Jewish Quarterly Review

The article discusses a diagram that Nahmanides (Ramban) included in his commentary on the Torah. The diagram relates to the Levite cities and the open land attached to them, as described in Numbers 35, and it illustrates the original interpretation proposed by Ramban in keeping with the literal meaning of the text (“al derekh ha-peshat”). Recent editions of Ramban’s commentary and commentators who have addressed Ramban’s view have not included the diagram, nor do they mention its existence in the manuscripts. The diagram appears in fifteen manuscripts - about a half of the known complete manuscripts of Ramban’s commentary on the Torah. The article includes a photocopy of the diagram as it appears in one of the manuscripts, as well as my own sketch showing how I believe the original diagram to have looked. The details of the diagram are discussed, along with the issue of its authenticity.