[1] In 1408, he became the rabbinic leader of Algerian Jewry, earning widespread recognition for his legal rulings in Spain, North Africa, France, and Italy.
He was a student of Ephraim Vidal, and of Jonah de Maestre, rabbi in Zaragoza or in Calatayud, whose daughter Bongoda he married.
After the 1391 massacre in the Balearic Islands, he fled Spain with his father and sister for Algiers, where, in addition to practicing medicine, he continued his studies during the earlier part of his stay.
In 1394 he and the Algerian rabbi Isaac ben Sheshet ("the Rivash") drafted statutes for the Jewish community of Algiers.
[3] As Duran had lost all his property during the massacre at Palma, he was forced against his will to accept a salary from the community, not having other means of subsistence.
[5] Keshet u-Magen is a two-part polemic, with the first segment attacking Christianity and the second sharply criticizing Islam.
His theologico-philosophical scholarship, as well as his secular learning, is conspicuous in his elaborate work, Magen Abot, in which he also appears as a clever controversialist (No.
6), where he takes occasion to enter into polemics with Levi ben Gershon, and in that on the Book of Job (No.
The following list of Duran's writings is arranged according to the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, on the basis of a catalogue drawn up by the author himself (Responsa, vol.