Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra, poet, philosopher, and mathematician, was one of the outstanding personalities produced by medieval Jewry. His chief claim to fame, however, was for his commentary on the Bible. His explanations of Scripture have been printed in all major editions of the Hebrew Bible, and influenced other luminaries, such as Maimonides, Rabbi David Kimchi, Nahmanides, Ralbag, Abrarvanel, and all serious students of the Hebrew Bible, for whom his works are essential. Ibn Ezra's commentary on the first two Books of Psalms are now available in English for the first time, accompanied by a...

Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra, poet, philosopher, and mathematician, was one of the outstanding personalities produced by medieval Jewry. His chief claim to fame, however, was for his commentary on the Bible. His explanations of Scripture have been printed in all major editions of the Hebrew Bible, and influenced other luminaries, such as Maimonides, Rabbi David Kimchi, Nahmanides, Ralbag, Abrarvanel, and all serious students of the Hebrew Bible, for whom his works are essential. Ibn Ezra's commentary on the first two Books of Psalms are now available in English for the first time, accompanied by a...

Maimonides was one of the greatest Jewish personalities of the Middle Ages: a halakhist par excellence, a great philosopher, a political leader of his community, and a guardian of Jewish rights. In 1180 CE, Maimonides composed his Halakhic magnum opus, the Mishneh Torah, which can be described without exaggeration as the greatest code of Jewish law to be composed in the post-Talmudic era, unique in scope, originality, and language. In addition to dealing with an immense variety of Jewish law, from the laws of Sabbath and festival observances, dietary regulations, and relations between the...