JUDAH BEN ISAAC

JUDAH BEN ISAAC
JUDAH BEN ISAAC (14th or 15th century), author of a Hebrew treatise on music. Judah ben Isaac, who was probably a native of Southern France and seems to have been connected with the Jewish cultural renaissance in 14th-century Provence, adapted his treatise from several Latin sources. The text is preserved in a manuscript in Paris (Bibliothèque Nationale, Cod. heb. 1037, fol. 22b–27b), and is one of the very few theoretical treatises known to be the work of Jews of the period living in a Christian environment; it was also published in Yuval (vol. 1 (1968), 1–47), with a French translation and footnotes by I. Adler. (Claude Abravanel) JUDAH BEN ISAAC IBN SHABBETAI JUDAH BEN ISAAC IBN SHABBETAI (13th century), Spanish Hebrew poet. Born around 1188, presumably in Toledo (according to some scholars, in Burgos, or in a town of Aragon), he lived for some time in Toledo and Saragossa. Judah composed at the age of 20 his best-known work, the rhymed prose narrative "Minḥat Yehudah Sone ha-Nashim" ("The Gift of Judah the Misogynist"), which aroused a poetical polemic for and against women, continuing into the 16th century. Even Judah Al-Ḥarizi's "Maqāma of Marriage" in the Tahkemoni (Gate 6) is unmistakably composed under Judah's influence. He follows the Andalusian Arabic pattern of a long narrative with different episodes. The story told in "The Misogynist" is of a young man, Zeraḥ, who had to take a vow   of continence at his father's deathbed but who soon fell prey to the vengeance of the offended fair sex: after having established a celibate brotherhood that preaches dissuasion from marriage and incites to divorce, he is seduced by a fair maiden, but through some hoax finds himself married to an ugly witch. When he tries to get a divorce, he almost has to face a death sentence thanks to the intrigues of the women. The fable is not directed against women, but describes the arguments of medieval misogynist discourse and has a very ambiguous attitude in respect to marriage; it may be interpreted as having a twofold aim – to warn men of female vengeance and against rash marriages. In consonance with similar ideas expressed in Latin and Romance narratives of the time, women are presented as the cause of quarrels and troubles, who will turn cosmos back into chaos. The book is dedicated to a patron by the name of Abraham Alfakhar; the work was very popular during the Middle Ages and early Renaissance, and has been preserved in many manuscripts, but the unreliable texts of both complete editions (Constantinople, 1543, and in E. Aschkenasi, Ta'am Zekenim (1854), V. 1a–12b) make it impossible to determine the precise date of composition. Halberstam and Davidson believe there must have been three versions: 1188, 1208, and 1225, but very likely the book was composed in 1208, and substantially modified and enlarged in 1225 or 1228. The two versions, plus a revised form of the first one, were edited by M. Huss in his dissertation (1991). In the epilogue Judah attacks a certain Ibn Samun who had accused him of plagiarism. A certain Isaac published around 1210 two short writings attacking the apparent misogynist attitude of Ibn Shabbetai: Ezrat ha-Nashim and Ein Mishpat. Judah wrote around 1214 a second narrative in rhymed prose, called Milḥemet ha-Ḥokhmah ve-ha-Osher ("Strife of Wisdom and Wealth"), which apparently was dedicated to Todros b. Judah, the father of meir abulafia , who acted as judge in the quarrel in question between two brothers, one of them rich and the other wise, disputing about a tiara left to them by their father (Constantinople, 1503). Judah is also the author of another rhymed prose narrative, Divrei ha-Alah ve-ha-Niddui ("The Curse and the Ban"), a parody, or a satirical work, in which he settles accounts with five respected Jews of Saragossa (published by Davidson in Ha-Eshkol, 6 (1909), 165–75). It seems that another work on history was destroyed or burned by the leaders of the community of Saragossa, and has not been preserved. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, in: Israelietische Letterbode, 12 (1887/88), 63–65, 69–73; idem, in: HB, 13 (1873), 137; Halberstam, in: Jeschurun (Kobak's), 7 (1871), 33ff. (Heb. pt.); idem (ed.), Ben ha-Melekh ve-ha-Nazir (rev. ed. 1952), appendix; D. Kaufmann, Gesammelte Schriften, 3 (1915), 470–7; J. Davidson, Parody in Jewish Literature (1907), 7–12; J. Schirmann, Die Hebraeischen Uebersetzungen der Maqamen des Hariri (1930), 112f., Schirmann, Sefarad, 2 (1956), 67–86, 689; N. Wieder, in: Metsudah, 2 (1943), 122–31; Baer, Spain, 1 (1961), 94f., 398; Zinberg, Sifrut, 1 (1955), 186–9. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: T. Rosen, in: Prooftexts, 8 (1988), 67–87; idem, Unveiling Eve (2003), 103–123; T. Fishman, in: Prooftexts, 8 (1988), 89–111; M. Huss, "Minḥat Yehudah, Ezrat ha-Nashim, ve-Ein Mishpaṭ," diss. (Hebrew Univ., 1991); Schirmann-Fleischer, The History of Hebrew Poetry in Christian Spain and Southern France (1997), 129–44 (Heb.). (Jefim (Hayyim) Schirmann / Angel Sáenz-Badillos (2nd ed.)

Encyclopedia Judaica. 1971.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • JUDAH BEN ISAAC — (Judah Sir Leon of Paris; also called Gur Aryeh ( lion s whelp ) or Aryeh, after Genesis 49:9 (Or Zaru a, pt. 1 no. 17; Tosefot Yeshanim to Yoma 8a); 1166–1224), French tosafist. Judah headed the Paris bet ha midrash, which was apparently… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Judah ben Isaac Cardinal — (or Cardineal ) was a translator who lived at the end of the twelfth century and the beginning of the thirteenth, probably in southern France. At the request of Joseph ben Baruch, who, according to Leopold Zunz, traveled from France to Jerusalem… …   Wikipedia

  • Judah ben Isaac (Sir Leon of Paris) — (1166 1224)    French tosaphist, grandson of Rashi. He became the head of the Paris bet midrash, which was reopened when the Jews returned to France following their expulsion in 1182. He composed tosaphot to nearly all the Talmud, based on the… …   Dictionary of Jewish Biography

  • Judah ben Barzillai — (Albargeloni) [In Arabic, this means from Barcelona . In Hebrew, the name is rendered ha Bartseloni .] was a Spanish Talmudist of the end of the 11th and the beginning of the 12th century. Almost nothing is known of his life. He came of a very… …   Wikipedia

  • Judah ben Saul ibn Tibbon — (1120 – after 1190) was a translator and physician. Born in Granada, he left Spain in 1150, probably on account of anti Semitic persecution by the Almohades, and went to Lunel in southern France. Benjamin of Tudela mentions him as a physician… …   Wikipedia

  • JUDAH BEN BARZILLAI (ha-Nasi), AL-BARGELONI — JUDAH BEN BARZILLAI ( ha Nasi ), AL BARGELONI (late 11th and early 12th century), rabbi of Barcelona. Naḥ manides claimed descent from him, referring to him as zekeni ( my ancestor ). According to one statement (responsa, Tashbeẓ, 1:15), he was a …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • JUDAH BEN YAKAR — (d. between 1201 and 1218), talmudist and kabbalist, teacher of Naḥmanides . Judah was born in Provence, but in his youth he moved to northern France where he studied under isaac b. abraham , the tosafist. Subsequently he went to Barcelona where… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • JUDAH BEN GERIM — (mid second century C.E.), tanna. Ben Gerim (Bar Giore in Aramaic) means the son of proselytes (see rashi , Shab. 33b). In Gen. R. 35:3 it is told that Judah bar Giore went, together with R. Isaac and R. Jonathan, to study with Simeon b. Yoḥai .… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Judah ben Jacob Najar — (d. 1830) was a Talmudic scholar, author, dayyan, nephew of Judah Cohen Tanugi, and member of the rabbinate in Tunis, where he died at an advanced age. He was the author of the following works: * Limmude Adonai (Leghorn, 1787), containing 204… …   Wikipedia

  • JUDAH BEN MOSES HA-DARSHAN — (11th century), French scholar, son of moses ha darshan , under whom he studied and whose teachings he transmitted. He apparently also studied under gershom b. judah in Mainz, then returned to Narbonne where isaac b. merwan ha levi was among his… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”