Moshe ibn Ezra

Granada poet whose penitential poems earned him the title HaSallah, the writer of selihot, still heard in Sephardi synagogues. His Arabic treatise on Hebrew poetics is the first systematic study of the art, and he mentored the young Yehuda HaLevi.

Who was Moshe ibn Ezra?

Rabbi Moshe ben Yaakov ibn Ezra was one of the great Hebrew poets of the golden age of al-Andalus. He was called HaSallah, “the writer of selihot,” because of his many penitential poems, which are still sung in Sephardi synagogues in the days before Rosh Hashana and on Yom Kippur. He also wrote the first book on the art of Hebrew poetry, and he was a mentor and friend to the young Yehuda HaLevi.

Granada

Moshe ibn Ezra was born in Granada around 1055–1060, to a wealthy and distinguished family that had held high positions in the Jewish community. He studied in Lucena with Rabbi Yitzhak ibn Ghiyyat, and he received the full education of a Jew of al-Andalus: Torah and Talmud, Hebrew and Arabic, poetry and philosophy.

In his years in Granada he wrote poems of friendship, love and wine, in the style of the Arabic poets, and he became the center of a circle of poets. When he heard of a brilliant young poet from the north, Yehuda HaLevi, he invited him to Granada and welcomed him into his home.

Exile

In 1090 the Almoravids, a strict Muslim dynasty from North Africa, conquered Granada. Moshe ibn Ezra’s family was scattered, and soon afterward he left al-Andalus for the Christian kingdoms of the north. He spent the rest of his long life wandering, never again finding a settled home, and his later poems are full of longing for Granada, of loneliness, and of reflection on old age, the passing of time and the vanity of the world.

The poet of selihot

In his years of exile, ibn Ezra turned increasingly to sacred poetry. His selihot call on the soul to return to God and confess its sins, and they speak with honesty about human weakness and mortality. Many of them entered the Sephardi liturgy for the High Holidays, and they are still sung in the early-morning selihot before Rosh Hashana and in the prayers of Yom Kippur.

The art of poetry

Late in life he wrote, in Arabic, the Kitab al-Muhadara wal-Mudhakara, “The Book of Discussion and Remembrance,” the first systematic work on Hebrew poetics. It describes the history of Hebrew poetry in al-Andalus, explains the rules of the art, and discusses the poets of his time. He also wrote Arugat HaBosem, “The Bed of Spices,” on philosophy and the nature of God and the soul.

Death

Moshe ibn Ezra died after 1138. The place of his death is not known.

Moshe ibn Ezra’s legacy for Sephardim

Moshe ibn Ezra gave voice to both the brilliance and the pain of Sephardic life: the beauty of Granada at its height and the sorrow of exile. His penitential poems are still part of the prayers of every Sephardi congregation, and his book on poetry is a record of the golden age by one who lived it.

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