Moses Ibn Research Articles

Adoption of the tri-radical root system among Iberian Exegetes, acceptance and rejection. The case of Moses ibn Chiquitilla

This article looks at the role of formal grammatical analysis in the writings of Moses ibn Chiquitilla; tracing the adoption of triliteralism among grammarians in Iberia. One of the enduring difficulties of recounting a history of the major developments in the study of Hebrew grammar is the patchwork nature of the material available. With the availability of the Firkovitch collection at the Russian National Library (RNL), source material from the 11th-century grammarian, translator, and exegete, Moses ibn Chiquitilla, is now available. Of what little survives of Ibn Chiquitilla’s writings, a large portion of his biblical commentary on Psalms is preserved in one manuscript, Evr-Arab. I 3583 alongside smaller portions belonging to other libraries. In this article, I trace the development of debates among grammarians as portrayed in the writings of Ibn Chiquitilla. I reach the conclusion that among the circles of grammarians in Saragossa in the 11th and 12th centuries, Ibn Chiquitilla tends towards the opinions of Judah Ḥayyūj, accepting the theoretical underpinnings of his system of grammar. He rejects any except

Dianna Lynn Roberts-Zauderer, Metaphor and Imagination in Medieval Jewish Thought. Moses ibn Ezra, Judah Halevi, Moses Maimonides, and Shem Tov ibn Falaquera

Dianna Lynn Roberts-Zauderer, Metaphor and Imagination in Medieval Jewish Thought. Moses ibn Ezra, Judah Halevi, Moses Maimonides, and Shem Tov ibn Falaquera

Metaphor and Imagination in Medieval Jewish Thought: Moses Ibn Ezra, Judah Halevi, Moses Maimonides and Shem Tov ibn Falaquera, written by Dianna Lynn Roberts-Zauderer

Metaphor and Imagination in Medieval Jewish Thought: Moses Ibn Ezra, Judah Halevi, Moses Maimonides and Shem Tov ibn Falaquera, written by Dianna Lynn Roberts-Zauderer

The Hebrew Translations of Euclid's Elements By Moses IBN Tibbon and by Jacob Ben Makhir–A Study of Differences in Book I

Abstract This study investigates differences between the Hebrew translation of Euclid's Elements made by Moses Ibn Tibbon and completed in 1270, and the Hebrew translation of the same work produced by Ibn Tibbon's nephew, Jacob ben Makhir, and completed in 1289. Focusing on Book I, the study shows that these differences extend to technical terms and make Ben Makhir's translation more accurate and more nuanced than Ibn Tibbon's. The greater accuracy of Ben Makhir's translation pertains also to his Hebrew formulations. Furthermore, apparent in his formulations is an attempt to make the Hebrew Elements more concise than the Arabic. On the basis of these findings, it is argued that Ben Makhir's translation is a reworking of Ibn Tibbon's, made with the aim of making the latter more succinct as well as more precise. A critical edition and an English translation of Ben Makhir's preface to his translation are presented in the Appendix.

From Saadia to Yahuda: Reviving Arab Jewish Intellectual Models in a Time of Partitions

Numerous intellectuals associated with the Hebrew Haskalah and the Arabic al-Nahda movements sought to "return" to key historical figures in Jewish and Arab culture—a project that allowed for the reinterpretion of a historical figure's work and image. Within twentieth-century Arab Jewish thought, we find a growing interest and engagement with the Arab Jewish legacy of the medieval Muslim world. The legacies of medieval writers like Saadia Gaon, Moses Ibn Ezra, Yehuda Halevi, and Maimonides became sites of exploration, investigation, and symbols of an Arab Jewish and Sephardi heritage. In this essay, we investigate the role of Saadia Gaon in Abraham Shalom Yahuda's scholarly and political work. We examine the different ways in which Yahuda shaped Saadia as a political and intellectual model vis-à-vis the Wissenschaft des Judentums scholars of Yahuda's generation and the al-Nahda circles.

The Hebrew Geometrical Compendium

The Hebrew Geometrical Compendium (HGC) is one of the most complete encyclopedic presentations of geometry from the Middle Ages extant today. The compendium presents mainly works by Euclid, Archimedes, Hypsicles, Theodosius, Menelaus, but relies also on Thābit Ibn Qurra, and on some additional materials from Greek and Arabic geometry. The text was first noticed by Tzvi Langermann, who commented that the compilation could have originally been written in either Greek, Arabic, or Hebrew. The present study confirms that it was written in Hebrew and was addressed to a Jewish audience. With the exception of some unidentified additions at the end of HGC V, all the texts included in the compilation were available in Hebrew translations by Moses Ibn Tibbon, Jacob ben Makhir, and Qalonimos ben Qalonimos. The compiler relied on these translations. It is likely that he could read some Arabic and/or Latin, but definite proof of this ability has not been found.

Al-Sijistani's and Maimonides's double negation theology explained by constructive logic

Famous medieval philosophers Al-Sijistani and Maimonides argued that the use of double negation helps us to better understand issues related to theology. To a modern reader, however, their arguments are somewhat obscure and unclear. We show that these arguments can be drastically clarified if we take into account the 20 century use of double negation in constructive logic. 1 Double Negation Theology: A Brief Reminder What is double negation theology. Abu Yakub Al-Sijistani (d. 971) and Moses ibn Maimon (1135–1204), also known as Maimonides, claimed that while while God is essentially incomprehensible, it is possible to gain some knowledge of God by using double negation; see, e.g., [15, 19]. For example, one cannot say that God is good, but it make sense to say that God is not not-good. Why double negation? The reasoning behind the use of double negation is, to a modern reader, rather obscure and unclear. In this short paper, we will show, however, that the use of double negation can be made much clearer to the modern reader if we take into account the 20 century developments in constructive logic. 2 What Is Constructive Logic: A Reminder Constructivity in mathematics before the 20 century. Strictly speaking, mathematics is about proving results. However, from the ancient times, mathematicians were also interested in constructing objects. The need for constructions is motivated largely by applications. For example, to predict where a satellite will be at some future moment of time, we need to

The Trialogue of Abrahamic Religions: A Plea for Systematization of Values

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are known in intellectual discussion as Abrahamic religions. There have been efforts by some scholars of theses religions to initiate and continue trialogue among them. These efforts, however genuine they might be, are not free from flaws from rational and logical angles. In order to really make trialogue rationally meaningful and intellectually valuable there must be systemization of values as the basis for the task. Moses ibn Maimon (1135-1204), Martin Luther (1483-1546) and Ismāīl Ragī al-Fārūqī (1921-1986) have been selected in this paper to identify and highlight how sincerely they made their effort to develop principles of trialogue. The paper focuses on these principles: the realm of axiology is part and parcel of the metaphysical realm; the human being is the bridge between the physical and the metaphysical realm; in Islamic ethics the absolute values represent the attributes of God; there is a difference between a value in-it-self and its actualization in the material world; and monotheism is the only principle from which universality of ethics can be derived.

Moses Ibn Tibbon's <em>Answers to Queries on Physics</em>: Sources and Problems

This is a preliminary presentation of Moses Ibn Tibbon’s Answers to Queries on Physics , to be followed by an edition and English translation of the text. This treatise, preserved in a single manuscript, was inspired by queries sent to Ibn Tibbon by his nephew, probably Jacob ben Makhir. Ibn Tibbon shaped his answers as an introduction to Aristotelian natural science, apparently aiming at an all-inclusive, if concise, presentation of sublunar physics and cosmology. Into this he incorporates some astrology and metaphysics, as well as an interpretation of Jacob’s ladder. The Answers collates the interpretations of Aristotle by Avicenna, Averroes, Maimonides, and Samuel Ibn Tibbon. Some problems implied by Ibn Tibbon’s treatment of their theories are discussed. The Answers does more than simply add to our knowledge of Moses Ibn Tibbon’s science and of the Tibbon family’s customary method of study. It also offers the possibility of understanding the study of natural philosophy among Jews during the years that separate Moses Ibn Tibbon from the fourteenth century. Pointing out some difficulties in the basic assumptions of Aristotelian theory, Answers may be a precursor of the attitudes of the scholars of that later time and their sophisticated discussions of the same difficulties.

Medical Terminology in the Hebrew Tradition: Shem Tov Ben Isaac, Sefer ha-Shimmush, Book 30

The terminology in medieval Hebrew medical literature is virtually lacking in standard Hebrew dictionaries. The only dictionary with a certain number of medical terms is that composed by Ben Yehuda. The secondary literature dealing with medieval Hebrew medical terminology is extremely limited and only covers a few medical terms. However, in recent years research into medieval Hebrew medical terminology has broken new ground. The translation technique of one major translator, namely Zerahyah Ben Isaac Ben She'altiel Hen, and his vocabulary, have been studied, and hitherto anonymous translations have been ascribed to him. Another medieval translator whose medical terminology is currently being analysed is Shem Tov Ben Isaac, the translator of al-Zahrāwī's Kitāb al-taṣrīf. As part of his translation he compiled two independent glossaries of medical synonyms. However, since these glossaries are only partial, and since they do not give these terms in a specific context, further analysis of the novel medical terminology is necessary to properly define his technical vocabulary. Thus, this study is devoted to an analysis of technical terminology in book 30, which deals with surgery. The terms, arranged alphabetically, are compared with those of the Arabic edition and English translation by Spink-Lewis, and with those used by Nathan ha-Me'ati, Zerahyah Hen, and Moses Ibn Tibbon.

Medieval Opinions on the Spanish School of Hebrew Poetry and its Epigones

Since Solomon Ibn Gabirol left the world and Moses Ibn Ezra, Jehudah Halevi, and Abraham Ibn Ezra died, the well of poetry has dried up, inspiration has disappeared, and God’s spirit no longer manifests itself. None of their successors can compare with them. We backward ones, like beggars, gather the crumbs and refuse that have fallen from their table. We hasten day and night over the ways trodden by them, but we cannot equal them.1

The Kennicott Bible

SUMMARY The Kennicott Bible was made at Corunna in northwest Spain for Isaac de Braga. It was written by a famous scribe named Moses ibn Zabara, who completed the work in 1476. The illuminations were executed by Joseph ibn Hayyim. The manuscript has an extremely rare, highly decorated and contemporary Hispano-Moresque box-binding. Clarkson describes aspects of the parchment, text and outstanding illuminations as well as the construction of the box binding. He concludes with a description of conservation problems, such as consolidation of the decorative layers within the text-block and stabilization of the unique binding.

Power in the Portrayal: Representations of Jews and Muslims in Eleventh- and Twelfth-Century Islamic Spain (review)

Reviewed by: Power in the Portrayal: Representations of Jews and Muslims in Eleventh- and Twelfth-Century Islamic Spain Jonathan P. Decter Ross Brann . Power in the Portrayal: Representations of Jews and Muslims in Eleventh- and Twelfth-Century Islamic Spain. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2002. Pp. x + 194. Textual representation is a central subject of inquiry for literary theorists and cultural historians alike. At the most basic level, scholars have investigated the ways in which objects may be represented by verbal structures and have noted that all representation is necessarily partial and selective. Cultural theorists have applied the selective nature of representation to the dynamics of minority/majority relations and the construction of cultural Others. Majority representations of minority figures often serve to define the minority's place within majority culture and, perhaps more significantly, to use the minority's place as a mirror for defining and ensuring the majority's position. Reading minority representations of majority figures affords a glimpse into the minority's notion of itself as a subculture within or on the margins of the majority culture. Representation of the Other occurs not only when the differences between majority and minority are obvious but also, as Jonathan Z. Smith has noted, when the overwhelming similarity of the two groups induces anxiety.1 Ross Brann's Power in the Portrayal is an outstanding application of poststructuralist theory to the dynamics of Muslim-Jewish relations in al-Andalus and the Maghrib during the medieval period. The first three chapters treat Muslim representations of Jews, particularly the numerous and shifting accounts of the prominent Jewish courtier of Zirid Granada Isma'il ibn Naghrila (a.k.a. Samuel the Nagid, 993–1055 or 1056), while the last two chapters treat the relatively rare representations of Muslims by Jews. Brann's theoretically informed readings offer a fresh and sensitive look at a host of sources that have often seemed beyond synthesis. Before D. S. Sassoon's discovery of the poetic dīvān of Samuel the Nagid circa 1924,2 this illustrious figure of eleventh-century al-Andalus [End Page e78] had been largely forgotten by Jewish history. Since then, scholars and laypeople have been fascinated by the author's remarkable poetic skill and his rise to political power in the Berber Zirid kingdom. Ibn Naghrila became an icon for Diaspora Jews, who marveled at the success of his acculturation and mastery of his host culture, and for Zionists, who admired his military prowess and zealousness in protecting Jewish causes. He was also the topic of considerable discussion during the medieval period, both by Jews and Muslims. Jewish literary historians such as Moses ibn Ezra (c. 1055–after 1085) and Sa'adia ibn Danan (fifteenth century) extol his poetic skill while the chronicler Abraham ibn Daud (b. ca. 1110), an Andalusian refugee from the Almohad invasion writing in Christian Toledo, recounts ibn Naghrila's rise to power under Badis ibn H. abbus. Isma'il, and all that he signified, was discussed for centuries after his death in Muslim texts belonging to genres as diverse as literary history, historical chronicle, heresiography, and polemical literature. Scholars have long been bewildered at the muddle of information the texts by Muslim authors yield, ranging from admiring portrayals of an intelligent and well-integrated courtier to rancorous denouncements of a seditious heretic who ridiculed Islamic tenets and even sought to overthrow the Zirid state to create a Jewish polity. Brann departs from the positivist approach of earlier scholars who generally privileged the favorable depictions over the unfavorable and attributed ''distortions'' to corruption of transmission and unbridled anti-Semitism. Instead, Brann argues that the mutable and fluctuating depictions of ibn Naghrila may be linked with the political climates in which the various texts were composed. In particular, Brann sees portrayal as a product of the different approaches taken by Muslim dynasties to the possibilities and limitations of minority leadership. Thus, textual representation was more deeply affected by the political perspective of the author than the literary genre in which he was writing. Following the breakdown of unified Umayyad rule and the rise of numerous party kingdoms in al-Andalus (1013), the boundary...

Moses Ibn 'Ezra's "Treatise of the Garden" and Maimonides' "Guide of the perplexed"

The Spanish poet Moses Ibn 'Ezra (1055-1138 ca.) is also known for a Judeo-Arabic book dealing with philosophical and philological questions, the «Treatise of the Garden». In the first part of the «Treatise of the Garden» Moses Ibn 'Ezra deals with some key-themes of theology, metaphysics, human physiology and psycology, through the linguistical and terminological examination of some passages of the Hebrew Bible. I try to argue that the general scheme of the work and the treatment of some themes suggest that Moses Ibn 'Ezra’s work might be, at least, one of the models employed by Moses Maimonides while writing his «Guide of the Perplexed».

Logic to Interpretation: Maimonides' Use of al-Fârâbî's Model of Metaphor

Maimonides ‘interests in language and interpretation converge in the exegetical sections of his Guide of the Perplexed, in which he often invokes the notion of metaphor (Ar. isti c âra; Hebr. hash’alah), a concept defined in various ways by different intellectual streams current in his day. Two parallel models of metaphor emerged in the so-called logical tradition of Arabic learning and Quranic hermeneutics, while a completely different one was formulated by Arab experts on poetry.1 Jewish exegetes in Muslim lands naturally applied the hermeneutic model of metaphor to Hebrew Scripture.2 Adopting a more unique stance, Moses ibn Ezra sought traces of the poetic model in biblical verse.3 Not surprisingly, Maimonides drew his conception of metaphor from al-Fârâbi’s logic, as earlier scholars have noted.4 Yet, as we shall demonstrate, he tailored the Farabian model of metaphor to suit his philosophical exegetical program.

The Problemata Physica Attributed to Aristotle: The Arabic Version of Ḥunain ibn Isḥāq and the Hebrew Version of Moses ibn Tibbon

The Problemata Physica Attributed to Aristotle: The Arabic Version of Ḥunain ibn Isḥāq and the Hebrew Version of Moses ibn Tibbon

Hebrew and Latin Versions of an Unknown Mathematical Text by Abraham Ibn Ezra

Hebrew manuscript Monte Cassino, Biblioteca dell'Abbazia, Caravita 5 IO1 contains three important mathematical texts in Hebrew. Two are well-known translations from the Arabic by Moses Ibn Tibbon: Euclid's Elements (fols, la132b) and Theodosius' Sph aeries (fols. 142a-171a). In between these two is a text whose beginning is clearly missing. E. Renan describes it as the Sefer ha-Mispar, i.e., Book of the Number, by Abraham Ibn Ezra.2 In fact, the colophon reads: k.m.L Sefer ha-Middot we-hu Sefer ha-Mispar le-rabbi Avraham ben Ezrah [sic] ben rabbi MeDir ha-sef aradi zl Tehillah laDEl (fol. 141b, 11.7-8), i.e., The Book of Geometry is complete, this is

Jewish Poet in Muslim Egypt: Moses Dar'ī's Hebrew Collection (review)

Hebrew Studies 41 (2000) 343 Reviews the English reader nothing except that the work's title has been translated into English (there is no translation of poetry, no analysis in English and often no English abstract). Thus the reader unfamiliar with Hebrew learns little except that an unapproachable work has been written. If the aim of the bibliography is to include works for readers of Hebrew, then why exclude the vast corpus of Hebrew scholarship lacking translated titles? More useful would be a complete bibliography of Ibn Gabirol's poetry with search indices in Hebrew and English. Goldberg's bibliography is intended as a "test-case" for forthcoming bibliographies on translations of poetry by other major medieval Hebrew poets such as Samuel ha-Nagid, Judah ha-Levi, and Moses Ibn Ezra. The scope of such an endeavor is truly daunting. Because the unit of study-tbe poem, or a section thereof.-is so small, compiling all references to all poems would seem a nearly intractable project. While beginning witll a single poet to be followed by other individual poets seems a logical method of progression, we must consider the ramifications for the field of medieval Hebrew literature. The approach of scholars of literature has long been to document chronologically the contributions of "great men" to Jewish intellectual history. The approach disregards the contributions of "lesser poets" and more importantly, privileges the field of Jewish history over literary studies, perpetuating the marginal status of medieval Hebrew literature (and particularly its literary study) within the scholarly canon. Still, Goldberg's bibliography is extremely thorough and is an invaluable contribution to the field, both on the levels of research and pedagogy. As we look forward to forthcoming volumes on other poets, we wonder if there are plans for updating the bibliography or digitizing the project. Jonathan P. Deeter The Jewish Theological Seminary New York. NY 10027 jodecter@jtsa.edu JEWISH POET IN MUSLIM EGYPT: MOSES DARci's HEBREW COLLECTION. By Leon J. Weinberger. pp. 43 (English) + 526 (Hebrew). Tuscaloosa, AL: The University of Alabama, 1998. Cloth, $176.00. Hebrew poetry employing Arabic prosody and dealing with themes adopted from Arabic poetry was written in all the Arabic-speaking lands Hebrew Studies 41 (2000) 344 Reviews during the great age of Judeo-Arabic civilization; it was, indeed, a key feature of that civilization. Unfortunately, the magnificent achievements of the Hebrew poets of al-Andalus in the Golden Age (tenth to twelfth centuries), as well as the enthusiasm for Spain evinced by nineteenth- and twentieth-century Jewish scholarship of western European provenance have tended to obscure the production of Hebrew poetry in Arabic-speaking Sicily, Egypt, Syria, and Iraq in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. One eastern diwan-that of Eleazar ben Jacob of Baghdad-bas long been available in a critical edition by H. Brody (1934/5), but not a single study of it ever seems to have been published. Portions of the diwiin of Joseph ben Tanhum Yerushalmi have been published, but this major collection of poetry and rhymed prose epistles is still far from from being available to sc~olar1y research. The works of another major Eastern Hebrew poet, Moses DarI, an Egyptian Hebrew poet of Moroccan origin who is thought to have lived in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, have only been available in selections published by S~a Pinsker in his Liqute qadmoniyot (1860) and by Davidson in articles published in 1927 and 1936. A few of his poems in English translation were included in Leon Nemoy~s Karaite Anthology, and one in Ted Canni's Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse. It is gratifying, therefore, that the bulk of DarI's dfwiin has now been edited and published with an introduction, notes, and variant readings by Leon J. Weinberger. Like the other Hebrew poets of the Judeo-Arabic sphere, Dari follows closely the traditions of the Golden Age poets, an aspect of his work highlighted by Weinberger in his English introduction. But Dari is also capable of going his own way in treating traditional themes and of inventing some new ones. Thus, in the love poetry, he refers more explicitly to sexual intercourse than we are used to from Golden...

שירת החול העברית בימי הבינײם (Secular Hebrew Poetry in the Middle Ages) (review)

Hebrew Studies 40 (1999) 377 Reviews and to do penance, admitting: "The greatness of man is only allowed by the will of the Creator" (p. 67). So these great pagan kings began to speak the language of the Hebrew monotheists in this version. Alexander, in particular , always is shown to display magnanimity in victory, as when he sheds tears over the fall of Darius: "You have to understand that kings do not rejoice about the fall of fellow-kings" (p. 73). The Hebrew language of the text is basically biblical, although influenced in crucial instances by Arabic grammar, syntax, and vocabulary, sometimes deploying rare, although not unprecedented, Hebrew usages, such as "lalJ.arof' (for "to hibernate," which is attested in the biblical book of Isaiah, see p. 70). Altogether, we seem to have a version fairly close to its foreign models, but significantly Hebraized in expression and sentiment. We should be grateful to van Bekkum for this helpful, accessible, and reliable edition of a piece of work that helps us to piece together the history of some of the remoter comers of the history of Hebrew literature. Apart from a few infelicities of English expression. this is an exceedingly graceful introduction to an opus known in so many forms and in such far flung traditions. It provides a valuable, and, in some respects, surprising link between the generations. Leon I. Yudkin University College London London, England l.yudkin@ucl.ac.uk C""l":ln "C":l n"':ll)n ",nn n,"Uf (SECULAR HEBREW POETRY IN THE MIDDLE AGES) [Hebrew]. By Tovah Rosen. pp. 149. Tel Aviv: Haqibbutz Hameuchad, Qeren Yehoshua Rabinowitz Laamoniyut , 1997. Paper. Tovah Rosen has written a helpful handbook for the intelligent lay reader on the prosodic types and literary themes in secular Hebrew poetry in the Middle Ages, and on its most prominent practitioners. This book is not for specialists, who are (or should be) familiar with the literature. Rosen introduces her subject with a broad review of Hebrew culture in Muslim Spain during the five hundred year period from the tenth to the fifteenth centuries. She points to Iberian Jewry's "sudden" and "revolutionary" awakening (p. 13) and the emergence of its leading luminaries . Samuel the Nagid, Solomon Ibn Gavirol. Moses Ibn Ezra. Judah Halevi, Dunash ben Labrat, Isaac Ibn Khalfon. and Abraham Ibn Ezra. Hebrew Studies 40 (1999) 378 Reviews However, it should be noted that the foundations for the new literary developments in Spain were already prepared in Babylon, chiefly through the efforts of Sa'adyah Gaon (882-942 C.B.), head of the academy in Sura. In Sa'adyah's poetic writings we find a revived emphasis on the language of the Hebrew scriptures as the preferred medium of literary composition, a practice followed by the Hebrew-Hispanics (p. 16). Moreover, Sa'adya's pupil Dunash ben Labrat-who later became a protege of Sasday ibn Shaprut, the first prominent Jewish courtier in Muslim Spain-pioneered a method of adapting Arabic prosodic conventions to Hebrew. Dunash's achievement was to become the standard for the two prosodic styles in secular (and religious) Hebrew poetry, the qasidah type, with its metrically balanced hemistichs in each verse, and the muwashshal), with its strophes of alternating constant and variable rhymes. In chapter 3, Professor Rosen asks whether it is possible to derive aesthetic enjoyment from Hebrew secular poetry written over a thousand years ago and should we apply modem standards of poetry to the works of Moses Ibn Ezra and his contemporaries. One could argue that the very posing of this question is unsettling. Are we to judge Chaucer and Milton by modem standards, or do we allow their poetry to broaden our sensitivity by familiarizing us with a wide range of experience with which, in the ordinary course of events, we might have no contact? Do we not also deepen our experience from reading Milton or Judah Halevi by making us feel more poignantly and understandingly the everyday events of our lives? A dominant aspect of this experience which Rosen describes (pp. 33-34) was the idealized setting of Hispanic courtly culture where Hebrew poetry was composed for entertainment and not exclusively for prayer...

Den spansk-judiska diktningen mellan arabiskt och hebreiskt

The article is describing Jewish poetry in Muslim dominated parts of Spain from the 10th century and traces its further development in the Christian dominated areas after the Reconquista. The development of the Hebrew language, the poetical rhythms and time in this “Hebrew branch of the Arabic literature”, the themes of the poetry and the literary theories of authors as Moses ibn Ezra and Yehudah Halevi is analysed as well as the attitude of Maimonides to the poetry. The final part of the article is describing the development of Hebrew into the dominating Jewish literary language in the Sefardi world at the same time as Jews contributed to the literary development of the spoken languages of the peninsula.