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ABENEZRA (IBN EZRA)

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 42 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ABENEZRA (See also:IBN See also:EZRA) , or, to give him his full name, See also:ABRAHAM See also:BEN See also:MEIR IBN EZRA (I092 Or 1093-1167), one of the most distinguished Jewish men of letters and writers of the See also:Middle Ages. He was See also:born at See also:Toledo, See also:left his native See also:land of See also:Spain before 1140 and led until his See also:death a See also:life of restless wandering, which took him to See also:North See also:Africa, See also:Egypt, See also:Italy (See also:Rome, See also:Lucca, See also:Mantua,See also:Verona), See also:Southern See also:France(See also:Narbonne, See also:Beziers), See also:Northern France (See also:Dreux), See also:England (See also:London), and back again to the See also:South of France. At several of the above-named places he remained for some See also:time and See also:developed a See also:rich See also:literary activity. In his native land he had already gained the reputation of a distinguished poet and thinker; but, apart from his poems, his See also:works, which were all in the See also:Hebrew See also:language, were written in the second See also:period of his life. With these works, which See also:cover in the first instance the See also:field of Hebrew See also:philology and Biblical exegesis, he fulfilled the See also:great See also:mission of making accessible to the See also:Jews of See also:Christian See also:Europe the treasures of knowledge enshrined in the works written in Arabic which he had brought with him from Spain. His grammatical writings, among which Moznayim (" the Scales," written in 1140) and Zahot (" Correctness, written in 1141) are the most valuable, were the first expositions of Hebrew See also:grammar in the Hebrew language, in which the See also:system of Hayyuj and his school prevailed. He also translated into Hebrew the two writings of Hayyuj in which the See also:foundations of the system were laid down Of greater See also:original value than the grammatical works of Ibn Ezra are his commentaries on most of the books of the See also:Bible, of which, however, a See also:part has been lost. His reputation as an intelligent and acute ex-pounder of the Bible was founded on his commentary on the See also:Pentateuch, of which the great popularity is evidenced by the numerous commentaries which were written upon it. In the See also:editions of this commentary (ed. See also:print. See also:Naples 1488) the commentary on the See also:book of See also:Exodus is replaced by a 'second, more See also:complete commentary of Ibn Ezra, while the"' first and shorter commentary on Exodus was not printed until 1840. The great editions of the Hebrew Bible with rabbinical commentaries contained also commentaries of Ibn Ezra's on the following books of the Bible: See also:Isaiah, See also:Minor Prophets, See also:Psalms, See also:Job, Pentateuch, See also:Daniel; the commentaries on See also:Proverbs, Ezra and See also:Nehemiah which See also:bear his name are really those of See also:Moses Kimhi. Ibn Ezra wrote a second commentary on See also:Genesis as he had done on Exodus, but this was never finished.

There are second commentaries also by him on the See also:

Song of Songs, See also:Esther and Daniel. The importance of the exegesis of Ihn Ezra consists in the fact that it aims at arriving at the See also:simple sense of the See also:text, the so-called " Pesohat," on solid grammatical principles. It is in this that, although he takes a great part of his exegetical material from his predecessors, the originality of his mind is everywhere apparent, an originality which displays itself also in the witty and lively language of his commentaries. To See also:judge by certain signs, of which See also:Spinoza in his Tractalus Theologico Politicos makes use, Ibn Ezra belongs to the earliest pioneers of the See also:criticism of the Pentateuch. His commentaries, and especially some of the longer excursuses, contain numerous contributions to the See also:philosophy of See also:religion. One See also:writing in particular, which belongs to this See also:province (YOSOd Mera), on the See also:division and the reasons for the Biblical commandments, he wrote in 1158 for a London friend, See also:Joseph b. See also:Jacob. In his philosophical thought neo-platonic ideas prevail; and See also:astrology also had a See also:place in his view of the See also:world. He also wrote various works on mathematical and astronomical subjects. Ibn Ezra died on the 28th of See also:January 1167, the place of his death being unknown. Among the literature on Ibn Ezra may be especially mentioned: M. Friedlander, Essays on the Writings of Ibn Ezra (London, 1877) ; W.

Bacher, Abraham Ibn Ezra als Grammatiker (Strasburg, 1882); M. See also:

Steinschneider, Abraham Ibn Ezra,, in the Zeitschrift See also:fur Mathematik and Physik, See also:Band See also:xxv., Supplement: D. See also:Rosin, See also:Die Religionsphilosophie Abraham Ibn. Ezra's in vols. xlii. and xliii. of the Monatschrift fur Geschichte and Wissenschaft See also:des Judenthums; his Diwan was edited by T. Egers (See also:Berlin, 1886) ; a collection of his poems, Reime and Gcdichte, with See also:translation and commentary, were published by D. Rosin in several See also:annual reports of the Jewish theological See also:Seminary at See also:Breslau (1885-1894). (W.

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