Isaac ben Judah ibn Ghayyat[a] (1030/1038–1089), commonly mispronouncedibnGhiyyat, was arabbi, Biblical commentator, codifier ofJewish law, philosopher, andliturgical poet fromal-Andalus. He was born and lived in the town ofLucena in theTaifa of Granada, where he headed arabbinic academy. He died inCordoba.
As many Sephardic surnames, ibn Ghayyat is anasab (patronymic), "the son of Ghayyāth."Ghayyāth means "savior" in Arabic. The name is commonly confused withghiyath meaning "salvation", found inSaadia Gaon'sJudeo-Arabic translation ofHebrew:יֵשַׁע,romanized: yēšaʿ,lit. 'salvation' inPsalm 20:7, "Now I know thatYHWH will give victory to His anointed, will answer him from His heavenly sanctuary with the might of salvation in His right arm (בג'ברואת גיאת' ימינה)."[3]
According to some authorities, he was the teacher ofIsaac Alfasi; according to others, his fellow pupil. His best-known students were his sonJudah ibn Ghayyat,Joseph ibn Sahl, andMoses ibn Ezra. He was held in great esteem bySamuel ibn Naghrillah and his sonJoseph, and after the latter died in the1066 Granada massacre, ibn Ghayyat was elected to succeed him as rabbi of Lucena, where he officiated until his death.
He was the author of a compendium of ritual laws concerning thefestivals, published bySeligman Baer Bamberger under the title ofSha'arei Simḥah (Fürth, 1862; the laws concerningPassover were republished byBernhard Zomber under the titleHilkhot Pesaḥim, Berlin, 1864), and a philosophical commentary onEcclesiastes, known only through quotations in the works of later authors.[4]
Ibn Ghayyat's greatest activity was in liturgical poetry; he was an author of hundreds ofpiyyutim, and his hymns are found in theMaḥzor of Tripoli under the title ofSiftei Renanot. Most are written in the newAndalusi style. He achieved special distinction in his melodiousmuwashshaḥat "girdle poems", a secular Arabic form first used as a vehicle for liturgical poetry bySolomon ibn Gabirol.[5]
One of his major contributions was his collection and arrangement of thegeonic responsa, which had hitherto been scattered among the world's Jewry.[6]Menahem Schmelzer, Albert B. and Bernice Cohen Professor Emeritus ofMedieval Hebrew Literature and Jewish Bibliography at theJewish Theological Seminary of America wrote his PhD thesis on the poetry of Ibn Ghiyyat[7] and published several articles on his poetry.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Gotthard Deutsch;M. Seligsohn (1901–1906)."Isaac ben Judah ibn Ghiyyat". InSinger, Isidore; et al. (eds.).The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
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