Jonah Ben-abraham Gerundi

Jonah Ben-Abraham Gerundi, a Jewish savant, and one of the principal leaders of the opposition to the school of Maimonides, was born about 1195. A disciple of the celebrated Salomo of Montpensier, he had espoused the cause of the latter. He was one of the parties that pronounced the ban against all who should dare to read the writings of the celebrated Jewish philosopher, and his opposition had in every way been so bitter against the Maimonidists that it caused no little surprise in the Jewish camp when he, upon the attempt of the inquisitors to destroy all copies of the Rabbinical writings, openly declared his former course a mistake, and pronounced the second Moses a great and good man. He even entered upon a pilgrimage to the grave of the man whose writings and disciples he had formerly opposed; and when, at the solicitation of a Jewish congregation which demanded his services, he halted on the journey, and there died (about 1270), his death was attributed by some of his superstitious brethren as a punishment of heaven for the nonfulfilment of his duty to visit the grave of Maimonides, and there declare the folly of his former course. Jonah was a man of splendid parts, and did much to allay strife among his people. Grätz, Gesch. d. Juden, 7, 46, 117 sq. SEE SALOMO OF MONTPENSIER. (J.H.W.)