Zechariah (Yaḥya) al-Ḍāhirī (, , b. ''circa'' 1531 – d. 1608), often spelled Zechariah al-Dhahiri () (16th century Yemen), was the son of Saʻīd (Saʻadia) al-Ḍāhirī, from
Kawkaban, in the District of al-Mahwit, Yemen, a place north-west of
Sana’a. He is recognized as one of the most gifted
Yemenite Jewish poets and rabbinic scholars who left
South Arabia
South Arabia (), or Greater Yemen, is a historical region that consists of the southern region of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia, mainly centered in what is now the Republic of Yemen, yet it has also historically included Najran, Jazan, ...
in search of a better livelihood, travelling to the
Zamorin
The Samoothiri (Anglicised as Zamorin; Malayalam: , , Arabic: ''Sāmuri'', Portuguese: ''Samorim'', Dutch: ''Samorijn'', Chinese: ''Shamitihsi''Ma Huan's Ying-yai Sheng-lan: 'The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores' 433 Translated and Edi ...
-ruled
Calicut
Kozhikode (), also known as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. Known as the City of Spices, Kozhikode is listed among the City of Literature, UNESCO's Cities of Literature.
It is the nineteenth large ...
and
Cochin
Kochi ( , ), formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of Kerala. The city is also commonly referred to as Ernaku ...
in the
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...
,
Hormuz in
Safavid Iran
The Guarded Domains of Iran, commonly called Safavid Iran, Safavid Persia or the Safavid Empire, was one of the largest and longest-lasting Iranian empires. It was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often considered the begi ...
,
Ottoman-ruled
Basra
Basra () is a port city in Iraq, southern Iraq. It is the capital of the eponymous Basra Governorate, as well as the List of largest cities of Iraq, third largest city in Iraq overall, behind Baghdad and Mosul. Located near the Iran–Iraq bor ...
and
Irbil in
Ottoman Iraq
Ottoman Iraq () refers to the period of the history of Mesopotamia, Iraq when the region was ruled by the Ottoman Empire (1534–1920; with an interlude from 1704 to 1831 From Independence under the Mamluk dynasty (Iraq), Mamluk state of Iraq).Bef ...
,
Bursa
Bursa () is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the Marmara Region, Bursa is one of the industrial centers of the country. Most of ...
and
Istanbul
Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
in Ottoman
Anatolia
Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...
, Rome in
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
,
Aleppo
Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...
,
Damascus
Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...
,
Safed
Safed (), also known as Tzfat (), is a city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of up to , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and in Israel.
Safed has been identified with (), a fortif ...
,
Tiberias
Tiberias ( ; , ; ) is a city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's Four Holy Cities, along with Jerusalem, Heb ...
,
Sidon
Sidon ( ) or better known as Saida ( ; ) is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast in the South Governorate, Lebanon, South Governorate, of which it is the capital. Tyre, Lebanon, Tyre, t ...
,
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
, and
Hebron
Hebron (; , or ; , ) is a Palestinian city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Hebron is capital of the Hebron Governorate, the largest Governorates of Palestine, governorate in the West Bank. With a population of 201,063 in ...
in
Ottoman Syria
Ottoman Syria () is a historiographical term used to describe the group of divisions of the Ottoman Empire within the region of the Levant, usually defined as being east of the Mediterranean Sea, west of the Euphrates River, north of the Ara ...
, and finally to the
Egypt Eyalet
Ottoman Egypt was an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire after the Ottoman–Mamluk War (1516–1517), conquest of Mamluk Egypt by the Ottomans in 1517. The Ottomans administered Egypt as a Eyalet, province (''eyalet'') of their empir ...
in Egypt and the
Adal Sultanate
The Adal Sultanate, also known as the Adal Empire or Barr Saʿad dīn (alt. spelling ''Adel Sultanate'', ''Adal Sultanate'') (), was a medieval Sunni Muslim empire which was located in the Horn of Africa. It was founded by Sabr ad-Din III on th ...
in Ethiopia, where he returned to Yemen by crossing the
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...
and alighting at a port city near
Mocha. He wrote extensively about his travels and experiences in these places, which he penned in a Hebrew-language
rhymed prose Rhymed prose is a literary form and literary genre, written in Meter (poetry), unmetrical rhymes. This form has been known in many different cultures. In some cases the rhymed prose is a distinctive, well-defined style of writing. In modern literar ...
narrative, eventually publishing them in a book which he called ''Sefer HaMusar'' (''The Book of Moral Instruction''), in circa 1580.
The book is one of the finest examples of Hebrew literary genius ever written in Yemen, its author making use of a poetic genre known as ''
maqāma'', a prosimetric literary genre of rhymed prose with intervals of poetry in which rhetorical extravagance is conspicuous, to describe his journeys. The vocalization of ''HaMusar'' gives insight unto scholars into
Yemenite Hebrew pronunciation. Al-Ḍāhirī, who was very adept in Hebrew, admitted to having modeled his poetry – two-hundred and seventy-five of which poems are found in his ''HaMusar'' and his ''Sefer Haʻanaḳ'' – on the ''Taḥkemoni'' of
Yehuda Alharizi, who, in turn, was influenced by the Arabic ''
maqāmāt'' of
al-Ḥarīrī of Basra. His vivid descriptions of
Safed
Safed (), also known as Tzfat (), is a city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of up to , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and in Israel.
Safed has been identified with (), a fortif ...
and of
Joseph Karo
Joseph ben Ephraim Karo, also spelled Yosef Caro, or Qaro (; 1488 – March 24, 1575, 13 Nisan 5335 A.M.), was a prominent Sephardic Jewish rabbi renowned as the author of the last great codification of Jewish law, the ''Beit Yosef'', and its ...
’s
yeshiva
A yeshiva (; ; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are studied in parallel. The stu ...
are of primary importance to historians, seeing that they are a first-hand account of these places, and the only extant account which describes this yeshiva. With his broad Jewish education and his exceptional skills in his use of the Hebrew language, Zechariah al-Ḍāhirī is an important source in the study of
Jewish history
Jewish history is the history of the Jews, their Jewish peoplehood, nation, Judaism, religion, and Jewish culture, culture, as it developed and interacted with other peoples, religions and cultures.
Jews originated from the Israelites and H ...
in the Land of Israel during the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
and of Jewish persecution in Yemen at that time.
Early life and travels
Little is known of the author's early life, other than the fact that he was an Israelite, descended from the
Tribe of Reuben
According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Reuben () was one of the twelve tribes of Israel. Unlike the majority of the tribes, the land of Reuben, along with that of Tribe of Gad, Gad and half of Manasseh (tribal patriarch), Manasseh, was on ...
. Al-Ḍāhirī spent at least ten years in his travels away from his native Yemen, where he had left behind a wife and children. He writes of himself that he married a second wife in
Cochin
Kochi ( , ), formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of Kerala. The city is also commonly referred to as Ernaku ...
(India), being a place of Jewish converts, whom he later divorced because of her old age and lack of upper-teeth. He then travelled to Persia where he took another wife in marriage, which wife bare him twin sons, Joshua and Caleb, but after one year, his young bride died. It was at this time that he decided to leave Persia, leaving his two sons with his brother-in-law, and, presumably, continuing with his travels until eventually he returned home to his family in Yemen. After a stint in Yemen where he and the Jewish community were imprisoned, he eventually returned to visit his sons in Persia, and found them doing well, although his brother-in-law had by that time died.
The author, while writing about his journeys and experiences, cleverly conceals his own identity while narrating his experiences, and describes the experiences of two men in their journey, the two chief protagonists of his travel narrative: Mordechai Haṣidonī and his old crony, Abner ben Ḥeleḳ the Yemenite, which men are, in fact, the author himself. Some scholars had originally thought that the book was largely fictional because of this anomaly. However, modern Israeli scholars now agree that the author was referring to himself in concealed terms (his ''
alter ego
An alter ego (Latin for "other I") means an alternate Self (psychology), self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original Personality psychology, personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other ...
''), just as he says explicitly about himself in the Introduction to his book, ''HaMusar''. The
numerical value
A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The most basic examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...
of these two names (in Hebrew) is equal to his own real name. This remarkable literary work interweaves folktales, animal fables, riddles, poems, epistles, and travel accounts with pious admonitions, religious polemics, messianic speculations, and philosophical disquisitions in a most engaging fashion. It is not uncommon for al-Ḍāhirī to repeat episodes of his travel narrative, or some important event which happened to the Jewish community of Yemen, in more than one of the book's forty-five chapters.
Perhaps the book's most important contribution to historians is in al-Ḍāhirī's description of the Jewish communities in
Safed
Safed (), also known as Tzfat (), is a city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of up to , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and in Israel.
Safed has been identified with (), a fortif ...
and in
Tiberius
Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus ( ; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was Roman emperor from AD 14 until 37. He succeeded his stepfather Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC to Roman politician Tiberius Cl ...
, during the mid-16th century, as well as a description of Jewish persecution in Yemen during the same century, under the Zaydī imamate. Modern archaeologists are grateful to Zechariah al-Ḍāhirī and credit him with giving a precise description of the location of Tiberias in the 16th century, whose city's walls adjoined the
Sea of Galilee
The Sea of Galilee (, Judeo-Aramaic languages, Judeo-Aramaic: יַמּא דטבריא, גִּנֵּיסַר, ), also called Lake Tiberias, Genezareth Lake or Kinneret, is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth ...
. Al-Ḍāhirī's description of Tiberius during that period conforms with that of another writer, ''viz''., that of Rabbi
Hayyim ben Joseph Vital
Hayyim ben Joseph Vital (; Safed, October 23, 1542 (Julian calendar) / October 11, 1542 (Gregorian Calendar) – Damascus, 23 April 1620) was a rabbi in Safed and the foremost disciple of Isaac Luria. He recorded much of his master's teachi ...
, who also described the city's walls. Al-Ḍāhirī is accredited with bringing the
Shulchan Aruch
The ''Shulhan Arukh'' ( ),, often called "the Code of Jewish Law", is the most widely consulted of the various legal codes in Rabbinic Judaism. It was authored in the city of Safed in what is now Israel by Joseph Karo in 1563 and published in ...
to Yemen, as well as ''kabbalistic'' books, among other works, which he sold in Yemen at their face value. Other books, he recalls, had been lost at sea.
Upon Zechariah al-Ḍāhirī's return to Yemen in 1568, during the Turkish-Yemeni wars, al-Ḍāhirī was imprisoned in
Sana’a, along with other principal persons of the Jewish community, for a period of one year in earnest by the lame theocratic ruler, al-Imām
al-Mutahhar b. al-Mutawakkil Yaḥya Sharaf ad-Din, who allegedly suspected them of collaborating with the enemy. Al-Ḍāhirī, writing about this experience, says that he saw his own suffering as God's way of punishing him for his having left the Land of Israel and returning to Yemen. It was during this time that he began to write his momentous work, ''HaMusar'' – a record of his travel experiences, at the age of thirty-seven, although it was completed several decades later. Al-Ḍāhirī's travel accounts are styled after the ''
maqāmāt'' of the famous Spanish schools of poetry, with a rhyming syllabary composed in metered verse, after an exquisite and flowering manner.
After the community's release from prison, the lame king still kept a firm grip upon his Jewish subjects, scattering them in different places throughout the country where they were kept under close-surveillance while working in the many towers built in that country. This close-surveillance continued unabated until the king's death in 1573. After the king's death, the Jews of Yemen were released from their incarceration by the succeeding ruler, who had borne a grudge against the former king and had destroyed his heirs to the throne. It was during this confinement to the towers (between 1569 and 1573) that
Zechariah al-Ḍāhirī also completed another momentous work, which he composed mainly in the late hours of the night, viz., the book, ''Ṣeidah la’derekh'' (Victuals for the Road), being a commentary on the Pentateuch where he interweaves ''kabbalistic'' themes and philosophy drawn from the ''
Zohar
The ''Zohar'' (, ''Zōhar'', lit. "Splendor" or "Radiance") is a foundational work of Kabbalistic literature. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah and scriptural interpretations as well as material o ...
'', Rabbi
Saadia Gaon
Saʿadia ben Yosef Gaon (892–942) was a prominent rabbi, Geonim, gaon, Jews, Jewish philosopher, and exegesis, exegete who was active in the Abbasid Caliphate.
Saadia is the first important rabbinic figure to write extensively in Judeo-Arabic ...
, Maimonides’ ''
Guide for the Perplexed
''The Guide for the Perplexed'' (; ; ) is a work of Jewish theology by Maimonides. It seeks to reconcile Aristotelianism with Rabbinical Jewish theology by finding rational explanations for many events in the text.
It was written in Judeo-Arabi ...
'', Yosef Albo's ''
Sefer Ha`iqarim'' and Rabbi
Joseph ben Abraham Gikatilla’s ''Sha'are Orah''. He mentions that during the period of this book's compilation, he and his family were not permitted to leave the tower except with prior consent of his overseers. It was at this time that al-Ḍāhirī made a vow to return to the Holy Land, after he had performed a pending vow. It is uncertain whether or not he ever made the return trip.
Al-Ḍāhirī mentions that the community was visited in 1595 – some twenty-seven years after their imprisonment had begun – by an emissary of the rabbis in the
Land of Israel
The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine. The definition ...
, Rabbi Avraham b. Yiṣḥaq Ashkenazi, who had been sent there with many books and with letters of recommendation to raise money for the poor in the
Land of Israel
The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine. The definition ...
. Al-Ḍāhirī, however, deemed it necessary to explain in a letter addressed to the said emissary that the Jewish people in Yemen were too poor themselves to render any assistance to their brothers in the Land of Israel. Scholars of comparative Arabic-Hebrew literature are quick to point out that these hardships facing the Jewish community in Yemen often gave rise to messianic aspirations in al-Ḍāhirī's rhymed prose.
Spanish Jewry’s influence
Zechariah Ḍāhirī is said to have been instrumental in introducing elements of the Spanish prayer-rite into Yemen, as well as ''
kabbalistic
Kabbalah or Qabalah ( ; , ; ) is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ().
Jewi ...
'' practices.
The early Spanish poets of the Golden Age,
Moses ibn Ezra (b. ''circa'' 1060),
Alḥarizi (1170–1235), Rabbi
Abraham ibn Ezra
Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra (, often abbreviated as ; ''Ibrāhim al-Mājid ibn Ezra''; also known as Abenezra or simply ibn Ezra, 1089 / 1092 – 27 January 1164 / 23 January 1167)''Jewish Encyclopedia''online; '' Chambers Biographical Dictionar ...
(c. 1089–1167),
Solomon ibn Gabirol
Solomon ibn Gabirol or Solomon ben Judah (, ; , ) was an 11th-century Jews, Jewish poet and Jewish philosopher, philosopher in the Neoplatonism, Neo-Platonic tradition in Al-Andalus. He published over a hundred poems, as well as works of biblical ...
(c. 1020–1058),
Judah Halevi
Judah haLevi (also Yehuda Halevi or ha-Levi; ; ; c. 1075 – 1141) was a Sephardic Jewish poet, physician and philosopher. Halevi is considered one of the greatest Hebrew poets and is celebrated for his secular and religious poems, many of whic ...
(died 1150), among others, had all left an indelible mark on Zechariah al-Ḍāhirī. Some of the greatest exponents of Jewish law had also come from Spain, namely,
Maimonides
Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and Jewish philosophy, philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah schola ...
and
Alfasi. Other proponents of Jewish law from the
Spanish Jewish exiles who were expelled from Spain began to make a name for themselves in the Land of Israel where they had come. Neither al-Ḍāhirī, nor the people of Yemen, were oblivious to this. Al-Ḍāhirī patterns his ''Sefer Ha`anaḳ'' (A treatise on Hebrew homonyms) after a work by a similar name written by
Moses ibn Ezra. Al-Ḍāhirī's frequent mention of
Sephardic
Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...
prayer rites and customs in his ''Ṣeidah la’derekh'' leads one to conclude that al-Ḍāhirī was strongly influenced by the Spanish-rite ''Siddur'' (Sephardic Prayer Book), as he brings down portions of its layout in the biblical sections known as Parashat ''Ṣav'' and ''Breishit''. So, too, the author shows the influence of ''kabbalistic'' practices on his writings, such as where he devotes several chapters to theosophical
Kabbalah
Kabbalah or Qabalah ( ; , ; ) is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of Mysticism, mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ...
in his ''HaMusar'', and where he brings down in his ''Ṣeidah la’derekh'' an esoteric teaching relating to the blowing of the ram's horn on New Year's Day and which practice is cited in the name of the illustrious Rabbi,
Moses Cordovero. In another place, al-Ḍāhirī makes mention of the Sephardic practice where some will refrain from shaving their heads during the
Counting of the Omer
Counting of the Omer (, Sefirat HaOmer, sometimes abbreviated as Sefira) is a ritual in Judaism. It consists of a verbal counting of each of the 49 days between the holidays of Passover and Shavuot. The period of 49 days is known as the "omer p ...
, while others prohibit the shaving of the head from the beginning of the counting until the thirty-third day of the Counting of the Omer. Here, incidentally, it is alluded that the Yemenite Jewish custom in this regard was different. Even so, al-Ḍāhirī levels harsh words of criticism against Spanish Jewry's lack of poetic style in their daily communications and ''belles lettres'', which, by that time, had mostly been lost by them.
Highlights from journey
Zechariah (Yaḥya) al-Ḍāhirī visited Rabbi
Joseph Karo
Joseph ben Ephraim Karo, also spelled Yosef Caro, or Qaro (; 1488 – March 24, 1575, 13 Nisan 5335 A.M.), was a prominent Sephardic Jewish rabbi renowned as the author of the last great codification of Jewish law, the ''Beit Yosef'', and its ...
's ''
yeshiva
A yeshiva (; ; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are studied in parallel. The stu ...
'' in Safed, in ''circa'' 1567 CE (the
kabbalistic
Kabbalah or Qabalah ( ; , ; ) is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ().
Jewi ...
philosophies of which he describes in
Maimonidean
Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars of the Middle Ag ...
,
neo-Platonic
Neoplatonism is a version of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a series of thinkers. Among the common id ...
terms rather than purely
mystical
Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight ...
,
theosophical, or
sefirot
Sefirot (; , plural of ), meaning '' emanations'', are the 10 attributes/emanations in Kabbalah, through which Ein Sof ("infinite space") reveals itself and continuously creates both the physical realm and the seder hishtalshelut (the chained ...
ic), writing of his impressions on this wise:
In Safed, al-Ḍāhirī also met-up with other great rabbis, such as Rabbi
Moses Cordovero, the kabbalist, and
Rabbi Moses di Trani.
Al-Ḍāhirī's description of the city of Tiberius is on this wise: “…Now, I quickly passed through that land of great drought, until I reached the far end of the Sea, known as ''Kinneret '', and, lo! Tiberius was closed before me! And when I came into her streets and into the pathways of her palaces, I enquired of a young lad, ‘Where are they, the seven principal men of the city?’ He then said to me, ‘They are seated in the synagogue which is by the wall of the
ity’sfortified enclosure, upon the seaboard of the ''Kinneret'', which lies to the east. I then went there in haste, to see whether it be fat or lean, and when I had arrived there I saw distinguished elders, the glory of the Jews; those well-versed in Scripture and in the
Mishna
The Mishnah or the Mishna (; , from the verb ''šānā'', "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. Having been collected in the 3rd century CE, it is ...
, while others of them had knowledge of the Talmud and of sound reason; still others of them knowledgeable in theoretical ''
Kabbalah
Kabbalah or Qabalah ( ; , ; ) is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of Mysticism, mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ...
'', and those who know the proper usage of the language. Now, when I took sight of them, a recurring trepidation came over me, for I by their estimation was young of age, and being but a boorish man who had not yet acquired knowledge, while they were all wise. So I sat down toward the end of the familiar synagogue, keeping silent and wondering at what shall be.” The greatest scholar of Tiberius at that time was Rabbi Eliezer ben Yochai, “in whose generation he was of singular character.” Most had gone there from Spain, amongst whom he names as the community's leader, Rabbi Samuel Hacohen, along with Rabbi Yaakov Halevi, a certain Rabbi Avraham, Rabbi Moshe Gedaliah and Rabbi Avraham Gabriel. The Jewish community of Tiberius is said to have been supported around that time by a wealthy Jewish philanthropist from
Istanbul
Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
,
Doña Gracia Mendes of the House of Nasi (d. 1569), but at her death the community lost thereby all means of support and was compelled to ask for Jewish donations abroad.
Author's poetic style
There is to be noted in al-Ḍāhirī's style a marked transition from the early
Spanish-type of poetry typical of Yemen prior to his time (depicted in the prosaic writings of Daniel berav Fayyūmī and Avraham b. Ḥalfon, both, of Yemenite Jewish provenance) and the later classical Yemenite poetic writings (as depicted in the
liturgical poems composed by Yosef ben Israel and
Shalom Shabazi). Unlike the latter who compiled works, both, in Hebrew and in
Judeo-Arabic
Judeo-Arabic (; ; ) sometimes referred as Sharh, are a group of different ethnolects within the branches of the Arabic language used by jewish communities. Although Jewish use of Arabic, which predates Islam, has been in some ways distinct ...
, al-Ḍāhirī's corpus of prosaic writings are written almost exclusively in Hebrew.
Much of al-Ḍāhirī's poetry was inspired by the great Spanish poets, while other works are said to have been inspired by
Immanuel of Rome. Some of al-Ḍāhirī's poems are panegyrics influenced by the Arabic ''madiḥ'', in praise of great Jewish scholars, such as
Rabbeinu Yerucham (1290–1350), a Provençal rabbi who moved to Spain in 1306, following the expulsion of the Jews from France. Other panegyrics were written about Rabbi
Obadiah di Bertinoro (c. 1445–1515) and
Maimonides
Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and Jewish philosophy, philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah schola ...
.
Sometimes the poet deviates from what is proper usage for a given noun, verb or adjective and changes the word's suffix in order to bring it into conformity with the rhyme. Most scholars agree that al-Ḍāhirī's greatest achievement is not just in his making use of rhymes, but rather in his ability to interweave biblical verse and rabbinic sayings taken from the
Talmud
The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...
and
Midrash
''Midrash'' (;["midrash"]
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; or ''midrashot' ...
within those same strophes, which, by Jewish literary standards, is the true sign of genius.
Literary works
* ''HaMusar'' (The author's travel itinerary; beginning of composition in 1568.)
* ''Ṣeidah la’derekh'' (Commentary on the Pentateuch)
* ''Sefer Ha`anaḳ'' (A treatise on Hebrew homonyms, written in 2148 verses)
* A Commentary on the Laws of Ritual Slaughter (being a commentary of Maimonides’ Hilkoth Sheḥiṭah – the Laws of Ritual Slaughter)
* ''Me’ah Ḳūloth'' (still in manuscript form) – a collection of one-hundred leniencies practised by the Jewish community of
Sana’a with respect to the lungs of ritually slaughtered animals.
* Liturgical poetry (roughly, ten of which have survived): Includes such works as ''Ḳiryah Yafefiyah'' and ''Adonai mī yağīaʻ ʻad takhlīt ḥokhmathekha'',
[ Rabbi Yiḥye Ṣāliḥ, ''Tiklāl ‘Eṣ Ḥayyim'' (ed. Shimon Tzalach), vol. 4, Jerusalem 1971 (Hebrew), pp. 252b-255a. This ''piyyut'', based on ''Kabbalah'', has been placed in the Yemenite Baladi-rite Prayer Book, in the midst of Solomon ibn Gabirol’s ''Keter Malkhut'' and which is recited in the synagogues on ''Yom Kippur'' (the Day of Atonement).] and which are perhaps the most renowned of his liturgical poems.
See also
*
Yemenite Jewish poetry
References
Further reading
*
* Tobi, Yosef (1978). ''Kiddush on the Night of Sabbath, by Rabbi Zechariah al-Dhahiri'' (סדר קידוש לילי שבת לרבי זכריה אלצ'אהרי), in: Afiqim: Journal of Spiritual Awakening and Culture, Tel-Aviv; pp. 10–11 (Hebrew)
External links
Travelers who visited the Land of Israel – from the Middle-Ages to our present age (Hebrew); pp. 196–221 (pp. 195–ff. in PDF)
Hashirah Le’Tiveriah Hama’atirah Archaeologist Yosef Stefansky, historical documents on Tiberius in the 16th century
"Of a Pietist Gone Bad and Des(s)erts Not Had: The Fourteenth of Zechariah Aldahiri's ''Sefer hamusar''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dhahiri, Zechariah
1530s births
1608 deaths
17th-century Jews
16th-century Yemenite rabbis
Yemeni poets
16th-century writers
16th-century poets
Jewish poets
Hebrew-language poets
16th-century travelers
Holy Land travellers
Jewish Yemeni history
Hebrew-language literature
Jews and Judaism in Yemen
Rabbis in Ottoman Syria
Panegyrists
Tribe of Reuben
Jewish liturgical poets