JEIIUDAH IIA-LEVI B. SAMUEL, called in Arabic ABULHASSAN, by Ibn Ezra and other Jewish writers etliDin .15;-; min% This dis tinguished Hebraist, poet, and moml philosopher, was born in Castile about to86, and displayed his mastery of the Hebrew language as well as his great poetical genius at the early age of fourteen or fifteen (circa ioo), when he wrote at Lucena some charming songs to celebrate the nuptials of his friends Ibn Migash and the birth of Baruch Ibn Albalia's first son. Ile spent his manhood at Toledo, where he founded a college, and had many disciples. Here he issued those sacred and secular poems in Hebrew which are to the presea day the pride of Israel ; and here too he laboured at and completed in his fifty-fifth year (circa 1140 that remarkable apology of the Jewish religion com monly called Cusart ('111Z), more properly.nozari, which be published in Arabic under the title of $'19N -1V) 4E, mtcz, the book of evidence and argument in apology of the de spised rellgion, i.e., of Judaism, in reply to some of his disciples who asked him how he justified Rab binic Judaism, and repelled the objections brought against it by philosophers, Mohammedans, Christi ans, and Karaites. To understand the nature of this most important work, which created a new epoch in Jewish literature, it is necessary to remark that it is founded upon the conversion of the King of Khozars to Judaism. The Khozars, a Finnish tribe, related to the Bulgarians, Avarians, and Ugurians, or IIungarians, settled down on the boundaries of Asia and Europe, and founded a dominion on the mouth of the Volga on the Caspian Sea, in the neighbourhood of Astrachan. After the destruc tion of the Persian empire, they invaded the Cau casus, made inroads into Armenia, conquered the Crimea, exacted tribute from the Byzantine em perors, made vassals of the Bulgarians, etc., and compelled the Russians to send annually to their kings a sword and a costly fur. Like their neigh. boars, the Bulgarians and Russians, they followed a species of idolatry which was connected with gross sensuality and licentiousness, but became acquainted with Christianity and Alohammedan• ism, through commercial intercourse with the Greeks and Arabs, and with Judaism through thn Greek Jews who fled from the religious persecu tions of the Byzantine emperor Leo (A.D. 723). The Jews who found refuge in the Khozarian dominions soon distinoished themselves as mer chants, physicians, and councillors of state ; and so great was the admiration of the Khozars for the Jewish religion when contrasted with the then corrupt Christianity and Mohammedanism, that King Bulan, the officials of state, and the majority of the people embraced Judaism, A.D. 731.* Now it is upon this fact that Jehudah IIa Lttvi based his work. He represents this King of Khozaris as being shaken in his idolatry, and ear nestly desirous to find the true religion, for which cause he sends for two philosophers, a Christian and a Mohammedan, listens to the expositions of their respective creeds, and as they all refer to the Jews as the fountain head, he at last sends for an Israelite to propound his religious tenets, becomes convinced of their divine origin, and embraces the Jewish religion. What makes this work so important to
the Biblical student, is the fact, that in the course of these discussions all subjects bearing upon the exposition of the Hebrew Scriptures, Jewish litera ture, history, philosophy, etc., etc., are in turn reviewed. Thus, for instance, synagogual service, feasts, fasts, sacrifices, the Sanhedrim, the develop ment of the Talmud, the Massora, the vowel points, the Kamites, etc., etc., are all minutely dis cussed in this work, which De Sacy has pronounced to be one of the most valuable and beautiful pro ductions of the Jewish pen. It is to this work that Ibn Ezra frequently refers (comp. commentaries on Exod. iv. to ; ix. ; xiii. ; xxiv. II; xxvii. 3 ; Dein. xiv. 20; XXVi. 17; XXiX. 19; xxxiii. 5 ; Zech. viii. 4 ; Ps. xviii. 5; xxx. 8 ; xlix. 21; lxxiii. 25; lxxxii. 8 ; cxxxix. 14 ; cl. ; Dan. ix. I), and to which Kimchi alludes in his Lexicon, art It was translated into Hebrew by Jehudah Ibn Tib bon, who named it 4-Inn itO, the book of Kilo zari, after the hero of it, and it was first published in Fano 1506, then in Venice 1547, with an intro duction and commentary by Muscato, Venice 1594; with a Latin translation and dissertations by Jo. Buxtorf, fil., Basle 1660 ; a Spanish translation by Abendana without the Hebrew text, Amsterdam 1663 ; with a commentary by. Satorow, Berlin 1795; with a commentary, various readings, index, etc., by G. Brecher, Prague 1838-184o ; and lastly, with a German translation, explanatory notes, etc., by Dr. David Cassel, Leipzig 1853, which is the most useful edition.
After finishing this gigantic work (circa 1141), Jehudah Ha-Levi was seized with a longing desire to undertake a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, set sail for Egypt, accompanied by some of his dis ciples, wrote some sublime hymns when tossed on the sea, was obliged to take refuge in Alexandria in consequence of a great storm, went to Egypt (1142) in accordance with the entreaties of Samuel Ha-Nagid, the celebrated philosopher and philo logian, who was at that time the prince of the Jewish community in the land of their former bon dage, then wrote at Damascus his celebrated elegy on Zion 49tan ;,6n iry, at the recital of which in the synagogue, in the month of Ab, when the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus is commemorated, every Jewish heart is filled with the deepest emo tions ; and died, most probably without seeing the land of his fathers. The year of his death and the place of his burial are alike unknown. Tradition says that he was murdered by an Arab as he was lying on his face under the walls of Jerusalem and mourning over the ruins of Zion; and that he was buried at Kephar Kabul. Comp. Geioer, Wissen schaftliche Zeitschrift, vol. 1., FrankPort -on - the Maine 1835, p. 158, ff. ; vol. ii. (1836), p. 367, ff.; Cassel, Das Buch Kusan; Leipzig 1853, p. v. xxxv. ; Graetz, Geschichte der 7zeden, vol. vi., Leipzig 1861, p. 140-167 ; Steinschneider, Cata logus Libr. Hebr. in Bibliotheca Bodleiana, col. 1338-1342..