Raavad ראב״ד
his objections are printed inside the Mishneh Torah, beneath the text they dispute
Rabbi Abraham ben David lived at Posquières in Provence and was one of those called "father of the court." His hasagot — objections — were written on the Mishneh Torah while Maimonides was still alive.
His chief complaint is methodological: Maimonides set out the law without indicating where it came from or whom he was arguing against. Raavad held that this leaves the reader unable to check and obliged to take it on trust.
His most famous objection stands at Hilchot Teshuvah 3:7. Maimonides lists those who have no share in the world to come, and among them one who holds that God has a body. Raavad writes: why did he call such a person a heretic, when many greater and better than he held this view, reading the verses literally?
Precision is needed here, because the passage is constantly misreported. Raavad does not assert that God has a body. He says that a man who errs through literal reading may not be struck off from the world to come. The argument is about the boundary of heresy, not about corporeality.
In printed editions of the Mishneh Torah his objections are set directly beneath Maimonides' text. That is how they are read: the law and the objection on one page.
On the timeline
Sources
Rishonim
- Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Teshuvah 3:7 with Raavad's gloss — “many greater and better than he held this view”
- Hasagot HaRaavad — the objections printed beneath the text of the code
Basis: documents and evidence.