Biography of ibn ezra on the pentateuch

They probably died early, however, except his son Isaac, who left Spain at the same time as his father, and who in composed in Bagdad songs in honor of the Arab Hibat Allah Nathanael. According to Albrecht, however, Abraham left Spain after Isaac, perhaps because of the conversion of the last-named to Islam, and with the purpose of bringing him back to Judaism.

Isaac's conversion was a severe blow to his father; and the latter expressed his grief in two moving biographies of ibn ezra on the pentateuch "Diwan," Nos. Albrecht says Ibn Ezra left Spain in Unable to bring his son back to Judaism, he went to Romewhere after many troubles he found a period of rest. In the second half of his life one must imagine Ibn Ezra a lonely man, who, bound by no family ties, led the unsettled life of a wanderer.

Nevertheless he resided for periods of several years in various places each. The year is given as the definite date with which this second period begins. In that year he composed several works in Rome. This date, as well as those following, is furnished by Ibn Ezra in some of his works. He says of himself in the introductory poem to his Kohelet commentary: "He departed from his native place, which is in Spain, and came to Rome.

Ibn Ezra was perhaps in Africa at the same time with Judah ha-Levi. But it is possible that Ibn Ezra's travels in the East, which, as many suppose, took him to Palestine and even to Bagdad tradition states that he went even as far as Indiainterrupted his stay in Italy, or occurred between that time and his sojourn in Provence. A whole series of works on Bible exegesis and grammar was the fruit of his stay in Italy.

He is known to have been in the following cities: RomeLuccaMantuaVerona By contrast, those who have chosen the path of knowledge will work their way up from the study of mineral and animal kingdoms to the structure and functions of the human body, and thence to a study of the heavens. Thus far Ibn Ezra has reiterated, and endorsed, the view of the philosophers.

Now, however, he parts ways with them; astrology plays a key role in this turn of thought. The intellectuals who follow this path, observes Ibn Ezra, deny divine intervention in worldly matters. God however can overrule the stars, and His doing so precisely at that astrally inauspicious moment is compelling proof, not only for His existence, but for the operation of the cosmos that He created.

It adds, however, the important detail that the Creator is also the Redeemer. Immediately afterwards, however, and quite characteristically, Ibn Ezra continues his exposition in a somewhat different vein. In fact, in his commentary to DanielIbn Ezra describes more fully an exchange with Halevi over an issue of biblical chronology, recording several barbs and retorts until, in the end, Halevi fell silent.

Perhaps, then, Ibn Ezra chose to abridge the conversation over the first commandment because that encounter did not exactly leave Halevi speechless. Quite the contrary: Halevi expanded upon his theme of Jewish particularism in his Kuzarione of the most resonant works of Jewish thought ever. Armchair philosophy this may be, but it concerns one of the most fundamental questions of the Jewish experience.

Is Judaism just one set of directives among many for achieving one and the same spiritual objective, which is the goal of all humans? Are Jews one people among many, or do they occupy a special place in the scale of existents? Better analytic minds may have been tested in replying to these questions, but perhaps not two more vibrant, passionate souls than these two Hebrew poets.

For his part, Halevi demands a much more real and meaningful cleavage between Jews and the rest of the nations. For Ibn Ezra, the human soul is the only unchanging, eternal entity in the universe; it is the only thing that can be said to be similar, in some sense, to God. For example, the opening sentence in Sefer Tzahut a grammatical treatise! Ibn Ezra takes these similarities rather literally, as it seems.

Ibn Ezra evinces little interest in the metaphysics of the theologians—that is, questions of divine attributes, substance and accident, and so forth. Psychology was his metaphysics; it and it alone delved into questions beyond the material world and approaching the godhead. His poetry, more than anything, has nourished his image as a neoplatonist in the scholarly literature.

Unlike the kalam, which has little interest in psychology, and is not obsessed with release from this world, the Hebrew poets as a rule identify with the classical neoplatonists in seeking salvation and release of the soul from its mundane captivity. Consider this passage from the introduction to the commentary to Ecclesiastes:. Nonetheless, Ibn Ezra undoubtedly impresses his readers with the great pathos and obvious sincerity of his liturgies.

The lengthy excursus on the structure of the human soul in his commentary to Ecclesiastes offers such an opportunity. Ibn Ezra briefly notes the tripartite division of the soul into vegetable, animal, and rational. There is no specific lexical or grammatical problem that requires the exegete to go to any length here. However, an inquiry into the soul is mandated because this verse is one of the places in Ecclesiastes where King Solomon has, on the face of it, contradicted himself, and therefore the verse requires explication.

He intimates that this switch is only for the sake of convenience, though the truth appears to be otherwise. Significantly, this is a monograph on the rationale of the commandments, perhaps the key field along with biblical interpretation, with which it overlaps somewhat for the development of a specifically Judaic philosophy. Like his other writings, it is very short, contains not a few cryptic passages whose meaning has never been satisfactorily fleshed out, and does not always sit well with his pronouncements in other writings.

The beginning of Yesod Mora contains a valuable survey of the sciences.

Biography of ibn ezra on the pentateuch

Instead, Ibn Ezra critically reviews the various branches of learning which are favored by groups of Jewish scholars. Some are interested only in Hebrew grammar; others study only the Bible, yet others are interested only in the Talmud. None of these groups can achieve the wisdom they seek, however, without studying astronomy hokhmat ha-mazalot.

Astronomy in turn requires a foundation in geometry hokhmat ha-middot. Only he who knows physics or physiology? Only then will he be able to ascend high above, and to know the secret of the soul, the supernal angels, and the world to come. The order in which the sciences are to be studied is clear enough, the connection between them far less so. Ibn Ezra never makes a clean break between traditional or religious sciences; quite the contrary, he urges all along that the sciences that we would call secular are mandatory for understanding scriptural, legal, and other issues of concern to Jews, not the least of which, of course, is self-fulfillment.

In the course of a long list of examples that illustrating this need, astrology mishpatei ha-mazalot is mentioned only once. Clearly, in this key text at least, Ibn Ezra does not biography of ibn ezra on the pentateuch to astrology the major standing it holds in his legacy. Understanding species and other such groups are of great use in classifying commandments, as well as in resolving some apparent contradictions between biblical texts.

However, the logic applied is extremely basic, and once again, we have no evidence that Ibn Ezra knew more than the basic terminology. The discussion then moves on to commandments that are contingent, insofar as they depend upon, or are limited to, a certain group e. Ibn Ezra himself thus inserts, at the heart of this very Jewish, and legalistic, treatise, the rational, humanistic outlook that marks his philosophy: the core demands of Judaism depend not upon revelation but upon innate human reason, and they are no different from the rules that must govern every human.

Ibn Ezra has left us one writing that undoubtedly fits into a very special medieval philosophical tradition: a visionary recital, or initiatory tale, in rhymed Hebrew prose, Hayy ben Meqitz Levin— The narrator, who has fled his home, meets Hayy, who enchants him with words of wisdom, then invites him to immerse himself in the fountain of life and imbibe its waters.

The narrator asks if is there anything beyond, something that he cannot see? On the other hand, the ritual immersion in the nude that the narrator performs, while not totally foreign to Judaism, must have seemed to carry Christian overtones to some readers. Is Hayy the response to a literary challenge? The editors are grateful to Jasper Pirasteh for his help in correcting a number of typographical errors.

Life and Works 2. Astrology 3. Impact 4. Emphasis upon the Individual 5. Characterizations of his Thought 6. What is Philosophy for Ibn Ezra? Who are his philosophers? Ibn Ezra and Judah Halevi 8. Poetry and the Science of the Soul 9. Excursus on the Soul in a Comment to Ecclesiastes Rationale for the Commandments: Yesod Mora Life and Works Ibn Ezra was likely born in or around in Tudela, at that time within the northern reaches of Muslim Spain.

Ibn Ezra and Judah Halevi The most interesting and truly philosophical chapters in his writings have nothing to do with recycling and restyling doctrines of the soul, but rather with frank discussions concerning fundamental questions of Jewish identity. Poetry and the Science of the Soul For Ibn Ezra, the human soul is the only unchanging, eternal entity in the universe; it is the only thing that can be said to be similar, in some sense, to God.

In his comment to the first verse of Genesis, for example, he denies that the word bara "created" must mean, as others have argued, creation ex nihilo [creation from nothing], since the same root is used for the creation of man, and man was created out of the dust. Ibn Ezra usually writes in a cryptic style, leaving much room for conjecture as to his meaning, probably because he was aware of the daring nature of some of his ideas which might lead the ignorant to unbelief.

Had Moses been brought up among his fellow Israelites, they would have been too familiar with him from his youth to have respect for him as their leader. Moreover, the future leader had to have a regal upbringing and an aristocratic background to endow him with the nobility of character suitable for a leader. In his rhymed introduction to his commentary to the Pentateuch, Ibn Ezra rejects the four different exegetical methods current in his day: the diffuse biography of ibn ezra on the pentateuch the untraditional and too individualistic methods of the Karaites; the allegorical method; and the homiletic method pursued by the Rabbis of the Midrash.

Ibn Ezra himself favors a fifth method in which, wherever possible, the plain meaning of the text is uncovered and accepted as the true meaning, except, with regard to the laws of the Torah, when this runs counter to the Jewish tradition. His guiding principle is that the human intellect is an "angel sent from God. For instance, the Midrashic comment that the Torah was created 2, years before the creation of the world is all very well as a pleasant way of pointing to the superiority of the Torah above all things; but such a notion cannot be taken literally, since there cannot have been any "years" before the creation of the world, years themselves being part of the creation.

In a sense, Ibn Ezra was the forerunner of biblical criticism. Spinoza maintained with justice that Ibn Ezra hints that there are post-Mosaic additions to the Pentateuch. In a comment to: "These are the words which Moses spoke unto all Israel beyond the Jordan" Deuteronomy he hints that this verse could not have been written by Moses since the words "beyond the Jordan imply that the writer was in the land of Israel, whereas Moses would not have referred to his location as "beyond the Jordan.

This can be seen particularly in the works he published while living in France. Here, many of the works published can be seen as relating to astrology, and use of the astrolabe. In his commentary, Ibn Ezra adhered to the literal sense of the texts, avoiding Rabbinic allegory and Kabbalistic interpretation. Indeed, Ibn Ezra is claimed by proponents of higher biblical criticism of the Torah as one of its earliest pioneers.

Baruch Spinozain concluding that Moses did not author the Torah and that the Torah and other protocanonical books were written or redacted by somebody else, cites Ibn Ezra's commentary on Deuteronomy. In the mountain of God, He will appear' [Genesis ]; 5 'behold, his [Og king of Bashan] bed is a bed of iron [is it not in Rabbah of the children of Ammon?

Spinoza concluded that Ibn Ezra's reference to "the truth", and other such references scattered throughout Ibn Ezra's commentary in reference to seemingly anachronistic verses, [ 12 ] as "a clear indication that it was not Moses who wrote the Pentateuch but someone else who lived long after him, and that it was a different book that Moses wrote". On the other hand, Orthodox writers have stated that Ibn Ezra's commentary can be interpreted as consistent with Jewish tradition, stating that the Torah was divinely dictated to Moses.

Ibn Ezra is also among the first scholars known to have published a text about the division of the Book of Isaiah into at least two distinct parts. In his commentary to Isaiah, he remarked that chapters dealt with a different historical period second half of the 8th century BCE than chapters later than the last third of the 6th century BCE. This division of the book into First Isaiah and Deutero-Isaiah has been accepted nowadays by all but the most conservative Jews and Christians.

Ibn Ezra's commentaries, especially some of the longer excursuses, contain numerous contributions to the philosophy of religion. One work in particular that belongs to this province, Yesod Mora "Foundation of Awe"on the division and the reasons for the Biblical commandments, he wrote in for a London -based friend, Joseph ben Jacob. In his philosophical thought, Neoplatonic ideas prevail, and astrology also had a place in his view of the world.

He also wrote various works on mathematical and astronomical subjects. The presentation appears to have been planned as an integrated whole, with cross-references throughout, including references to subsequent books in the future tense. Each of the books is known in two versions, so it seems that at some point Ibn Ezra also created a revised edition of the series.

There are a great many other poems by Ibn Ezra, some of them religious and some secular — about friendship, wine, didactic or satirical. Like his friend Yehuda Halevihe used the Arabic poetic form of Muwashshah. The crater Abenezra on the Moon was named in honor of Ibn Ezra. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Singer, Isidore ; et al.