Israel ben Joseph Halevi Caslari (, ), also known as Crescas Caslari and Israel ben Joseph Halevi, was a Jewish physician and poet who lived at

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in 1327. He was the author of a liturgic poem for

Purim Purim (; , ; see Name below) is a Jewish holiday which commemorates the saving of the Jews, Jewish people from Haman, an official of the Achaemenid Empire who was planning to have all of Persia's Jewish subjects killed, as recounted in the Boo ...

, beginning with the words ("Who is like you?"). In a manuscript of this poem (''Rev. Et. Juives'', ix. 116) the signature contains the words ("To the sons of Yitzhar"), from which Neubauer concludes that Crescas Caslari belonged to the family of the Yitzhari. This opinion, shared by

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, is criticized by Gross, who holds that the appellation is merely honorary, as it is in the Bible (Zech. iv. 14). According to Zunz, Caslari was the author of a poem on the story of

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and

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, which he translated into the vernacular. A fragment of a Provençal poem by Maestro Crescas has been published in ''Romania'' (April, 1892). Caslari also translated Arnaud de Villeneuve's medical work entitled ''Liber de Regimine Sanitatis'', dedicating it to

James II James II may refer to: * James II of Avesnes (died c. 1205), knight of the Fourth Crusade * James II of Majorca (died 1311), Lord of Montpellier * James II of Aragon (1267–1327), King of Sicily * James II, Count of La Marche (1370–1438), King C ...

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...

References

Renan-Neubauer, ''Les Ecrivains Juifs Français'', pp. 647–650; Zunz, ''Literaturgesch''. p. 504; ---- Jewish poets 14th-century French Sephardi Jews Medieval Jewish physicians of France Levites Year of death unknown 14th-century French physicians Physicians from Avignon Year of birth unknown French male poets {{Judaism-bio-stub