Abraham Ibn Ezra

Abraham Ibn Ezra (1092-1167), Spanish Jewish scholar, poet, and author, born in Tudela, Spain. He left his native country shortly before 1140 to teach and travel and spent more than 25 years in northern Africa, England (where he arrived in 1158), France, and Italy.

Ibn Ezra is best known for his biblical commentaries, especially those on the Pentateuch, which are often included in Hebrew editions of the Old Testament. In these commentaries he attempted to arrive at the basic meaning of the text by the use of philological principles; his philosophical interpretations reveal a Neoplatonic viewpoint. Ibn Ezra's other writings dealt with such subjects as mathematics, astronomy, medicine, philosophy, and astrology. In addition he wrote a body of secular verse in Hebrew. He is thought to have been the inspiration for the English poet Robert Browning's poem “Rabbi ben Ezra” (1864).