ר' שלמה מן ההר

Rav Shlomo ben Avraham ben Shmuel of Montpellier, known in Hebrew as Rav Shlomo Min HaHar and in English sources as Solomon of Montpellier, was a Provençal rav and Talmudist of the first half of the thirteenth century. He served as rav of Montpellier and stood at the head of the opposition to the study of the philosophical works of the Rambam.

When the translation of the Moreh Nevuchim made by Rav Shmuel ibn Tibbon reached the chachamim of Provence, some received it and others, who held fast to the Talmud, looked at it with unease, yet none came out against it openly until Rav Shlomo did. He objected above all to the Rambam’s refusal to take the words of the Aggadah in their plain sense, to his explanation of miracles through natural causes, and to the manner in which he spoke of Gan Eden and Gehinnom and of Hashem Himself. Understanding that he could not stand alone against so great an authority, he sought allies, but few among the chachamim of southern France would join him in forbidding the study of the sciences; only two of his talmidim did so, Rabbeinu Yonah Gerondi, a relative of the Ramban, and Rav David ben Shaul.

At the beginning of 4992/1232 the three pronounced a cherem on those works, on those who studied them, and on any who read the pesukim other than plainly or explained the Aggadah against Rashi; several rabbanim of northern France later confirmed it. The communities of Provence answered with a cherem on Rav Shlomo and his two talmidim, and the quarrel spread through the Jewish world. In 4993/1233 the works of the Rambam were publicly burned at Montpellier by the Dominican order, and word of it filled the Jews of every land with horror. What became of Rav Shlomo afterward is not known. The Meiri, of Provence in the generation that followed, brings his teachings and calls him and the chachamim who stood with him by the title Chachmei HaHar.