He was at first principal of a rabbinical academy at Zamora (probably his birthplace); then he received a call as rabbi and preacher from the community at Tarragona, and later from that of Fraga in Aragon.
Arama is the author of Aḳedat Yitzchaḳ (Binding of Isaac),[1] a lengthy philosophical commentary on the Pentateuch, homiletic in style.
The study of the Talmud was of the utmost importance to him; so that he lamented deeply when his rabbinical pupils could not follow him from Zamora to Tarragona, because the latter community was unable to support them.
The third element in Arama's mental composition was Kabbalah as expounded in the Zohar, which he believed to have been written by Simeon bar Yohai.
His earliest work, the Ḥazut Ḳashah, presenting in a certain sense an enunciation of Arama's religious philosophy, includes also much that is interesting pertaining to the history of the Jews in Spain prior to their expulsion.
In support of his attack upon this Christian dogma, Arama adduces the doctrine of the freedom of the will as formulated by Aristotle, and the consideration of God's transcendent justice, which would make Grace to consist of nothing but the exercise of the will of a despot.