Iggeret Ha-Ramban

By RABBI JOSEPH H. PROUSER

In 1895, Rudyard Kipling wrote his celebrated poem, “If.” I heard it recited many times throughout my childhood:

“If you can keep your head when all about you / Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; / If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, / but make allowance for their doubting too; / ….If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, / Or walk with kings, nor lose the common touch, / ….Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, / And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son!”

[*Note citation of Psalms 24:1 – “Yours is the Earth….”]

Over 600 years earlier, Rabbi Moses Nachmanides (Ramban) offered similarly poetic paternal guidance to his son, Nachman, identifying steps to be taken in becoming a good man and a pious Jew. His “Iggeret” (letter/epistle) opens with a biblical verse: “Heed, my son, the instruction of your father; do not forsake the teaching of your mother” (Proverbs 1:8).                                                                                                      

Ramban emphasizes the virtue of humility: “Once you have distanced yourself from anger, the quality of humility will enter your heart….”

“…Always regard yourself as standing before God…. Study Torah diligently…. Concentrate on your prayers….”

Ramban instructed Nachman to read his letter weekly, assuring him of divine recompense: “God will answer you in all you ask.”

If only!

Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser is the editor of “Masorti: The New Journal of Conservative Judaism.” The latest edition of Masorti published in the summer of 2026 and honors the American Sestercentennial. A subscription is $18 per annum. Print copies are available from Ben Yehuda Press and Amazon.