Statement
It was probably no accident that the same Provençal region saw a quarrel over Jewish philosophy and Maimonides' writings, and in a sense Kabbalah answered philosophy's challenge. For Aristotelians like Maimonides, the commandments chiefly served an educational purpose, since a self-sufficient, all-powerful God did not 'need' ritual or prayer. Kabbalah offered the opposite view: the words of prayer and the performance of commandments had a real effect within the divine realm itself and literally kept the universe going.
Scholarly reconstructionMedium certainty✓ Verified
References
p. 204
supports · main text · ch. 7
Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman. The Jews: A History. 3rd edition. New York and Abingdon: Routledge, 2019.
Verification anchor recorded · checked against the page text
p. 205
supports · main text · ch. 7
Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman. The Jews: A History. 3rd edition. New York and Abingdon: Routledge, 2019.
Verification anchor recorded · checked against the page text