Judah ibn Balaam (or Bal'am) (Hebrew: יהודה בן שמואל אבן בלעם Yehuda ben Shmuel ibn Balaam; Arabic: Abu Zakariyya Yahya ibn Balaam) was an Andalusian
rabbi
A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
of the eleventh century (
Toledo
Toledo most commonly refers to:
* Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain
* Province of Toledo, Spain
* Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States
Toledo may also refer to:
Places Belize
* Toledo District
* Toledo Settlement
Bolivia
* Toledo, Orur ...
, 1000 -
Seville
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...
, 1070).
Biographical information
The life of Judah ibn Balaam is only known by a poem by
Moses ibn Ezra
Rabbi Moses ben Jacob ibn Ezra, known as Ha-Sallaḥ ("writer of penitential prayers") ( ar, أَبُو هَارُون مُوسَى بِن يَعْقُوب اِبْن عَزْرَا, ''Abu Harun Musa bin Ya'qub ibn 'Azra'', he, מֹשֶׁה ב ...
in his ''Kitab al-Muḍaḍarah''. It seems that this poem is itself based on the work of Judah, and not on other sources.
According to Ibn Ezra, "Ibn Bal'am came from a respected family in Toledo, and settled later in Seville. In his old age he devoted himself to the study of
halakhah
''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical commandm ...
. He possessed a quick comprehension and an excellent memory. His style was direct and terse, so that he could present comprehensive subjects in a few words. His literary work extended especially to compendious treatises, in which he availed himself of the thorough and comprehensive studies of his predecessors, but from which he extracted with care only their most essential and valuable contents. . . . Against his otherwise noble character and sedate nature his irritable temperament stood in marked contrast. Nobody escaped his criticism, which consisted not merely in the pointing out of faulty passages, but in a trenchant and ruthless analysis of their errors."
At the end of his life he devoted himself to the study of
kabbalah
Kabbalah ( he, קַבָּלָה ''Qabbālā'', literally "reception, tradition") is an esoteric method, discipline and Jewish theology, school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ( ''Məqūbbāl'' "rece ...
.Analysis of the poem ''bezochri 'al mishkavi'' biographical section
Works
The works of Ibn Balaam are written in
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
. Some are only known by quotations, by himself or by other authors. Some of the preserved works no longer exist in the original Arabic, but through Hebrew translations.
A contemporary and rival of
Moses ibn Gikatilla Moses bar Samuel ha-Kohen ibn Gikatilla was a Jewish grammarian and Bible exegete of the late eleventh century.
Name
His full name was "Moses b. Samuel haKohen," but Abraham ibn Ezra generally called him "Rabbi Moses ha-Kohen." His surname, which ...
, he is better known in his time for his works of
halakha
''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical commandm ...
than for those of biblical exegesis and grammar. According to Ibn Ezra, Judah ibn Balaam thoroughly analyzed the studies of his predecessors, but carefully selected only the most valuable and essential elements.
Halacha
He wrote two treatises on halacha, ''Sefer Hatsimud'' (Book of the Union) and ''Sefer Hahakhra'a'' (Book of Decision).
Joseph Derenbourg
Joseph Derenbourg, or Joseph Naftali Derenburg (21 August 1811 – 29 July 1895) was a Franco-German orientalist.
He was born in Mainz (then French-controlled), as a youngest son of the lawyer Jacob Derenburg.
According to the 1911 ''Ency ...
and, more recently, translated and edited, along with the comments of other books, by
Bar Ilan University
Bar-Ilan University (BIU, he, אוניברסיטת בר-אילן, ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic i ...
. A book called ''Ta'did Mu'jizat al-Taurat wal-Nubuwwat'', which lists the miracles in the Pentateuch and the prophetic books, is only known by a mention of Moshe ibn Ezra.
He adopts an intermediate attitude between that of Saadia Gaon and Abraham ibn Ezra, whom he greatly influenced. He examines the text with grammatical tools, but refuses to draw conclusions if they go against the teachings of the Sages.
Hebrew Grammar
In his works, Ibn Balaam is strongly influenced by
Jonah ibn Janah
Jonah ibn Janah or ibn Janach, born Abu al-Walīd Marwān ibn Janāḥ ( ar, أبو الوليد مروان بن جناح, or Marwan ibn Ganaḥ Hebrew: ), (), was a Jewish rabbi, physician and Hebrew grammarian active in Al-Andalus, or Islamic ...
, to the point of being regarded by some as an imitator of him without any originality. His works include:
* ''Ta'lif fi al-Mutabiq wal-Mujanis'', also called ''Kitāb al-Tajnīs'' (in Hebrew, ''Sefer HaTagnis''), on homonyms in the Hebrew Bible. The Arabic original has not been preserved, except for a fragment.
* ''Kitāb Hurūf al-Ma'ānī ''(in Hebrew, ''Otiyyot ha-'Inyanim''), on the particles in the Hebrew Bible. Fragments of the Arabic original were included in the annotations to the ''Kitab al-Uṣul'' of Yona ibn Jannah, edited by Neubauer.
* ''Kitāb al-Af'āl al-Mushtaqqah min-al-Asmā' '' (in Hebrew, ''Ha-Pe'alim Shehem mi-Gizrat ha-Shemot''), on the denominational verbs in the Hebrew Bible. The book was edited by G. Polak, and reissued by B. Goldberg and Adelman.
Isaac ibn Barun also mentions a grammatical treaty, which has since been lost.
Other
Judah ibn Balaam authored the liturgical poem ''Bezikhri 'al mishkavi'', recited by the Sephardic congregations during the
Selihot
Selichot ( he, סְלִיחוֹת, səlīḥōt, singular: , ''səlīḥā'') are Jewish penitential poems and prayers, especially those said in the period leading up to the High Holidays, and on fast days. The Thirteen Attributes of Mercy are ...
and during the
Days of Awe
The High Holidays also known as the High Holy Days, or Days of Awe in Judaism, more properly known as the Yamim Noraim ( he, יָמִים נוֹרָאִים, ''Yāmīm Nōrāʾīm''; "Days of Awe")
#strictly, the holidays of Rosh HaShanah ("Jew ...
. He could also be the author of poems bearing Bala'am in acrostic.
A treaty on the rules and accents of the masses, the ''Hidayat al-Qari'' (in Hebrew, ''Horayat ha-Ḳore'', Help to the reader), was generally attributed to him. However William Wickes, editor of the Arabic original, put this opinion in doubt. It has since been shown that the book was written by Aaron of Jerusalem, a grammarian earlier than Ibn Balaam by a century.Ilan Eldar, ''Torat haqria baMiqra - Sefer Horayot Haqore ou mishnato haleshonit'' (The Study of the Art of Correct Reading as Reflected in the Medieval Treatise Hidāyat al-Qāri), Jérusalem, 1994