RABaD was particularly severe on Maimonides' attempts to smuggle in his philosophic views under cover of Talmudic passages. For example: Talmudic opinions on the definition of forbidden divination differ widely, perhaps because it was impractical to view every superstitious practise, many common among Jews at the time, as forbidden. Maimonides (who, from the point of view of his philosophy, viewed divination as a pure absurdity) ruled that even the innocent actions of Eliezer () and Jonathan () were forbidden divination. Here RABaD was not content with ruling Eliezer's and Jonathan's actions to have been permitted, but he declares that Maimonides deserved to be stricken with the Pulsa diNura#Sources, similar to a junior rabbi who had misrepresented the opinion of Levi ben Sisi. Such philosophical differences suffice to explain the intensity of RABaD's opposition to Maimonides, and particularly to "Mishneh Torah", a work which RABaD himself describes as a great achievement.