During the time period of the Rishonim, Catalonia, and especially its capital city Barcelona, was an important Torah center. Great luminaries like Rabbi Yehudah ben Barzillai al-Bargeloni (1070-?), Rabbi Abraham bar Ḥiyya ha-Nasi (c. 1070 – 1136 or 1145), Rabbi Moshe ben Nahman, Ramban (1194–1270), Rabbenu Yona Girondi (1210-1263), Rabbi Aharon ha-Levi, Ra'aH (1235-1303), Rabbi Shlomoh ben Adret, Rashba (1235-1310), Rabbenu Nissim ben Reuven Girondi, RaN (1315-1376), Rabbi Hasdai Crescas (1340-1412), Rabbi Isaac bar Sheshet, Ribash (1326-1408), Rabbi Shimon ben Zemah Duran, Rashbatz (1361-1444), among many others, illuminated the Jewish World from the Catalan Beit Midrash. We used to refer to those sages as “Chachmei Sefarad” but it would be more accurate to refer to them as “Chachmei Catalunya” for their tradition was distinct from that of the Sefardic tradition.