Abraham Ibn Ezra

The son of a certain Meir (ben-Meir). Born in the city of Tudela (now in the province of Navarra , Spain) in the days after the collapse of the Cordoba caliphate . He left his homeland in 1138 ^[5] . The moment when Ibn Ezra forever leaves Spain is decisive in his life, dividing it into two different periods, distinguished by a sharp change in the external warehouse of life and a sharp revolution in the field of activity ^[9] .

First (Spanish) Period

In the first, longer of these two periods, ibn Ezra is known in his homeland, mainly as a poet and thinker. He is praised as a religious philosopher (“mutekallim”; “speaking”; see mutakallim ) and as a person gifted with great eloquence . Abraham ibn-Daoud speaks of him at the end of his Sefer ha-Kabbalah (Book of Tradition) as "the last in the chain of those great people who made up the pride of Spanish Jewry, reinforcing the hands of Israel with songs and words of comfort ." The first period includes most of his religious and other poems. Ibn Ezra himself has the habit of calling himself a “singer” (השר ^[10] ) or “the father of a song” (אבי שירות ^[11] ). In one of the elegiac poems, ibn Ezra says: “ Once upon a time in my youth I used to compose songs to adorn Jewish scholars with them, like a necklace ” ^[12] . Heine highly appreciated ibn Ezra as a poet: he placed him next to such values ​​as Rabbi Yehuda Halevi and Solomon ibn-Gebirol , calling them the "three-star" of Jewish-Spanish poetry. And Tsunts ^[13] , recognizing the sonority and lightness of his verse, noted the prevalence of thought over fantasy in the work of ibn Ezra. ^[9]

The personal friends of ibn Ezra in the Spanish period were Joseph ibn Zaddik and Yehud Halevi, who was only a few years older than ibn Ezra. In his commentary on the Bible there are some interpretations that he could borrow only from conversations with r. Yehuda Halevi ^[14] . That Ibn Ezra often discussed with various representatives of the Karaite teachings back in Spain, where this teaching was then very widespread, and that he was well acquainted with the literature of the Karaites , many places of the same commentary on the Bible testify to this ^[15] . ^[9]

Regarding family circumstances, only from one place of Ibn Ezra’s commentary to Prince Exodus (12: 2), we can conclude that he had five children. Apparently, they all died at an early age, with the exception of their son , who left Spain almost simultaneously with his father and who is known to have composed a poem in Baghdad in 1143 in honor of his patron Abu al-Barakat al-Baghdadi . When he converted to Islam, Isaac (Abu Sad) followed his example ^[16] . According to , Ibn Ezra left Spain later than his son Isaac, perhaps because of the news that reached him about the conversion of the latter to Islam. Responses to this event have been preserved in two of his poems (Diwan, No. 203, 205). After meeting with his son ibn Ezra in 1140 he went to Rome . He speaks about this in his poetic introduction to the commentary on Ecclesiastes : that he left his birthplace - Spain and went to Rome. ^[9]

Second (wandering) period

In the second period of activity, not being connected by family ties, Ibn Ezra leads the life of a wanderer, remaining in some places for several years. His journey through North Africa and Egypt could have been made between the departure from Spain and the arrival in Rome (1140). It is possible that the stay of ibn Ezra in Africa coincided with the stay of Yehuda Halevi there . One place in Solomon ibn-Parhon seems to hint at this meeting, although the author’s remark can be interpreted differently. It is also possible that the journey of Ibn Ezra to the East - a trip to Palestine and Baghdad (tradition says that Ibn Ezra even reached India) - should be attributed to the time between his two stays in Italy or took place after his life in Italy and before his trip to Provence. ^[9]

Already in the first year of his life in Rome (1140), he develops some of his themes ^[9] . Two generations before him, in 1080, Moses Ibn Ghikatilla (Jikatilla) made two translations of Hajuj's grammar works, but inaccurate and unsatisfactory, therefore Ibn Ezra took up a new translation of the same works ^[17] . With these translations, he becomes the classic predecessor ^[9] .

Until 1155, he taught grammar and languages ​​among Italian Jews ^[5] . In Rome, his disciple was Benjamin ben-Joab, for whom Ibn Ezra wrote a commentary on Job . Ibn Ezra later stayed in Lucca (1145), Mantua (1145–1146) and Verona (1146–1147). In Mantua he completed (1145) the grammatical work “Zachot”; was again in this city in 1153 ^[18] . The fruit of his stay in Italy was a number of works on biblical exegetics and grammar. ^[9]

Ibn Ezra went to Provence until 1155. There he stopped in the city of Beziers , where he wrote a book about the names and attributes of God , devoting it to his patrons, Abraham bar-Haim and Isaac ben Yehuda. ^[9]

Then ibn Ezra spent some time in northern France, in the city of Dreux . Ho, as a result of a typo, for a long time they thought that ibn Ezra wrote some of his works on the island of Rhodes , since the Jewish “דרוס” (Dreux) turned into “רדוס” among scribes; and with a light hand of the Grez subsequently began to mean the city of Rodez (Rhodez) in southern France ^[19] . In Dreu ibn Ezra completed some of his exegetical writings and set about writing a new commentary on the Pentateuch . There he talked with two famous grandchildren of Rashi , r. Jacob There and p. Samuel B. Meir; even a poem compiled by ibn Ezra in honor of the latter has been preserved ^[20] . ^[9]

In 1156, he visited London , where he wrote his religious and philosophical work Jesod Mora (ימוד מורא) for his student Joseph ben-Jacob, as well as a small treatise on the Sabbath (אגרת שבת) ^[9] .

In 1160 he settled in Narbonne ^[5] .

Abilities and research

He was a poet, possessed metric techniques , both in Hebrew and in Arabic ^[5] . Like other medieval poets ( , Moses ibn Ezra and Yehud Halevi ) sang a dove - the emblem of the Jewish people, depicting a lonely homeless dove , yearning for his beloved ^[21] . He wrote many acrostices of his name "Abraham"; sometimes, like other poets, in the form of an acrostic he quoted the name of his correspondent in letters. He is credited with an acrostic riddle - the answer to a question regarding a religious ceremony, which can be read equally in four directions: a) from right to left; b) from left to right; c) from top to bottom; d) from bottom to top ^[22] :

Philosophy and Biblical Exegetics

In religious and philosophical terms, it is close to the Neoplatonic school, however, it did not occupy a certain position in the dispute between the Platonists and Aristotelians, characteristic of the Middle Ages ^[9] . But in his commentaries on the Pentateuch of Moses (from 1152–1153), on the Book of Isaiah (1154–1155), on the Psalms , the Book of Daniel, and others, one finds a desire to develop a new method in which grammar and history played a much larger role than they were provided earlier ^[5] . Ibn Ezra proceeded nevertheless from the foundations of the Arabic religious and philosophical school of Kalam , which arose in the 8th-9th centuries and had a strong influence on Jewish medieval religious philosophy. The teachings of the Mutekallim , whom he quotes under the name of “husbands of inquiry” (אנשי המחקר) or “husbands of rational consideration” (אנשי שקול הדעת), he undoubtedly knows. In one of his early philosophical writings, he adjoins them on the issue of proving the presence of the Creator , as well as on the issue of divine signs or attributes . ^[23]

The exegetical writings of ibn Ezra - along with Rashi's commentaries - are the most widely read and popular in Jewry. In his commentary, ibn Ezra, in fact, is - after Jikatilla - the first biblical critic, expressing rather bold assumptions in various places regarding the final version of the Pentateuch, although out of respect for tradition, he always puts on his criticisms in mysterious forms. These puzzles of his gave rise to the appearance of many supercommentaries (eg, Solomon Franco ^[24] and Altabib in the XIV century ^[25] ) to his comment ^[9] . When he expressed his views only in hints, he added: “we- Maskil jobin” (“and the one who understands”) ^[26] .

He did not recognize the Pentateuch as canonical in all its parts; the main idea of ​​the Song of Songs was the languor of love; however, in concluding the commentary - according to the established rabbinical tradition - explains it in the sense of Israel's relationship to God. Thanks to this prudent caution, the Ibn Ezra method was universally respected and had equally great influence on moderately progressive people, for example Maimonides , and on extremely consistent thinkers such as Spinoza . ^[8]

Astronomy

As an astronomer, he participated in the works of scientists who achieved the division of the globe , through the equator , into two equal parts ^[27] .

Astrology

Αstrology, which in the Middle Ages was called “Hochmat ha-Nissaion” by Jews ( Hebrew חכמת הניסיון “art / wisdom of prediction”) - in contrast to “Hochmat ha-Hizaion” ( Hebrew חכמת החיזָיון “ observation of stars ”or astronomy) was very common among Jews who were engaged in it as a profession and as a science. Yakub ibn-Tariq considered Ibn Ezra to be an authority on astrology, saying that he brought astronomical tables from India to Baghdad under the Caliph Almanzur in 777 . A contemporary of Ibn-Tariq was Mashalla (754-813 ^[28] ), the famous court astrologer Almansur and Mamuna (circa 800), some of whose works Ibn-Ezra translated from Arabic into Hebrew. ^[29]

Abraham Ibn Ezra was one of the most enthusiastic admirers and propagandists of astrology, which he calls the “sublime science”. In addition to translating from Arabic into Hebrew the “Questions” of Mashalla and his other work, “On the Eclipse of the Moon,” he wrote ^[29] :

• "Horoscope",
• “Arguments on constellations, ”
• "Reschith Chochmah" ("The Beginning of Wisdom") - where it reveals a complete acquaintance with the theories of Archimedes ^[30] ,
• "The book of the universe",
• treatise on the "planets",
• treatise on the luminaries,
• treatise On Reasons (Ha-Theamim),
• compiled his own special horoscope.

In his commentaries on the Bible, he often turns to astrology. Heaven with constellations is provided to him by the "book of life", in which the fate of man is traced; the change of fate depends only on the omnipotence of God, who controls life ^[29] .

End of life

As can be concluded from the poem at the end of his commentary on the Pentateuch ^[31] , ibn Ezra ends his life where the second period of his literary activity began, in Rome . There he completed his commentary and began his last grammar , “Safah Berurah” (שפה ברורה). In the introductory stanzas to this remaining unfinished work undertaken by him for the student of Solomon, ibn Ezra expressed the hope that this work " will be the testament of Abraham bin Meir, the memory of which it will pass from generation to generation ." In the poem “Nedod Hessir Oni” (נדוד הסיר אוני), he describes the second period of his life with the words: “ I stayed in these places as a wanderer, wrote a lot and revealed to people the secrets of science .” ^[9]

If you agree with the statement of Abraham Zakuto that Ibn Ezra died in Calahorra - in Northern Spain, on the border between Navarra and Old Castile, then we have to admit that a strong desire to see his homeland before death made Ibn Ezra leave Rome. Ibn Ezra himself regarded his life as the life of an exile and constantly called himself “ Spaniard ” (ספרדי). ^[9] .

Of the many works of ibn Ezra, the most important ^[8] :

• Interpretation throughout the Old Testament (with the exception of Chronicles ),
• “Sefer Mesnajiv” - an essay on Jewish grammar (best edition - Wolf Heidenheim, Offenbach, 1794);
• “Divan” (published by Eger, Berlin, 1886) is a collection of poetic works by ibn Ezra, which showed that he is equally powerful both as a poet and as a thinker. Contains many hymns, philosophical considerations, funeral songs, love songs, riddles and jokes. He compiled riddles on grammatical formulas, mostly on the letters “m” and “n” ^[32] . This also included the religious and philosophical poem חי בן מקיץ, written in white verses based on Avicenna's prose in Arabic ^[9] .

List of other works

• According to exegetics and grammar ^[9] :
  • «Moznajim» (מאזנים; «Весы» ^[33] ) — первый значительный труд ибн-Эзры, включает ценный список корифеев еврейско-испанской учёности, имена которых без этого исчезли бы бесследно;
  • «Sefer ha-Jesod», или «Jesod Dikduk»;
  • «Zachoth» (1145) — лучший грамматический труд ибн-Эзры (впервые издан в 1546);
  • «Sefer ha-Schem» — усматривал в словах «majim» («вода»; ср. русск. «воды») и «schammajim» («небо»; ср. русск. «небеса») формы двойственного числа и обосновывал свой взгляд философски; именовал двойственное число «leschon schenaim», а позднейшие еврейские грамматики обозначают его через «ribbui ha-zugi» (множественное парное) ^[34] (изд. Lippmann, 1834).
  • «Safah Berurah» (שפה ברורה) — последний и незаконченный труд о грамматике, касается вопроса о родстве еврейского языка с арабским и арамейским , идя при этом по стопам родоначальника сравнительного языковедения в еврействе, Абульвалида ибн-Джанаха .
• по философии ^[9] :
  • «Jesod Mora» (מורא יםוד) — труд был посвящён Иосифу бен-Якову (возможно ученику ибн-Эзры, автору суперкомментария к ибн-Эзре на кн. Исход ) ^[35] (изд. в 1529 ^[36] );
  • «Arugat ha-Chochmah» (ערוגת החכמה);
  • «Рardes ha-Mezimmah» (פרדם המזמה);
  • «Sefat Yeter» (Sefat Jeter) — речь в защиту Саадии Гаона против критики Дунаша бен Лабрата (изд. Соломоном Алмоли в 1530 ^[36] ).
• по математике ^[9] :
  • «Sefer ha-Echad» (ספר האחד) — о свойствах чисeл от единицы до девяти; издано Пинскером и Гольдгартом в Одессе в 1867 г.
  • «Sefer ha-Mispar» (ספר המםפר, также יםוד המםפר).
• пο астрономии ^[9] :
  • «Sefer ha-Ibbur» (ספר העבור) — о календаре. Включает довод караимского учёного начала X века Бен-Зуты (Ben Zuta; Abu al-Surrī) на основании ряда библейских мест, доказывающих, будто в Св. Писании ясно указан способ определения месяцев и праздников путём наблюдения Луны , причём главным доказательством служит кн. Бытия ( Быт. 1:14 ) ^[37] . Ed. Гальберштаммом в 1874 ^[38] .
  • «Keli ha-Nechoscheth» (כלי הנחושת) — об устройстве астролябии .
• переводы с арабского языка на еврейский ^{[9] [39]} :
  • сочинения Хайюджа по грамматике;
  • два сочинения арабского астролога Машаллы (Maschallah; 754—813) под названием «Scheeloth» (שאלות) и «Kadrut» (קדרות), ο затмениях; последнее было издано Гросбергом в виде приложения к комментарию к «ספר יצירה» Дунаша бен-Тамим (Лондон, 1902).
  • трактат о гадании («Sefer ha-Goralot»).

A significant number of the best poems of ibn Ezra were published by D. Rosin in the Jahresberichte of the rabbinical seminary in Breslavl (1885-1894). Another edition of ibn Ezra's poems was published in Warsaw with notes and an introduction by David Kagan (1894).

• Abraham ibn Ezra . Commentary on the book of Genesis (translated from Wed.-Century. Hebrew S. G. Parisian) // Classical Biblical Comments: Book of Genesis. Collection of translations from Hebrew, Aramaic and medieval Hebrew. - M.: Olympus, 2010 .-- 700 p. - 1000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-7390-2468-8

• The Eighth House (inaccessible link) - Astrological interpretation of the instructions of the eighth house from the second volume of the book of Abraham bin Ezra's Book of Judgments about the Stars.
• Ben Ezra: (link unavailable) General judgments applicable to natal and horary charts.
• Ibn Ezra, Abraham - article from the Electronic Jewish Encyclopedia
• Abraham Ibn Ezra, “Judgment of the Born” - Translation from Hebrew and commentary by Denis Shteyngof.
• Ibn Ezra, Abraham - from the "Bibliological Dictionary" of the priest Alexander Me .
• Ibn Ezra - Toldot Yeshurun.