(c. 1092-1167). Bible commentator, poet, grammarian, philosopher, scientific writer, and physician. When about 50, Ibn Ezra left his native Spain and became a roving scholar. Dogged by poverty and misfortune, he once alluded to these hardships in characteristically tragicomic verse: "Were I to deal in candles,/The sun would never set;/Were selling shrouds my business,/No one would ever die!" A contributory factor in Ibn Ezra's wanderings may well have been his son Isaac's conversion to Islam, which prompted an initial journey to the Orient (Egypt, Erets Israel, and Iraq) in the hope of winning this only surviving son back to Judaism. Over the next 25 years or more, Ibn Ezra lived in Rome (1140-45), visited Lucca, Pisa, and Mantua, then moved to Verona (1147-48), and eventually spent a decade in France (1148-58). From there he went to England and stayed in London (1158-60) before making his way back to France and Spain.
His scholarship amazed people wherever he roved and left an enduring impression, but Ibn Ezra always had a bitter sense of exile: he often made touching references to his native land and proudly called himself ha-Sefaradi, "the Spaniard." Although such a wandering existence was not conducive to literary work, he managed to write prolifically short treatises---in Hebrew---so as to bring the learning and enlightenment of Spain to Jews unfamiliar with Arabic in Christian Europe.
Apart from a number of books on Hebrew grammar, secular poetry (including satiric verse, poems on friendship, love, nature, and wine), and liturgical poems (e.g., the Sabbath eve hymn Ki Eshmerah Shabbat), Ibn Ezra composed two short religio- philosophical works: Sefer ha-Shem, a treatise on the Divine Names, written in France (1155), and Yesod Mora ("The Foundation of Fear"), dealing with the Torah precepts and their significance, which he wrote in London (1158). His philosophical views are mainly scattered through his commentaries on the Pentateuch and other biblical books; from them it appears that his outlook was Neoplatonic---allegorical, symbolic, and much influenced by Solomon Ibn Gabirol. The Garden of Eden, the Tree of Knowledge, and the Tree of Life are thus endowed with cosmological and ethical importance. Cryptic phrases are often resorted to so as to avoid shocking the religious sensibilities of Jews in Christian Europe, and "the intelligent will understand" is a recurring hint. For Ibn Ezra, the most important duty of man is to pursue the knowledge of God.
It is, however, as a Bible commentator whose popularity was exceeded only by Rashi's that Ibn Ezra enjoys enduring fame. His style is curt, strictly to the point, often playful or characterized by a mordant wit. In the introduction to his commentary on the Pentateuch, Ibn Ezra alludes to the methods employed by his major forerunners, but rejects them. He condemns the superabundance of secular, foreign learning displayed by the ge'onim (particularly Saadiah Gaon): this type of exegesis is notable only for its prolixity and "those who would devote themselves to external wisdom should learn it [directly] from the source books." He then attacks the Karaites, insisting on an unqualified acceptance of both the Oral and the Written Law; criticizes those who favor the allegorical method of exegesis, as well as Christian scholars who looked for a "spiritualized" interpretation of the biblical text; and finally admonishes the Jewish commentators in Christian Europe who underrated the importance of Hebrew grammar. For his own part, Ibn Ezra sought to reveal the Peshat--- the "plain," natural, and reasonable interpretation---as Rashi had done half a century earlier, though more tersely and without midrashic embellishments. Combining a respect for tradition with a bold, independent approach, he made statements that earned him the reputation of being the first Jewish Bible critic. He thus hinted that the passage relating the death of Moses (Deut. 34) was set down by Joshua and, in guarded references, concluded that the last 26 chapters of Isaiah had been written by a "second Isaiah" who lived and taught in the Babylonian Exile.
The last few years of his life are clouded with mystery. He appears to have made the return journey to his native land, dying at Calahorra on the border of Navarre and Aragon (January 23, 1167).
The New Encyclopedia of Judaism. Copyright © 1989, 2002 by G.G. The Jerusalem Publishing House, Ltd. All rights reserved.
