History of the Jews, Vol. 3 (of 6)Graetz, Heinrich
History
History of the Jews, Vol. 3 (of 6)
Graetz, Heinrich
Jews -- History
Of Albalia's contemporary, Isaac ben Jehuda Ibn-Giat (b. 1030, d.
1089), little is known. He belonged to a rich and illustrious family
of Lucena (not far from Cordova). Both the Ibn-Nagrelas gave him in
his youth many proofs of their respect, and he was devoted to them
heart and soul. After the tragic end of Joseph Ibn-Nagrela, Ibn-Giat
gave himself much trouble to raise Joseph's son, Abu-nassar Azaria, to
the rank of rabbi of Lucena. But death deprived this noble house of
its last scion. The community selected Isaac Ibn-Giat as its spiritual
chief, on account of his learning and virtues. Liturgical poetry,
philosophy, and the Talmud were the three domains sedulously cultivated
by him.
Isaac ben Reuben Albergeloni, in his old age, compiled an original
work treating of the civil jurisprudence of the Talmud in a systematic
way. He also was an earnest religious poet. He composed new "Azharoth"
in pithy but awkward language, and adorned his verses with Biblical
quotations aptly applied. Isaac Albergeloni is the first Hebrew writer
to make use of this mosaic of Biblical verses, which are not quoted for
their usual meaning, but woven together in ingenious and unexpected
combinations.
Albergeloni in early youth had gone from Barcelona to Denia; at the
same time the fourth Isaac (ben Moses) Ibn-Sakni was departing thence,
probably because a slight had been put upon him. He wended his way to
the Orient, and in Pumbeditha was made a teacher of the Law under the
title of Gaon. So greatly had the times changed! Whilst the Occident
had formerly lent a willing ear to the utterances of the Geonim in
the Orient, it was now, scarcely half a century after the death of
Gaon Haï, able to send teachers to the country in which had stood the
cradle of the Talmud, and a man who found no recognition in Spain was
considered an authority by the once proud Pumbeditha.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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