HALEVI, JUDAH BEN SAMUEL (c. 1140), the greatest Hebrew poet of the middle ages, was born in Toledo c. 1085, and died in Palestine after 1140. He wrote a philosophical dialogue in five books, called the Cuzari, which has been trans lated into English by Hirschfeld. This book is based on the his torical fact that the Crimean Kingdom of the Khazars adopted Judaism, and the Hebrew poet-philosopher describes what he conceives to be the steps by which the Khazar king satisfied himself as to the claims of Judaism. Like many other mediaeval Jewish authors, Judah Halevi was a physician. His real fame depends on his liturgical hymns, which are the finest written in Hebrew since the Psalter, and are extensively used in the Sephar dic rite. He wrote some memorable Odes to Zion, which have been commemorated by Heine. He started for Jerusalem, was in Damascus in 114o, and soon afterwards died.
Excellent English renderings of some of Judah Halevi's poems may be read in Mrs. H. Lucas's The Jewish Year, and Mrs. R. N. Solomon's Songs of Exile.