Nahum Ma'arabi (, literally "Nahum of

the west West is a cardinal direction or compass point. West or The West may also refer to: Geography and locations Global context * The Western world * Western culture and Western civilization in general * The Western Bloc, countries allied with NAT ...

"; also called Ma'aravi or Maghrabi) was a Moroccan

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

poet and translator of the thirteenth century. His poems are found only in Moroccan collections. Two of his

liturgical Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...

poems were published by

Leopold Dukes Leopold Dukes (; 17 January 1810, Pozsony – 3 August 1891, Vienna) was a Hungarian critic of Jewish literature. Biography Dukes spent about 20 years in England, and from his researches in the Bodleian Library and the British Museum (which con ...

in ''Zur Kentniss der Hebräischen Poesie''. Ma'arabi translated

Maimonides Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and Jewish philosophy, philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah schola ...

' "

Iggeret Teman The Epistle to Yemen or Yemen Letter (, translated as ) was an important communication written by Maimonides and sent to the Yemenite Jews. The epistle was written in 1173/4. The letter was written in Arabic. The need for the epistle arose becaus ...

" from

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

into Hebrew and added a preface in verse. This was published in

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

in 1631. He also translated a commentary on the " Sefer Yeẓirah" by

Isaac Israeli ben Solomon Isaac Israeli ben Solomon ( ; ; – ), also known as Isaac Israeli the Elder and Isaac Judaeus, was a Jewish physician and philosopher. He was one of the foremost Jewish academics living in the Arab world of his time, and is regarded as th ...

Nissim ben Jacob Nissim ben Jacob (), also known as Nissim Gaon (; 990–1062), was a rabbi and Gaon best known today for his Talmudic commentary ha-Mafteach, by which title he is also known. Biography Rav Nissim studied at the Kairouan Yeshiva, initially un ...

, prefacing it with a poem. Another of his translations was Joseph ibn Tzaddik's "Microcosmos." The translation is anonymous, but

Moritz Steinschneider Moritz Steinschneider (; 30 March 1816 – 24 January 1907) was a Moravian bibliographer and Orientalist, and an important figure in Jewish studies and Jewish history. He is credited as having invented the term ''antisemitism.'' Education Mo ...

attributes it to Ma'arabi. Finally, he translated

Saadia Gaon Saʿadia ben Yosef Gaon (892–942) was a prominent rabbi, Geonim, gaon, Jews, Jewish philosopher, and exegesis, exegete who was active in the Abbasid Caliphate. Saadia is the first important rabbinic figure to write extensively in Judeo-Arabic ...

's commentary on the thirteen

hermeneutic Hermeneutics () is the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially the interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature, and philosophical texts. As necessary, hermeneutics may include the art of understanding and communication. ...

rules of

Rabbi Ishmael Rabbi Yishmael ben Elisha Nachmani (Hebrew: רבי ישמעאל בן אלישע), often known as Rabbi Yishmael and sometimes given the title "Ba'al HaBaraita" (Hebrew: בעל הברייתא, “Master of the Outside Teaching”), was a rabbi of ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ma'arabi, Nahum Hebrew-language poets 13th-century Jews Medieval Moroccan Jews 13th-century Moroccan poets Poets from the Almohad Caliphate