Raavad was a mekubal and he was certainly a Neoplatonist, like Isaac the Blind/Yitzhak Sagi Nahor. Hence many of the disputes with Rambam the Aristotelian. Rather than appealing to the objective, intellectual deductive process of inquiry and psak (like the Rambam, who appeals to the text for guidance and submits to it), the Raavad believes that charisma guides him and grants a modicum of authority in and of itself. Hence the many references he makes to “Secrets” being revealed to him by the “Ruach haKodesh” in many places, including Hilkhot Lulav 8:5. Raavad believed that a great rabbi [godol] is great because of charisma, and because he embodied “tradition,” and that God may indeed possess a body. Rambam believed that God does not have a body and being a great rabbi is not a source of authority. These are theological matters and either Maimonides or R. Abraham b. David is wrong.
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