''Mukhtar al-Jawahir'' (), ''Mivchar HaPeninim'' (. lit. "The Choice of Pearls"), an ethics work of sixty-four chapters. It has been attributed to be written by Rabbi
Shlomo ben Yehudah since the 19th century, but this is doubtful.
History
It was originally published, along with a short commentary, in Soncino, Italy, in 1484, and has since been re-worked and re-published in many forms and abridged editions (e.g.
Joseph Ḳimcḥi versified the work under the title "''Shekel ha-Kodesh''").
Description
The work is a collection of maxims, proverbs, and moral reflections, many of them of Arabic origin, and bears a strong similarity to the
Florilegium
In medieval Latin, a ' (plural ') was a compilation of excerpts or sententia from other writings and is an offshoot of the commonplacing tradition. The word is from the Latin '' flos'' (flower) and '' legere'' (to gather): literally a gathering ...
of
Hunayn ibn Ishaq
Hunayn ibn Ishaq al-Ibadi (808–873; also Hunain or Hunein; ; ; known in Latin as Johannitius) was an influential Arab Nestorian Christian translator, scholar, physician, and scientist. During the apex of the Islamic Abbasid era, he worked w ...
and other Arabic and Hebrew collections of ethics sayings, which were highly prized by both Arabs and Jews.
References
External links
Jewish philosophical and ethical texts
1484 books
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