Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra

Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra
Author: Isadore Twersky
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 232
Release: 1993
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN:

The six essays in this book explore ibn Ezra's multifaceted work and intellectual legacy. They illuminate his exegetical methodology; the role of astrology in his work; his philological insights into the Hebrew language; the possibility of his influence on the great Jewish philosopher and jurist Maimonides; and modern Jewish perspectives on him.

The Secret of the Torah

The Secret of the Torah
Author: Abraham ben Meïr Ibn Ezra
Publisher:
Total Pages: 240
Release: 1995
Genre: Religion
ISBN:

Ibn Ezra addresses the importance of the knowledge of grammar, stating that one cannot fully understand the text of the Torah without it. He also discusses the study of the Bible and the Talmud, arguing that one cannot properly comprehend the Talmud if one does not know the sciences, for there are many passages in the Pentateuch and the Talmud that are either incomprehensible or given to misinterpretation by one who has no prior knowledge of the sciences.

Deconstructing the Bible

Deconstructing the Bible
Author: Irene Lancaster
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 377
Release: 2003-09-02
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1135790175

Includes a new translation of Ibn Ezra's introduction to the Torah Multi-disciplinary: Ibn Ezra is an important figure in Jewish studies, medieval studies, philosophy, linguistics and theology

Four Approaches to the Book of Psalms

Four Approaches to the Book of Psalms
Author: Uriel Simon
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 380
Release: 2012-02-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1438420099

Uriel Simon describes the fascinating controversy that raged from the tenth to the twelfth centuries regarding the theological status and literary genre of the Psalms. Saadiah Gaon, who initiated the controversy, claimed that the Psalter was a second Torah—the Lord's word to David—and by no means man's prayer to God. Salmon ben Yerucham and Yefet ben Ali insisted on the Karaite view that the Book of Psalms was the prophetic common prayerbook of Israel. Totally opposing both of these concepts, Rabbi Moses Ibn Giqatilah regarded the Psalms as non-prophetic prayers authored by different poets, beginning with David and ending with the captive Levites in the Babylonian exile. Finally, Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra reverted to the belief held by the Talmudic sages—that the Psalms were Israel's divinely inspired and most sacred poetry. The book also includes the full text of a previously unknown introduction to Ibn Ezra's lost commentary on the Psalms, which is much more elaborate and revealing than the introduction to his familiar classical commentary.

Twilight of a Golden Age

Twilight of a Golden Age
Author: Abraham Ibn Ezra
Publisher: University of Alabama Press
Total Pages: 287
Release: 2010-11-30
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0817356797

A collection of poems by Abraham ibn Ezra, a key scholar, thinker, and poet in twelfth-century Al-Andalus

Abraham Ibn Ezra’s Introductions to Astrology

Abraham Ibn Ezra’s Introductions to Astrology
Author: Shlomo Sela
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 836
Release: 2017-05-22
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9004342281

The present volume offers a critical edition of the Hebrew texts, accompanied by English translation and commentary of Reshit Ḥokhmah (Beginning of Wisdom) and Mishpeṭei ha-Mazzalot (Judgments of the Zodiacal Signs) by Abraham Ibn Ezra (ca. 1089–ca. 1161). The first, the summa and by far the longest of his astrological works, the target of the most cross-references from the rest of that corpus and the most influential, enjoyed the widest circulation among Jews in the Middle Ages and after. The second, by contrast, is the most obscure. It is never referred to elsewhere by its author and is the only work for which Ibn Ezra’s authorship must be substantiated. Reshit Ḥokhmah and Mishpeṭei ha-Mazzalot were written in order to explain concepts common to the various branches of astrology that Ibn Ezra addressed elsewhere and to elucidate the worldview that underlies astrology. These two treatises are the richest and most varied with regard to the astrological information they present. Reshit Ḥokhmah and Mishpeṭei ha-Mazzalot also exemplify the close collaboration between astronomy and astrology in medieval science and are the two components of Ibn Ezra’s astrological corpus with the most extensive, comprehensive, and significant astronomical content. "A critical edition with English translation of Reshit Ḥokhmah was published in 1998 by Epstein. Sela has not only aspired to improve it but also supplied a commentary to render the text more comprehensible. Sela’s mission is successfully accomplished for both treatises. This multifarious book is another important contribution to a deeper understanding of the life and work of one of the most important medieval Jewish polymaths." - Ilana Wartenberg, Universität Bern, in: Journal for the History of Astronomy 50.1 (2019)

Abraham Ibn Ezra

Abraham Ibn Ezra
Author: Shlomo Sela
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 413
Release: 2007
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004157646

From the Middle Ages until the present, the development of astrology among Jews was associated mainly with the name of Abraham Ibn Ezra (1089-1167). His scientific corpus deals with mathematics, astronomy, scientific instruments and tools, and the Jewish calendar; but especially with astrology. This volume is the first product of a larger enterprise-a scientific edition of all twelve Ibn Ezra's astrological treatises-and offers a critical Hebrew text of the two versions of Ibn Ezra's "Sefer ha-Te'amim," the Book of Reasons, accompanied by an annotated translation and commentary. The two treatises presented here were designed by Ibn Ezra to offer "reasons," "explanations," or "meanings" of the raw astrological concepts formulated in the introduction to astrology that Ibn Ezra entitled "Reshit Hokhmah" (Beginning of Wisdom).

A Matter of Geography: A New Perspective on Medieval Hebrew Poetry

A Matter of Geography: A New Perspective on Medieval Hebrew Poetry
Author: Uriah Kfir
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2018-03-12
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004363599

A Matter of Geography: A New Perspective on Medieval Hebrew Poetry takes a ground-breaking approach to the relationships between centers of medieval Hebrew poetry and their implications regarding matters of poetics. It shows on the one hand how literary efforts by members of the Spanish school of secular poetry, from its zenith in the eleventh century to the thirteenth century, helped gradually shape its predominance. On the other hand, it presents thirteenth century Hebrew poets from Iraq, Egypt, Italy and Provence, and charts the different strategies of these “peripheral” authors, who had to cope with Iberian fame. The analysis, which draws on concepts from literary and cultural theories, provides close readings of many works in both the original Hebrew and, in most cases for the first time, an English translation. "Kfir’s book makes a strong case for the craft, vibrancy, and richness of Medieval Hebrew poetry as rooted in place. Highly recommended for scholars of medieval Hebrew poetry, poetry aficionados, and historians." - David B. Levy, Touro College, in: Association of Jewish LIbraries 8.4 (2018)

The Book of Tahkemoni

The Book of Tahkemoni
Author: Judah Alharizi
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
Total Pages: 733
Release: 2003-08-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1909821179

The crowning jewel of medieval Hebrew rhymed prose in vigorous translation vividly illuminates a lost Iberian world. With full scholarly annotation and literary analysis.