Why the Mishne Tora Was Not a Hit in Medieval Ashkenaz

An excerpt from a paper entitled "Mishneh Torah in Medieval Ashkenaz", in "Be'erot Yitzhak" (a memorial volume published by the talmidim and friends of the late Talner Rebbe, R' Yitzhak Twersky), by Dr. Jeffrey Woolf of Bar-Ilan University.
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Some, such as Avraham Grossman, have highlighted the absence of sources from the MT as a major cause of Ashkenazic discomfort therewith. ²³ In addition, in the wake of the Maimonidean Controversy of the early 1230s, in which Sefer Ha-Madda and the Guide of the Perplexed wert. placed under the ban by a group of French sages,²⁴ objection to the work was intensified by rejection of its philosophic tenor and content, especially as it related to the allegorization of aggadot.²⁵ In addition, lack of enthusiasm for the MT may equally have been due to the latter’s claim to represent the authoritative presentation of the Oral Law.²⁶ This claim to universal unilateral authority violated the democratic, decentralized nature of rabbinic authority and mode of study in Ashkenaz.²⁷

To these explanations one should add another. ( Read more... )