/ RaMBa”N). Sha’ar Hagemul [on eschatology]

Part of a larger work entitled Torath Ha’Adam that deals with the laws of mourning, Sha’ar ha-Gemul, “The Gate of Retribution,” tackles the difficult concept of the After-Life in which Nachmanides differs from Maimonides’ eschatological vision. Whereas for Maimonides the final state of man is a disembodied soul, in Nachmanides’ view it is precisely the rejoining of soul and body that is the ultimate state. The final leaf of this work contains the famed historical letter penned by Nachmanides in Jerusalem to his son Nachman, describing the fearful living conditions in the Land of Israel following the invasion of the Tatar hordes in 1260. Nachmanides sums up the situation by saying: “The sum of the matter is, the holier the place, the more desolate… thus Jerusalem is most desolate of all.”