TANḤUM BEN JOSEPH (Ha-)YERUSHALMI
- TANḤUM BEN JOSEPH (Ha-)YERUSHALMI
- TANḤUM BEN JOSEPH (Ha-)YERUSHALMI (c.
1220–1291), philologist and biblical exegete. Few biographical details
are known of him. As his name indicates, either he or his family
originated from Jerusalem, and according to Bacher, he lived for some
time in Ereẓ Israel and subsequently went to Egypt, where he died.
Tanḥum had an extensive knowledge of philosophy, and knew a number of
languages, including Arabic and Greek, and it would appear that he knew
medicine (Al-Murshid al-Kafi, S.V.
tavlul). He had a profound knowledge of all the biblical
exegetes and grammarians who had preceded him (there are more than 250
references in the section of his Al-Murshid al-Kafi to the
letter tav alone, many of which are not identifiable). He was
the last representative of the rational school of biblical exegetes in
the East, but the "central pillars" upon which he based his works were
"the words of the revered Rabbi Moses b. Maimon in his scientific
outlook and his religious beliefs, and the words of R. Jonah Ibn
Janaḥ in grammar and philology."
One of his works which has survived is Kitab al-Bayān,
consisting of commentaries on the books of the Bible, with an
introduction (or first part) called Al-Kaliat ("General
Principles"), a work which earned him the title of "the Ibn Ezra of the
East." Portions of this commentary are scattered in various
libraries, such as the Bodleian and the
Guenzburg libraries. In addition to fragments which have been published
in various learned periodicals, there have appeared his commentary on
Judges, Samuel, Kings, and Jonah (T. Haarbruecker, 1842–62); Habakkuk
(S. Munk, 1843); Lamentations (G. Cureton, 1843); Ecclesiastes (S.
Eppenstein, 1888); and Psalms (idem, 1903). Another extant work is the
above-mentioned Al-Murshid al-Kafi, a lexicon giving in
alphabetical order the nouns and verbs in Maimonides' Mishneh
Torah. This work is of considerable importance on account of the
new Hebrew terms which he coined, and it constitutes the greatest codex
of Maimonides' work. Most of the introduction, as well as a number of
entries in the work, was published by W. Bacher under the title Aus
dem Woerterbuche Tanchum Jeruschalmi's (1903).
Joseph b. Tanḥum ha-Yerushalmi was his son.
-BIBLIOGRAPHY:
I. Goldziher, Studien ueber Tanchum Jerúschalmi (1870); B.
Toledano, in: Sinai, 42 (1961), 339–55; H. Shy, in:
Leshonenu, 33 (1969), 196–207, 280–96; S. Poznański, in:
REJ, 40 (1900), 130–53; 41 (1900), 45–61; Steinschneider,
Arab Lit, 234–6; E. Ashtor (Strauss), Toledot ha-Yehudim, 1
(1944), 144ff.; 3 (1970), index.
(Ephraim Kupfer)
Encyclopedia Judaica.
1971.
Look at other dictionaries:
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