Ishtori Haparchi (1280-1355), also Estori Haparchi and Ashtori ha-Parhi ( he, אשתורי הפרחי) is the pen name of the 14th-century

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

ish

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

, and traveller, Isaac Ha

Kohen Kohen ( he, , ''kōhēn'', , "priest", pl. , ''kōhănīm'', , "priests") is the Hebrew word for " priest", used in reference to the Aaronic priesthood, also called Aaronites or Aaronides. Levitical priests or ''kohanim'' are traditionally ...

Ben Moses.''Encyclopedia Judaica'' Keter, Jerusalem, 1972, "Estori Ha-Parchi," vol. 6, p.918. Yeshurun vol. 21 p. 855

Pen name

HaParchi is commonly known by the title ''Kaftor va-Ferach'' taken from the name of his work, the expression being additionally a pun on his surname. ''Ish Tori'', as he refers to himself in his book, may mean "Man of

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...

", the capital of the medieval French county of Touraine,Ronald L. Eisenberg
Essential Figures in Jewish Scholarship
p. 72, ''Eshtori (Ishtori) ha-Parchi (France, 1280-1355)''. Accessed 8 October 2018. though according to other opinions "Ishtori" was simply his personal name, a single word.

Biography

Ishtori Haparchi was born in

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

in 1280. Haparchi was descended from a line of sages and rabbis of fame. His father was Rabbi Moshe HaParhi, a distinguished Talmudical scholar. His grandfather was Rabbi Nathan of Trinquetaille, author of ''Shaar HiTefisa''. His great-grandfather was Meir ben Isaac of Carcassonne, author of the ''Sefer ha-'Ezer''. When the Jews were expelled from France in 1306, he travelled to Spain and Egypt, and then settled in the Land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael in Hebrew). He worked as a physician in

Bet She'an Beit She'an ( he, בֵּית שְׁאָן '), also Beth-shean, formerly Beisan ( ar, بيسان ), is a town in the Northern District of Israel. The town lies at the Beit She'an Valley about 120 m (394 feet) below sea level. Beit She'an is be ...

, where he died in 1355. Book Kaftor ve-Ferach

Writings

In 1306, while in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, Ishtori Haparchi made a Hebrew translation of the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''Tabula antidotarii'' of Armengaud Blaise. Ishtori Haparchi was the author of the first Hebrew book on the geography of the Land of Israel, ''Sefer Kaftor va-Ferach'' ( he, ספר כפתור ופרח), literally "Book of Bulb and Flower", or "Knob and Flower," written in 1322 in the Land of Israel and published in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

in 1549. "Knob and Flower" is a Hebrew idiom meaning "work of art," and is derived from the description of the menorah in . In the context of the book it refers to the agrarian laws practised by the nation of Israel. Haparchi lists the names of towns and villages in the Land of Israel and discusses the topography of the land based on first-hand visits to the sites. He describes its fruits and vegetables, and draws upon earlier rabbinic commentaries, such as the commentary compiled by Rabbi

Isaac ben Melchizedek Isaac ben Melchizedek (; also known by the acronym Ribmaṣ ; c. 1090–1160), , was a rabbinic scholar from Siponto, Italy, and one of the first medieval scholars to have composed a commentary on the Mishnah, of which only his commentary on '' S ...

Siponto Siponto ( la, Sipontum, grc-gre, Σιπιούς) was an ancient port town and bishopric in Apulia, southern Italy. The town was abandoned after earthquakes in the 13th century; today the area is administered as a ''frazione'' of the ''comune'' ...

. Modern scholarship relies heavily upon the 180 ancient sites he identified and described in relation to other sites, among them Usha,

al-Midya al-Midya ( ar, المدية) is a Palestinian village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the western West Bank, located west of Ramallah. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the village had a population of over ...

and

Battir Battir ( ar, بتير) is a Palestinian village in the West Bank, 6.4 km west of Bethlehem, and southwest of Jerusalem. In 2017, the village had a population of 4,696. In 2014, Battir was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage Site as a "wo ...

Editions

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haparchi, Ishtori 1280 births 1355 deaths Jewish explorers French topographers Holy Land travellers 14th-century French rabbis 14th-century French physicians French people of Spanish-Jewish descent Medieval Jewish physicians of France Jewish refugees Medieval Jewish travel writers 14th-century rabbis from the Mamluk Sultanate Kohanim writers of Rabbinic literature People from Northern District (Israel) People from Beit She'an Jewish agrarian laws 14th-century travelers