Sheshet ben Isaac ben Joseph Benveniste (lived in the latter half of the twelfth century) was a French Jewish physician and writer. Like Isaac Benveniste, who is supposed to have been his father, he was styled "Nasi" (prince). According to one source Al-Harizi called him the "pillar of the world and the foundation-stone of all pietists". [1]
He received his education at Narbonne, his probable birthplace; afterward he lived at Barcelona, and later at Zaragoza, in which city he died about 1209. It is said that he owed his high position to his knowledge of Arabic. He practised medicine, and was the author of a medical work, manuscript copies of which are still extant at Oxford and Munich.
Such was his reputation as a physician that patients came long distances to consult him, and some are said to have journeyed even from Mainz (e.g., Solomon ben Hananel). Benveniste, whose generosity is praised by Al-Ḥarizi, was poetically gifted and composed several liturgical songs. Even in his old age he remained a friend of free investigation, as the following epigram on Meïr Abulafia shows:
Benveniste directed a letter to the congregation of Lunel, in answer to the epistle of Abulafia to that congregation, in which he freely expresses himself upon the value of Maimonides's "Yad ha-Ḥazaḳah," because it enabled the laity to control the judgments rendered by the Rabbis. He carried on a lively correspondence with Nasi Kalonymus ben Ṭodros and with Levi ben Moses of Narbonne, where his brother Joseph also resided. He lost his three sons in their prime.
He was also known in his day as the "elder-prophet", a man "on whom the spirit of the Lord dwelt". In one of his poems he describes a vision that came to him in a dream: "I saw an angel standing before me; his spirit came to me and I began to prophesy: Oh, you who seek visions, listen to my words--the Lord, who has embittered my soul, is now good to me; He has said that He will answer me in my time of trouble. [2] "
Abraham Joshua Heschel was a Polish-American rabbi and one of the leading Jewish theologians and Jewish philosophers of the 20th century. Heschel, a professor of Jewish mysticism at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, authored a number of widely read books on Jewish philosophy and was a leader in the U.S. civil rights movement.
Abraham ben Samuel Abulafia was the founder of the school of "Prophetic Kabbalah". He was born in Zaragoza, Spain, in 1240, and is assumed to have died sometime after 1291 following a stay on the small and windswept island of Comino.
Hai ben Sherira better known as Hai Gaon, was a medieval Jewish theologian, rabbi and scholar who served as Gaon of the Talmudic academy of Pumbedita during the early 11th century. He was born in 939 and died on March 28, 1038. He received his Talmudic education from his father, Sherira ben Hanina, and in early life acted as his assistant in teaching. In his forty-fourth year he became associated with his father as "av bet din," and with him delivered many joint decisions. According to Sefer HaKabbalah of Rabbi Abraham ben David (Ravad), he was the last of the Geonim.
The Benveniste family is an old, noble, wealthy, and scholarly Sephardic Jewish family of Narbonne, France, and northern Spain established in the 11th century. The family was present in the 11th to the 15th centuries in Hachmei Provence, France, Barcelona, Aragon, and Castile.
Isaac ben Abba Mari was a Provençal rabbi who hailed from Marseille. He is often simply referred to as "Ba'al ha-Ittur," after his Magnum opus, Ittur Soferim.
Jacob ben Reuben was a Karaite scholar and Bible exegete of the eleventh century. He wrote a brief Hebrew language commentary on the entire Bible, which he entitled Sefer ha-'Osher, because, as he says in the introduction, the reader will find therein sufficient information, and will not need to have recourse to the many voluminous commentaries which the author himself had consulted. The book is, in fact, merely a compilation; the author's explanation of any given passage is frequently introduced by the abbreviations or ; and divergent explanations of other commentators are added one after the other and preceded by the vague phrase. It is, in fact, chiefly an extract of Yefet ben Ali's work, from whom Jacob borrowed most of his explanations as well as the quotations from various authors, chiefly on the Pentateuch. But Jacob also drew upon later Karaite authors, the last of whom is Jeshua ben Judah, who, so far as is known, flourished about 1054. This date points to the second half of the eleventh century as the date of composition of the Sefer ha-'Osher.
Aaron ben Isaac Lapapa was an Oriental rabbi and Talmudist. He was at first rabbi at Manissa, Turkey, and at an advanced age was called to Smyrna as judge in civil affairs. In 1665, when the Sabbatai Zevi movement was at its height there, he was one of the few rabbis who had the courage to oppose the false prophet and excommunicate him. Sabbatai Zevi and his adherents retorted by deposing him and forcing him to leave the city, and his office was given to his colleague, Ḥayyim Benveniste, at that time one of Sabbatai's followers. After Sabbatai's conversion to Islam, Lapapa seems to have been reinstated.
Isaac ben Sheshet Perfet (or Barfat) (1326–1408) (Hebrew: יצחק בן ששת) was a Spanish Talmudic authority, also known by his acronym, Rivash (ריב"ש). He was born at Valencia and settled early in life at Barcelona, where he studied at the school of Nissim of Gerona.
Hillel ben Samuel was an Italian physician, philosopher, and Talmudist. He was the grandson of the Talmudic scholar Eliezer ben Samuel of Verona.
Shem Tov ben Abraham ibn Gaon was a Spanish Talmudist and kabbalist.
Isaac ben Reuben Albargeloni was a Spanish Talmudist and liturgical poet born in Barcelona, Catalonia. He was a judge in the Denia community, where he became connected with ibn Alḥatosh, likely due to becoming his son-in-law. Among his later descendants was Moses ben Naḥman (Naḥmanides); Judah Albargeloni is said to have been Isaac's pupil. He was one of five prominent contemporaneous scholars named Isaac and the regard in which he was held by his own and succeeding generations is indicated by the fact that he is simply designated "Ha-Rab Albargeloni." He wrote commentaries on various sections of the tractate Ketubot, and at the age of thirty-five (1078) translated, from the Arabic into Hebrew, Hai Gaon's Ha-Miḳḳaḥ weha-Mimkar, on buying and selling. Noteworthy among his liturgical poems are his Azharot, included in the rituals of Constantine, Tlemçen, Tunis, Morocco, Algeria, and Oran.
Isaiah ben Elijah di Trani (the Younger) (Hebrew: ישעיה בן אליהו דטראני) was an Italian Talmudist and commentator who lived in the 13th century. He was the grandson, on his mother's side, of Isaiah (ben Mali) di Trani the Elder. He is usually quoted as ריא"ז (= "R. Isaiah Acharon, ז"ל"), or (ריב"א = "R. Isaiah ben Elijah").
Joshua ben Joseph ibn Vives al-Lorqui was a Spanish-Jewish physician who lived at Alcañiz. In 1408, at the command of the rich and influential Benveniste ben Solomon ben Labi, he wrote a work in Arabic on the value and effects of various foodstuffs and of simple and composite medicaments. It was translated into Hebrew, under the title Gerem ha-Ma'alot, by Benveniste's son, Joseph Vidal.
Nathan ben Isaac ha-Kohen ha-Babli was a Babylonian Jewish historian of the 10th century. He was the author of a history of the exilarchate that gives many interesting details in regard to the exilarchs, particularly his contemporary Mar Ukba. Extracts from this history were published by Samuel Shullam in his edition of Zacuto's Yuḥasin, as well as by A. Neubauer. Shullam's work is the only surviving source for Nathan's history other than an Arabic fragment published by Israel Friedlander.
Moses ibn Tibbon was a Jewish physician, author and translator in Provence. The number of works written by Moses ibn Tibbon suggest that he reached a great age.
Shem-Tob ben Isaac Shaprut of Tudela was a Spanish Jewish philosopher, physician, and polemicist. He is often confused with the physician Shem-Tob ben Isaac of Tortosa, who lived earlier. He may also be confused with another Ibn Shaprut, Hasdai ibn Shaprut, who corresponded with the king of the Khazars in the 900's.
Kalonymus ben Todros was a hakham of Provence who flourished at Narbonne in the second half of the twelfth century. He bore the title Nasi and was the leader of the community when Benjamin of Tudela visited Narbonne in 1165. He and his cousin Levi ben Moses were joint leaders at a later time.
Joseph ben Judah of Ceuta was a Jewish physician and poet, and disciple of Maimonides. Maimonides wrote his work, The Guide for the Perplexed, for Joseph.
Abraham Bedersi was a Provençal Jewish poet; he was born at Béziers. The dates of his birth and death have not been ascertained.
David ben Judah Messer Leon was an Italian rabbi, physician and writer, who defended the value of secular disciplines and the Renaissance humanities as an important part of traditional Jewish studies.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Gottheil, Richard; Kayserling, Meyer; Broydé, Isaac (1902). "Benveniste (Hebrew, תשנבנב, in Catalan, Benvenist". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia . Vol. 3. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. pp. 38–41.