Judah al-Harizi was born in Toledo in the mid-12th century into a family that was originally from Jerez and was educated in Castile. A Hebrew biographer and a contemporary, Ibn al-Sha’ar al-Mawsili, provided the only known physical description of al-Harizi: As was the practice for educated men of the period, he travelled extensively throughout the region, visiting Jewish communities and various centres of learning across the Mediterranean and the East. He was disappointed by the poor quality of Hebrew learning across the region. He translated many Arabic works into Hebrew, including Maimonides' Guide to the Perplexed and al-Hariri's Maqamat. In addition to the many translations, he also produced original works in Hebrew and in Arabic. He wrote a book of his travels, al-rawada al-‘arniqa. He also composed an original maqamain Hebrew, with the title of Sefer Tahkemoni. His Maqama imitated the structure of al-Hamadani and al-Hariri, but his work also reflects his Jewish identity in a society that was in transition, shifting from al-Andalus to Christian Iberia. He is generally regarded as one of the great classical Jewish authors. He died in Aleppo, Syria in 1225.
Work
Alharizi was a rationalist, conveying the works of Maimonides and his approach to rationalistic Judaism. He translated Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed and some of his Commentary on the Mishnah, as well as the Mahbarot Iti'el of the Arab poet al-Hariri, from the Arabic to Hebrew. Alharizi's poetic translation of the Guide for the Perplexed is considered by many to be more readable than that of Samuel ben Judah ibn Tibbon. However, it has not been very widely used in Jewish scholarship, perhaps because it is less precise. It had some [|influence in the Christian world] due to its translation into Latin. Alharizi's own works include the "Tahkemoni", composed between 1218 and 1220, in the Arabic form known as maqama. This is written in Hebrew in unmetrical rhymes, in what is commonly termed rhymed prose. It is a series of humorous episodes, witty verses, and quaint applications of Scriptural texts. The episodes are bound together by the presence of the hero and of the narrator, who is also the author. Another collection of his poetry was devoted to preaching ethical self-discipline and fear of heaven. Harizi undertook long journeys in the lands of the Middle East. His works are suffused with his impressions from these journeys. He not only brought to perfection the art of applying Hebrew to secular satire, but he was also a brilliant literary critic and his maqama on the Andalusian Hebrew poets is a fruitful source of information.
