Israel ben Moses Najara

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Israel ben Moses Najara (

kabbalist (although this is disputed),[1] and rabbi of Gaza.[2]

Biography

The rabbinic Najara family was originally from Nájera, a Spanish city in Northern Spain on the Najerilla river. Nájera was the former capital of the Kingdom of Navarre and in the 11th century it was incorporated into the Kingdom of Castile. In the rabbinical literature of the 16th-19th centuries, Najaras are found in Algiers, Tunis, Damascus, and Gaza.[3][4]

It is believed that Najara's grandfather R' Levi Najara, was born in Spain and fled to

Moses Najara, was also a poet, and succeeded his father as the chief rabbi of Gaza.[4] His grandson Yaakov Najara was embroiled in the Sabbatean controversy.[4]

From his secular poems, which he wrote in the meters of various

Salonica, Istanbul and Bursa. Due to his upbringing in Safed, he came under the extensive influence of Lurianic Kabbalah
.

As may be seen from his works, he was a versatile scholar, and he corresponded with many contemporary rabbis, among others with

Aramaic.[3]

Works

Najara's letters, secular poems, epigrams, and rhymed prose form the work entitled Meimei Yisrael (מימי ישראל) are published at the end of the second edition of the Zemirot Yisrael (זמירות ישראל). Najara's other works are as follows:

His unpublished works are

M. Sachs attempted to render some of Najara's piyyuṭim into German.[8]

After the

Judah he-Ḥasid at Jerusalem were cleared away in 1836, some writings of Israel Najara of the year 1579 were found.[3]

Zemirot Yisrael

Zemirot Yisrael, originally entitled Zemirot Yisrael Najara, was first published at

hymns. Many additional songs were printed in the Venetian edition from 1599.[9]
This edition contains the Meme Yisrael and the Mesaḥeḳet ha-Tebel additions, and is divided into three parts:

  1. Olat Tamid, (עולת תמיד) containing 225 piyyuṭim organized according to the Ottoman makam system. He notes twelve makamlar: Rast, Dugah, Huseyni, Bûselik, Segâh, Segâh Irak, Nebrus Acem, Mahur, Neva Uzzal, Naks Huseyni, and Nikriz[10]
  2. Olat Shabbat, (עולת שבת) containing 54 piyyuṭim for each Shabbat of the year (set to presumably well known melodies of other piyyutim, as indicated in the incipits)
  3. Olat Ḥodesh, (עולת חודש) containing 160 piyyuṭim and dirges for the
    Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1712).[3]

Influence

Many of Najara's piyyuṭim and hymns have been taken into the rituals and

Italy and Israel
.

The poetic works of Rabbi Israel Najara had considerable influence on the various baqashot traditions of Morocco, Turkey (also known as the maftirim tradition), and Syria. At least 26 compositions by Najara are part of the Moroccan baqashot canon, and roughly 8 of the 66 Syrian baqashot were composed by Najara (יאמר נא ישראל, ימותי כלו כצבאות, אנא הושע מאור עיני, אשיר עז, יודוך רעיוני, יה אלה מלכות, יה רבון עלם, יוםליום אודה). On Shabbat eve, the Jews of Aleppo sing many hymns and prayers written by Najara.[12]

The best known of his hymns are Yah Ribbon 'Alam, (יה רבון עלם) recited on the Sabbath by the Jews of various countries, as well as Yodukha Ra'ayonay (יודוך רעיוני) and Yarhiq Nedod (ירחיק נדוד).

Critical reception

For some of his poetic innovations - for example his hymns on the marriage of God and Israel - Najara was severely criticized by Menahem Lonzano[13] when the latter was in Damascus.

The Shibḥei Ḥayyim Viṭal

Hayyim Vital upon a poet whose name is not mentioned, but whom some take to be Israel Najara. (It was later discovered that Vital actually had named Najara, but this had been censored out until the 1954 publication of Sefer HaḤezyonot based on Vital's own autograph manuscript.[15]) However, Vital did not make these accusations based on observation, but rather based on mystical revelations which he claimed to have received from a spirit.[16] Despite the accusations, Isaac Luria, Vital's teacher, declared that Najara's hymns were listened to with delight in heaven. Najara's piyyuṭim were praised also by Leon of Modena, who composed a song in his honor, which was printed at the beginning of the Olat Shabbat, the second part of the Zemirot Yisrael.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b "Israel ben Moses Najara". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
  2. ^ Abrahams 1911.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "Israel ben Moses Najara". Jewish Encyclopedia. Retrieved January 26, 2012.
  4. ^
    JSTOR 23600680
    .
  5. ISBN 978-0-8264-6250-3
    .
  6. ^ Maír José Benardete (1953). Hispanic culture and character of the Sephardic Jews. Hispanic Institute in the United States. p. 78. In 1579 Safed was attacked by an Arabic tribe. Israel de Nagera left, with his family, for Gauhar, a small town near Damascus.
  7. ^ In Orient. Lit. iv.526; compare 540
  8. ^ Busch, Jahrbücher, 1847, pp. 236–238
  9. ^ "HebrewBooks.org Sefer Detail: זמירות ישראל -- נג'רה, ישראל בן משה". hebrewbooks.org. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  10. ^ Seroussi, Edwin (2012). Maftirim: An Historical Overview (The Piyyut as a Cultural Prism: New Approaches, ed. Haviva Pedaya ed.). pp. 181–203.
  11. ^ http://old.piyut.org.il/textual/868.htm [dead link]
  12. ^ Benjamin II Mas'ei Yisra'el, p. 15
  13. ^ Shetei Yadot, p. 142
  14. ^ p. 7b
  15. ^
    ISBN 9781904113607
    .
  16. ^ Marc B. Shapiro, Hasidism in America

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help) Its bibliography:

  • Chaim Azulai
    , Shem ha-Gedolim, ii, s.v. Zemirot Yisrael;
  • Simon Bernfeld, in Ha-Asif, iv, section 4, pp. 18 et seq.;
  • David Conforte, Ḳore ha-Dorot, pp. 37a, 41a, 49b;
  • Dukes, Zur Kenntniss, pp. 9, 138, No. 8;
  • Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael, p. 699;
  • Julius Fürst, Bibl. Jud. iii.12;
  • Heinrich Grätz
    , Gesch., 3rd ed., ix.395;
  • Landshuth
    , 'Ammude ha-'Abodah, pp. 135 et seq.;
  • Orient. Lit. iv.649 et seq.;
  • Moritz Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. cols. 1170–1171;
  • idem, Jewish Literature, pp. 155, 243;
  • Zunz, Literaturgesch. p. 419.

Abrahams, Israel (1911). "Najara, Israel ben Moses" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

External links

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