Yehuda Alharizi - biography, career, poetry
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Yehuda Alharizi |
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Yehuda Alharizi, also Judah ben Solomon Harizi or al-Harizi (Hebrew: יהודה בן שלמה אלחריזי, Yehudah ben Shelomo al-Harizi, Arabic: يحيا بن سليمان بن شاؤل أبو زكريا الحريزي اليهودي من أهل طليطلة, Yahya bin Sulaiman bin Sha’ul abu Zakaria al-Harizi al-Yahudi min ahl Tulaitila) was a Jewish rabbi, translator, poet and traveller active in Spain in the Middle Ages (in Toledo? - 1165, in Aleppo - 1225). He was supported by wealthy patrons, to whom he wrote poems and dedicated compositions.
He was a rationalist, conveying the works of Maimonides and his approach to rationalistic Judaism. He translated Maimonides’ Guide for the Perplexed and some of his Commentary on the Mishnah, as well as the Mahbarot Iti’el of the Arab poet al-Hariri, from the Arabic to Hebrew.
Alharizi’s poetic translation of the Guide for the Perplexed is more readable than that of Samuel ben Judah ibn Tibbon. However, it has not been very widely used in Jewish scholarship due to its lesser precision. It had some influence in the Christian world due to its translation into Latin.
"It was, however, through Al-Harizi’s translation that Maimonides’ ideas were propagated in the Christian world. An anonymous Latin translation of the Guide, published in Paris by Agostino Giustiniani in 1520, is based on Al-Harizi’s translation and was used by the English schoolmen. Al-Harizi’s version also served as the basis for Pedro de Toledo’s Spanish translation (published by M. Lazar according to the Ms. 10289, B.N. Madrid, in 1989, Culver City, Calif: Labyrinthos)."
Alharizi’s own works include the "Tahkemoni", composed between 1218 and 1220, in the Arabic form known as maqama. This is written in Hebrew in unmetrical rhymes, in what is commonly termed rhymed prose. It is a series of humorous episodes, witty verses, and quaint applications of Scriptural texts. The episodes are bound together by the presence of the hero and of the narrator, who is also the author. Another collection of his poetry was devoted to preaching ethical self-discipline and fear of heaven.
Harizi undertook long journeys in the lands of the Middle East. His works are suffused with his impressions from these journeys.
He not only brought to perfection the art of applying Hebrew to secular satire, but he was also a brilliant literary critic and his makame on the Andalusian Hebrew poets is a fruitful source of information.
"Apart from its literary merit and brilliant, incisive style, the Tahkemoni also throws valuable light on the state of Hebrew culture of the period, and describes the scholars and leaders of the communities visited by the author. Al-Harizi gives vivid descriptions of the worthies of Toledo, the poets of Thebes, a debate between a Rabbanite and a Karaite, and conditions in Jerusalem. The Tahkemoni also contains critical evaluations of earlier and contemporary poets, although Al-Harizi’s appraisal of his contemporaries is not always reliable and occasionally misses their most essential features."
Aharon Mirsky and Avrum Stroll ...
To Alharizi’s maqame on the Andalusian Hebrew poets
cf. Heinrich Heine (as an Alharizi redivivus, so to speak):
"Alcharisi - der, ich wette,
Dir nicht minder unbekannt ist,
Ob er gleich, französ’scher Witzbold,
Den Hariri überwitzelt
Im Gebiete der Makame,
Und ein Voltairianer war
Schon sechs hundert Jahr vor Voltair’
Jener Alcharisi sagte:
»Durch Gedanken glänzt Gabirol
Und gefällt zumeist dem Denker,
Iben Esra glänzt durch Kunst
Und behagt weit mehr dem Künstler -
Aber beider Eigenschaften
Hat Jehuda ben Halevy,
Und er ist ein großer Dichter
Und ein Liebling aller Menschen."
About the author:
http://www.wikipedia.org
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