Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra

Rabbi Avraham Ben Meir Ibn Ezra (1089-1164) was a renowned Jewish scholar, whose accomplishments and prolific writing encompassed Biblical exegeses, Hebrew grammar, personal, national and liturgical poetry, philosophy, mathematics, geometry, astronomy and Astrology. In mainstream Judaism he is known and loved to this day mainly for his Bible commentary and his poetry, whereas to the Christian European world he was introduced through his astrological and scientific works. The Book of Nativities (Sefer Ha'Moladot) is Meira Epstein's third publication in the series of English translations of Avraham Ibn Ezra's astrological works. The other two are The Beginning of Wisdom (Reshit Hokhma), 1998, and The Book of Reasons (Sefer Ha'Te'amim), 1994. Together, these three, written by Ibn Ezra in this sequence, make one integral body of the astrological doctrine: Introduction of the fundamentals, further theoretical explanations, the application to the individual birth chart and prognosis work. Moladot is a prime example of Ibn Ezra's approach to astrology, in which he combines his Jewish religious beliefs and his philosophical principles with down-to-earth astrological doctrine and techniques.

Ibn Ezra opens the Yesod Mora with an evaluation of the various branches of knowledge, noting that man's rational soul separates human beings from the rest of the animal kingdom. He then analyzes the role of traditional learning in the development of the soul. Ibn Ezra addresses the importance of the knowledge of grammar, stating that one cannot fully understand the text of the Torah without it. He also discusses the study of the Bible and the Talmud, arguing that one cannot properly comprehend the Talmud if one does not know the sciences, for there are many passages in the Pentateuch and the Talmud that are either incomprehensible or given to misinterpretation by one who has no prior knowledge of the sciences. This translation and annotation of Ibn Ezra's Yesod Mora offers the English-reading public a chance to acquaint themselves firsthand with a classic work by one of the most outstanding Jewish scholars of medieval Jewry.

"Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra, poet, philosopher, and mathematician, was one of the outstanding personalities produced by medieval Jewry. His chief claim to fame, however, was for his commentary on the Bible. His explanations of Scripture have been printed in all major editions of the Hebrew Bible, and influenced other luminaries, such as Maimonides, Rabbi David Kimchi, Nahmanides, Ralbag, Abrarvanel, and all serious students of the Hebrew Bible, for whom his works are essential. Ibn Ezra's commentary on the first two Books of Psalms are now available in English for the first time, accompanied by a thorough annotation. Students of Scripture at all levels will find this a most valuable asset to their studies of Scripture and Jewish thought."--Jacket.

This volume offers the first critical edition of the Hebrew text, with English translation and commentary, of seven astrological treatises by Abraham Ibn Ezra: the Book of Elections (3 versions); the Book of Interrogations (3 versions); and the Book of the Luminaries. This volume, then, covers the astrological doctrine of elections, which is concerned with finding the best time to begin a particular activity; the doctrine of interrogations, designed to allow astrologers to reply to questions related to daily life; and the astrological theory behind the doctrine of the critical days, when marked changes take place in the symptoms of a disease. These three systems of astrology were combined in a single volume because Ibn Ezra considers them to be closely interrelated.

Weinberger presents for the first time in an English translation a broad range of the sacred and secular poetry of Abraham Ibn Ezra, an important Medieval Jewish poet and scholar and the last of an illustrious quintet of Hispanic "Golden Age" poets that included Samuel Ibn Nagrela, Solomon Ibn Gabirol, Moses Ibn Ezra, and Judah Halevi. Abraham Ibn Ezra was one of the best-known and admired Jewish figures in the West. In Victorian England, Ibn Ezra was the model for Robert Browning's "Rabbi Ben Ezra," whose philosophy reflected "robust hope and cheerfulness." Author of more than 100 books on medicine, astronomy, mathematics, philosophy, poetry, linguistics, and extensive commentaries on the Bible and the Talmud, he was the model itinerant sage - teaching and writing in his native Spain as well as in North Africa, Italy, Provence, Northern France, and England.

The present volume offers a critical Hebrew text of the two versions of Ibn Ezras Sefer ha-Te'amim, the Book of Reasons, accompanied by an annotated translation and commentary. The two treatises presented here were designed by Ibn Ezra to offer reasons, explanations, or meanings of the raw astrological concepts formulated in the introduction to astrology that Ibn Ezra entitled Reshit Hokhmah (Beginning of Wisdom).