Seal of Nahmanides

Provenance	Israel
Chronology	Original from the 13th century
Material	Copper
Record	MHJ114
Section	Jewish culture

Among Jewish men it was common to have two names, one for religious and ritual use and another for everyday life; for example, Moses ben Nahman, the great Jewish philosopher of Girona, was known as Bonastruc ça Porta in his daily environment and in civil contexts.
In 1970, during excavations near Acre, in Israel, the bronze seal (13th century) used by Master Moses ben Nahman, or Nahmanides, to sign letters and documents was found. He is known by the Catalan name Bonastruc ça Porta.
The seal bears the Hebrew inscription: "Moses, son of Rabbi Nahman, the Gironan, be strong!". A reproduction can be seen in the museum. The original is held at the Israel Museum.
Moses ben Nahman (13th century), philosopher, kabbalist, Talmudist, poet, physician and rabbi, is the most important and outstanding figure of Judaism in the Iberian Peninsula in the 13th century, and the greatest Talmudic authority of his generation. Known by his contemporaries as the Master of Girona, or Ramban; today he is known as Nahmanides and also as Bonastruc ça Porta.
He was born in Girona in 1194 and died in the Holy Land in 1270. He was rabbi of Girona and the spiritual leader and wisest mind of all Catalan Judaism. He was the most illustrious and prestigious member of the city's kabbalistic circle. In 1263, summoned by King James I, with whom he had a personal friendship, he defended Jewish doctrine in the Disputation of Barcelona against Pau Crestià, a converted confessor of the king. Shortly afterwards he voluntarily departed for Jerusalem to fulfil the Talmudic precept of "dying in the mother's bosom". In 1270, in the city of Acre, he delivered a New Year sermon that is still read in some synagogues around the world.

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