Isaac Ibn Ghayyat

Isaac ben Judah ibn Ghayyat (1030/1038–1089), commonly mispronounced ibn Ghiyyat, was a rabbi, Biblical commentator, codifier of Jewish law, philosopher, and liturgical poet from al-Andalus. He was born and lived in the town of Lucena in the Taifa of Granada, where he headed a rabbinic academy. He died in Cordoba.

Etymology of name

As many Sephardic surnames, ibn Ghayyat is a ''nasab'' (patronymic), "the son of Ghayyāth." ''Ghayyāth'' means "savior" in Arabic. The name is commonly confused with ''ghiyath'' meaning "salvation", found in Saadia Gaon's Judeo-Arabic translation of in Psalm 20:7, "Now I know that YHWH will give victory to His anointed, will answer him from His heavenly sanctuary with the might of salvation in His right arm ()."

Background

According to some authorities, he was the teacher of Isaac Alfasi; according to others, his fellow pupil. His best-known students were his son Judah ibn Ghayyat, Joseph ibn Sahl, and Moses ibn Ezra. He was held in great esteem by Samuel ibn Naghrillah and his son Joseph, and after the latter died in the 1066 Granada massacre, ibn Ghayyat was elected to succeed him as rabbi of Lucena, where he officiated until his death.

He was the author of a compendium of ritual laws concerning the festivals, published by Seligman Baer Bamberger under the title of ''Sha'arei Simḥah'' (Fürth, 1862; the laws concerning Passover were republished by Bernhard Zomber under the title ''Hilkhot Pesaḥim,'' Berlin, 1864), and a philosophical commentary on Ecclesiastes, known only through quotations in the works of later authors.

Ibn Ghayyat's greatest activity was in liturgical poetry; he was an author of hundreds of piyyutim, and his hymns are found in the Maḥzor of Tripoli under the title of ''Siftei Renanot.'' Most are written in the new Andalusi style. He achieved special distinction in his melodious '' muwashshaḥat'' "girdle poems", a secular Arabic form first used as a vehicle for liturgical poetry by Solomon ibn Gabirol.

One of his major contributions was his collection and arrangement of the geonic responsa, which had hitherto been scattered among the world's Jewry. Menahem Schmelzer, Albert B. and Bernice Cohen Professor Emeritus of Medieval Hebrew Literature and Jewish Bibliography at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America wrote his PhD thesis on the poetry of Ibn Ghiyyatand published several articles on his poetry.

References

Further reading

* Schmelzer, Menahem, ''Studies in Jewish Bibliography and Medieval Hebrew Poetry,'' “Two Philosophical Passages in the Liturgical Poetry of Rabbi Isaac Ibn Giat,” P.233-238: JTSA Press, 2011.
* Schmelzer, Menahem, "Two Philosophical Passages in the Liturgical Poetry of Rabbi Isaac Ibn Giat" in ''Of Scholars, Savants, and their Texts,'' Editor Ruth Link-Salinger, Peter Lang, New York, 209-216.
* Schmelzer, Menahem, "The Piyyutim of Isaac Ibn Giat" in ''Cairo Geniza Studies,'' Mordechai A. Friedman, Editor, Tel-Aviv University, 1980, 89-95
* Schmelzer, Menahem, "A Short Avodah by R. Isaac Ibn Giat"  in ''The A.M. Haberman Memorial Volume,'' Zvi Malachi, Editor, Tel Aviv University, 1983, 159-160.
* Schmelzer, Menahem, "Five Zulatot of Isaac Ibn Giat" in ''Papers on Medieval Hebrew Literature Presented To A.M. Haermann on the occasion of his 75th birthday,'' Zvi Malachi, Editor, The Tel-Aviv University, 1977, 329-342

External links

* ''Sha'arei Simḥah''
Vol. 1
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Vol. 2

Hilkhot Pesaḥim

Ghiyyat, Isaac ibn
Ghiyyat, Isaac ibn
Ghiyyat, Isaac ibn
Ghiyyat, Isaac ibn
Ghiyyat, Isaac ibn
Authors of books on Jewish law
People from Lucena, Córdoba

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