles or torat ha-shemittot, in which the seventh millennium, the World to Come, will be followed by a new cosmic cycle. It also talks about the linear model, in which the End of Days represents a stable period of the ultimate redemption and the World to Come marks the end of the twists and turns of history. The chapter highlights the cyclical model where the End of Days morphs into the beginning and the World to Come signals the end of a divine movement that is reborn with the obliteration of the World to Come. It also mentions the cyclical paradigm of history in R. Abraham b. Hiyya's thought as a reasonable corollary of Nahmanides's astrological worldview.