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pedes , * Cordoba soon obtained so extended a fame , that Jewish students flocked to it from every quarter * and about this period the title of Sapienttssimi was conferred by common consent on the Spanish Rabbies . f The accident which connected two of the
most famous of the Persian Jews , Rabbi Moses and his son Hanoc , with the Cordoba school , greatly heightened its reputation . % These illustrious men were raised to the highest dignities , and shared the particular favour of the Caliph Hakim ; who , indeed , took every opportunity of
encouraging the study of Hebrew literature . § So great was the increase of the Jewish people under the protection of the Moors , that the school of second rank in Spain ( Toledo ) is said to have contained , in the beginning of the thirteenth century , no less than 12 , 000 students , while Barcelona and Granada had also risen into
great renown . | J At this period the era of Rabbinism begins—that of Gueonimjiaving ended with the decay of the Persian
acade-. R . Moses , who died A . D . 1015 , was succeeded by one of his most learned disciples , Samuel Hatevi , on whom the title of Rabnagid was first conferred in Spain * He was a man of rank and influence , being minister of state to the king of Granada , who , in the spirit of his father Hakim ,
* Hablan las musas por el doctoCespedes . V . 334 . f Castro , Prol . to Bib . Esp . j They were made prisoners while at sea by pirates , and brought to Spain .
Though their persons were totally unknown , they were received with uncommon kindness at Cordoba , and when their names were discovered , the Jews g-ave vent to the most enthusiastic expressions of gratitude and joy .
§ Hakim wished to render it unnecessary for his Jewish subjects to travel to the East for instruction , and , in consequence , co-operated with them in making-Cordoba superior to the oriental schools . When R . Moses wished to return to Persia , Hakim compelled him to remain where he
was . || R . Moschi Mikkatzi , BuxtorfF , Cap . i . Nomolog-ia , Par . ii . Cap . xxvii . The number is probably an exaggeration , and may be understood , perhaps , of Jewish inhabitants of Toledo .
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greatly promoted the spread of Rab . binical learning , by ordering the sa * cred books to be translated inio Arabic , * and by favouring the learned Jews with repeated marks of his friendship and esteem , t
Joseph Hatevi J was selected to fill the honourable station his father had occupied ; whose talents , indeed , but not whose prudence , he possessed . The attempts he and other Rabbies made to convert the Moors to the
religion of Moses , caused a terrible tumult , and led to a violent persecution , in which he , with many others , perished . § The Academy of Cordoba
continually received new accessions of talent and consequent splendour from the influx of oriental Rabbies ; among whom Isaac Alphas ] , who died in 1103 , set . 9 <> i is entitled to honourable distinction . II
No period of the literary history of the Jews is so distinguished as the close of the tenth , and the beginning * He employed in this work the learned . Rabbi Joseph Ben Isaac ben Schatnes , who bad been driven from Babylonia , and bad found an asylum in Spain .
-f An historian , with means to consult and ability to employ the inedited mate , rials connected with the reign of the Moors in Spain , which exist in the Escurial and the Torre at Lisbon , might , I am persuaded , produce a most interesting- and important work ; and such a work ( founded mainly on the authority of Arabic writers ) is much wanted .
X Maimonides speaks of him with admiration and reverence , as a profoundly learned and incomparable writer . § At ibis period flourished R . Levi Basseli , who wrote on the Rights of Woman ,
and collected the Laws of the Jews ( trans . lated in 1655 , by Hotting-er ) , Abeiigiad , a famous poet , and Abraham Ben Chija , commonly known by the title of Hanari , ( or Prince , ) on account of his distinguished talents as an astronomer .
II The following * is an imperfect translation of the beautiful Hebrew inscription which adorned his tomb : Be it engraved , that the light of the world is gone out ; And the fountain of wisdom ensepulehred here .
Mourn , daughters of Zion ! The earth is in its decay , A nd darkness is over the land : —weep and lament ! The tables are broken again I Aip bflsi is dead !
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346 The Nonconformist * No * XI
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1819, page 348, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1773/page/4/
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