|
Isaac Akrish
Isaac ben Abraham Akrish (; – after 1578) was a Sephardi Jewish scholar, bibliophile, and editor. Biography Isaac ben Abraham Akrish was born in Salonika, the son of exiles from Spain who settled there in 1495 after briefly living in Naples. Though lame in both legs, Akrish travelled extensively throughout his life. His primary interest was in manuscripts which he attempted to save from destruction. The course of his tiresome travels at length brought him to Cairo, Egypt. There he was taken into the house of the Radbaz (David ibn Abi Zimra), an immigrant who had attained to a high communal position. An avid bibliophile, Akrish spent his money on scribes whom he hired to copy the Radbaz's manuscripts, amassing a large collection of documents. Akrish remained at Cairo as private tutor to the Radbaz's children and grandchildren for about ten years (about 1543–1553), until his patron's emigration to the Land of Israel. Akrish then left for Constantinople, stopping in Candia. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sephardi Jews
Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefarditas or Hispanic Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the Iberian Peninsula. The term, which is derived from the Hebrew ''Sepharad'' (), can also refer to the Mizrahi Jews of Western Asia and North Africa, who were also influenced by Sephardic law and customs. Many Iberian Jewish exiles also later sought refuge in Mizrahi Jewish communities, resulting in integration with those communities. The Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula prospered for centuries under the Muslim reign of Al-Andalus following the Umayyad conquest of Hispania, but their fortunes began to decline with the Christian ''Reconquista'' campaign to retake Spain. In 1492, the Alhambra Decree by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain called for the expulsi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Nasi
Joseph Nasi (1524, Portugal – 1579, Konstantiniyye), known in Portuguese as João Miques, was a Portuguese Sephardi diplomat and administrator, member of the House of Mendes/Benveniste, nephew of Dona Gracia Mendes Nasi, and an influential figure in the Ottoman Empire during the rules of both Sultan Suleiman I and his son Selim II. He was a great benefactor of the Jewish people. A Court Jew,Hillgarth, p.171 he was appointed Lord of Tiberias,Pasachoff & Littman, p.163 with the expressed aim of resettling Jews in Palestine and encouraging industry there; the attempt failed, and, later, he was appointed Duke of Naxos.Freely, p.168 Nasi also supported a war with the Republic of Venice, at the end of which Venice lost the island of Cyprus to the Ottomans. After the death of Selim, he lost influence in the Ottoman Court, but was allowed to keep his titles and pension for the remainder of his life. Etymology Also known as João Miques/Micas and Dom João Migas Mendes in a Portuguese ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Book And Manuscript Collectors
A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arrangement is '' codex'' (plural, ''codices''). In the history of hand-held physical supports for extended written compositions or records, the codex replaces its predecessor, the scroll. A single sheet in a codex is a leaf and each side of a leaf is a page. As an intellectual object, a book is prototypically a composition of such great length that it takes a considerable investment of time to compose and still considered as an investment of time to read. In a restricted sense, a book is a self-sufficient section or part of a longer composition, a usage reflecting that, in antiquity, long works had to be written on several scrolls and each scroll had to be identified by the book it contained. Each part of Aristotle's ''Physics'' is calle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
16th-century Sephardi Jews
The 16th century begins with the Julian year 1501 ( MDI) and ends with either the Julian or the Gregorian year 1600 ( MDC) (depending on the reckoning used; the Gregorian calendar introduced a lapse of 10 days in October 1582). The 16th century is regarded by historians as the century which saw the rise of Western civilization and the Islamic gunpowder empires. The Renaissance in Italy and Europe saw the emergence of important artists, authors and scientists, and led to the foundation of important subjects which include accounting and political science. Copernicus proposed the heliocentric universe, which was met with strong resistance, and Tycho Brahe refuted the theory of celestial spheres through observational measurement of the 1572 appearance of a Milky Way supernova. These events directly challenged the long-held notion of an immutable universe supported by Ptolemy and Aristotle, and led to major revolutions in astronomy and science. Galileo Galilei became a champion ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elijah Of Ferrara
Elijah of Ferrara (Hebrew: אליהו מפררה, or אליהו מפרארה) was a Jewish-Italian Talmudist and traveler of the earlier part of the 15th century. He was engaged in 1437 as lecturer and teacher in Jerusalem, where he arrived after a stormy voyage, during which he lost his son and grandson. He wrote several letters to his wife and children, whom he had left behind in Ferrara; only one of these epistles, dated 1438, has been preserved. This "Iggeret," written in rimed prose, has been published in the collection "Dibre Ḥakamim," Metz, 1853, and translated by Carmoly ("Itinéeraires," pp. 331–337) under the title "Ahabat Ẓiyyon." In this he gives a description of Jerusalem, recounts the legends current about the "children of Israel," the Ten Tribes, and the Sambation River, and states his intention to visit other parts of Palestine and to send a description of what he sees there. A fragment of another letter has survived, published by Isaac Akrish in his "Ḳo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Khazars
The Khazars ; he, כּוּזָרִים, Kūzārīm; la, Gazari, or ; zh, 突厥曷薩 ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a semi-nomadic Turkic people that in the late 6th-century CE established a major commercial empire covering the southeastern section of modern European Russia, southern Ukraine, Crimea, and Kazakhstan. They created what for its duration was the most powerful polity to emerge from the break-up of the Western Turkic Khaganate. Astride a major artery of commerce between Eastern Europe and Western Asia, Southwestern Asia, Khazaria became one of the foremost trading empires of the Early Middle Ages, early medieval world, commanding the western March (territory), marches of the Silk Road and playing a key commercial role as a crossroad between China, the Middle East and Kievan Rus'. For some three centuries (c. 650–965) the Khazars dominated the vast area extending from the Volga-Don steppes to the eastern Crimea and the northern Caucasus. Khazari ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hasdai Ibn Shaprut
Hasdai (Abu Yusuf ben Yitzhak ben Ezra) ibn Shaprut ( he, חסדאי אבן שפרוט; ar, حسداي بن شبروط, Abu Yussuf ibn Shaprut) born about 915 at Jaén, Spain; died about 970 at Córdoba, Andalusia, was a Jewish scholar, physician, diplomat, and patron of science. His father, Isaac ben Ezra, was a wealthy and learned Jew of Jaén. Hasdai acquired in his youth a thorough knowledge of Hebrew, Arabic, and Latin, the last-named language being at that time known only to the higher clergy of Spain. He also studied medicine, and is said to have discovered a panacea, called ''Al-Faruk''. Appointed physician to Caliph Abd-ar-Rahman III (912-961), he, by his engaging manners, knowledge, character, and extraordinary ability, gained his master's confidence to such a degree that he became the caliph's confidant and faithful counselor. Without bearing the title of vizier he was in reality minister of foreign affairs; he had also control of the customs and ship-dues in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Khazar Correspondence
The Khazar Correspondence is a set of documents, which are alleged to date from the 950s or 960s, and to be letters between Hasdai ibn Shaprut, foreign secretary to the Caliph of Cordoba, and Joseph Khagan of the Khazars. The Correspondence is one of only a few documents attributed to a Khazar author, and potentially one of only a small number of primary sources on Khazar history. The authenticity of the correspondence has been challenged, on the grounds that it has little in common with the otherwise attested chronology, language, borders and economy of the Khazars at the time. Ostensibly it gives both account of the Khazar conversion to Judaism and of its progress in subsequent generations, as well as potentially showing that within a generation of the fall of the Khazar empire in 969, the Khazar state was still militarily powerful and received tribute from several polities.The Jew in the Medieval World: A Sourcebook, 315-1791, (New York: JPS, 1938), 227-232 Background The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bostanai
Bostanai (Hebrew language, Hebrew: בוסתנאי), also transliterated as Bustenai or Bustnay, was the first Exilarch (leader of the Jewish community of Mesopotamia) under Arab rule. He lived in the early-to-middle of the 7th century, and died about 660 CE. The name is Aramaic language, Aramaized from the Persian language, Persian ''bustan'' or ''bostan'' (Persian : بوستان), meaning "Garden". Bostanai is the only Dark Age Babylonian Exilarch of whom anything more than a footnote is known. He is frequently made the subject of Jewish legends. According to the ''Maaseh Beth David'', Bostanai was confirmed in his office as exilarch by the Caliph Ali, no earlier then 656 CE. The Caliph granted him the authority to appoint civil judges, and heads of the rabbinical academies at Sura Academy, Sura, Pumbedita Academy, Pumbedita and Nehardea Academy, Nehardea. Family of Bostanai Bostanai was the posthumous son of a former exilarch, Haninai and his wife who is known as 'the daughter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shem-Tov Ibn Falaquera
Shem-Tov ben Joseph ibn Falaquera, also spelled Palquera ( he, שם טוב בן יוסף אבן פלקירה; 1225 – c. 1290) was a Spanish Jewish philosopher and poet and commentator. A vast body of work is attributed to Falaquera, including encyclopedias of Arabic and Greek philosophies, maqamas, some 20,000 poetic verses, and commentaries on Maimonides’ ''Guide to the Perplexed''. The common theme in Falaquera’s writing was to encourage observant Jews to study philosophy and to appreciate the harmony that existed between Torah and rational truth learned in philosophy. While Falaquera did not advocate teaching the secrets of science and divine sciences to every man, he did advocate the teaching of these truths to a broader range of educated Jewish males than previous proponents of rationalist thinking. Biography Although not much is known about his personal life, it is believed that Falaquera’s ''Sefer ha-Mevakkesh'', The Book of the Seeker, was a semi-autobiographi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solomon Ben Reuben Bonfed
Solomon ben Reuben Bonfed (late 14th-century-early 15th century) was a Spanish rabbi and poet who lived in Zaragoza. His '' diwan'', still extant in manuscript (Adolf Neubauer, "Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS." No. 1984), is notable, as well as for the historical information contained in it. Bonfed was present at the controversy of Tortosa (1413–14); and many of his poems are addressed to those who took part in it. The ''diwan'' contains also an answer, in rimed prose, to a letter of the converted Jew, Astruc Raimuch of Fraga, in which the neophyte enthusiastically propounds the dogmas of Christianity, and endeavors to demonstrate the Trinity, original sin, and redemption, from the Bible. Apologizing for discussing the contents of a letter not addressed to him, Bonfed minutely examines the Christian dogmas, and proceeds to argue how irrational and untenable they are. He says: "You twist and distort the Bible text to establish the Trinity. Had you a quaternity to prove, you would demonst ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
