Solomon ben Reuben Bonfed (late 14th-century-early 15th century) was a Spanish rabbi and poet who lived in Zaragoza.
Bonafed was a member of the group of Hebrew poets in Spain known as the ‘Adat Nognim or "Band of Minstrels" along with Solomon Dapiera, Vidal (Joseph) ben Lavi, Vidal Benveniste. He was the youngest member. [1] [2]
His diwan , still extant in manuscript (Adolf Neubauer, "Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS." No. 1984), is notable, as well as for the historical information contained in it.
Bonfed was present at the controversy of Tortosa (1413–14); and many of his poems are addressed to those who took part in it.
The diwan contains also an answer, in rimed prose, to a letter of the converted Jew, Astruc Raimuch of Fraga, in which the neophyte enthusiastically propounds the dogmas of Christianity, and endeavors to demonstrate the Trinity, original sin, and redemption, from the Bible. Apologizing for discussing the contents of a letter not addressed to him, Bonfed minutely examines the Christian dogmas, and proceeds to argue how irrational and untenable they are. He says: "You twist and distort the Bible text to establish the Trinity. Had you a quaternity to prove, you would demonstrate it quite as strikingly and convincingly from the Old Testament."
Abba Mari ben Moses ben Joseph, was a Provençal rabbi, born at Lunel, near Montpellier, towards the end of the 13th century. He is also known as Yarhi from his birthplace, and he further took the name Astruc, Don Astruc or En Astruc of Lunel from the word "astruc" meaning lucky.

Moses ben Nachman, commonly known as Nachmanides, and also referred to by the acronym Ramban and by the contemporary nickname Bonastruc ça Porta, was a leading medieval Jewish scholar, Catalan rabbi, philosopher, physician, kabbalist, and biblical commentator. He was raised, studied, and lived for most of his life in Girona, Catalonia. He is also considered to be an important figure in the re-establishment of the Jewish community in Jerusalem following its destruction by the Crusaders in 1099.
Jewish philosophy includes all philosophy carried out by Jews, or in relation to the religion of Judaism. Until the modern Haskalah and Jewish emancipation, Jewish philosophy was preoccupied with attempts to reconcile coherent new ideas into the tradition of Rabbinic Judaism, thus organizing emergent ideas that are not necessarily Jewish into a uniquely Jewish scholastic framework and world-view. With their acceptance into modern society, Jews with secular educations embraced or developed entirely new philosophies to meet the demands of the world in which they now found themselves.
Judah haLevi was a Sephardic Jewish poet, physician and philosopher. He was born in Al-Andalus, either in Toledo or Tudela, in 1075. He is thought to have died in 1141, in either Jerusalem, at that point the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, or in Alexandria, Fatimid Egypt.
The Davidic line refers to the descendants of David, who established the House of David in the Kingdom of Israel and Judah. In Judaism, it is based on texts from the Hebrew Bible, as well as on later Jewish traditions.
Rishonim were the leading rabbis and poskim who lived approximately during the 11th to 15th centuries, in the era before the writing of the Shulchan Aruch and following the Geonim. Rabbinic scholars subsequent to the Shulchan Aruch are generally known as acharonim.
Shlomo ben Avraham ibn Aderet was a medieval rabbi, halakhist, and Talmudist. He is widely known as the Rashba, the Hebrew acronym of his title and name: Rabbi Shlomo ben Avraham.
Moses ben Jacob ibn Ezra, known as Ha-Sallaḥ was an Andalusi Jewish rabbi, philosopher, linguist, and poet. He was born in Granada about 1055–1060, and died after 1138. Ibn Ezra is considered to have had great influence in the Arabic literary world. He is considered one of Spain's greatest poets and was considered ahead of his time in his theories on the nature of poetry. One of the more revolutionary aspects of Ibn Ezra's poetry that has been debated is his definition of poetry as metaphor and how his poetry illuminates Aristotle's early ideas. The importance of ibn Ezra's philosophical works was minor compared to his poetry. They address his concept of the relationship between God and man.
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.
Jewish literature includes works written by Jews on Jewish themes, literary works written in Jewish languages on various themes, and literary works in any language written by Jewish writers. Ancient Jewish literature includes Biblical literature and rabbinic literature. Medieval Jewish literature includes not only rabbinic literature but also ethical literature, philosophical literature, mystical literature, various other forms of prose including history and fiction, and various forms of poetry of both religious and secular varieties. The production of Jewish literature has flowered with the modern emergence of secular Jewish culture. Modern Jewish literature has included Yiddish literature, Judeo-Tat literature, Ladino literature, Hebrew literature, and Jewish American literature.
Astruc Remoch was a Jewish convert to Catholicism who made his mark in history by attempting the conversion of other Jews during the 14th century.
David ben Solomon ibn (Abi) Zimra (1479–1573) also called Radbaz (רַדְבָּ"ז) after the initials of his name, Rabbi David ben Zimra, was an early Acharon of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries who was a leading posek, rosh yeshiva, chief rabbi, and author of more than 3,000 responsa as well as several scholarly works.
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.
Profiat Duran, full Hebrew name Isaac ben Moses haLevi) was a Jewish apologist/polemicist, philosopher, physician, grammarian, and controversialist in the 14th century. He was later sometimes referred to by the sobriquet Efodi (האפודי) through association with his two grammars entitled Ephod. After being forcibly converted to Christianity in 1391, he also appears in official records under his Converso name Honoratus de Bonafide. After escaping Spain, he returned to practicing Judaism openly and wrote several works including polemics against Christianity and grammar.
De la Caballeria , was a Sephardic family of Aragon, Spain, widely ramified, and influential through its wealth and scholarship, especially in Saragossa. The family descended from Solomon ibn Labi de la Caballeria, who had nine sons.
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.
Caslari is the name of a Jewish family originally from Caylar, a village in the department of Hérault, France. An important Jewish community existed at Caylar in the Middle Ages. After the royal edict of 17 September 1394, these Jews went to Provence and to the Comtat-Venaissin; in 1459 and 1487 some of them were at Tarascon, and in 1480 at Avignon. The Caslari family enjoyed a considerable reputation as late as the second half of the sixteenth century. It produced the following scholars:
Don Vidal Benveniste de la Cavalleria was a Spanish Jew who lived in Saragossa Spain, during the second half of the 14th and beginning of the 15th century. He was elected, by the notables of the Jewish communities of Aragon, as the speaker before the pope at the beginning of disputation of Tortosa (1413), because of his knowledge of Latin and his reputed wisdom.
Sheshet ben Isaac ben Joseph Benveniste 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".
Abraham Bedersi was a Provençal Jewish poet; he was born at Béziers. The dates of his birth and death have not been ascertained.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Gottheil, Richard; Broydé, Isaac (1902). "Bonfed, Solomon ben Reuben". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia . Vol. 3. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 306.