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Joseph ibn Naghrela

 

 
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Joseph ibn Naghrela
 
 
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Joseph ibn Naghrela or Joseph ha-Nagid (Hebrew: ??? ????? ?? ????? ???? ????? Rabbi Yehosef ben Sh'muel ha-Levi han-Nagid; Arabic: ??? ???? ?? ???????? Abu Hussein bin Naghrela) (September 15, 1035 - December 30, 1066) was a vizier
Vizier

A Vizier , is a term for a high-ranking political advisor or minister, often to a Muslim monarch such as a Caliph, or Sultan. It sometimes refers to ministers and advisors of the Persian Empire's Shahs....
 to the Berber
Berber people

Berbers are the indigenous ethnic groups of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are discontinuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River....
 king Badis al-Muzaffar of Granada
Granada

Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada , in the autonomous communities of Spain of Andalusia, Spain....
, during the Moorish
Moors

In the Spanish language, the term for Moors is Moro; in Portuguese language the word is mouro. There seems to have been some confusion about the relationship of the word moro/mouro to the word moreno , both from Greek language ma?ros, i.e....
 rule of Andalusia
Andalusia

Andalusia is a country in the Spanish State. It is the most populous and the second largest, in terms of land area, of the seventeen autonomous communities of the Spain....
, and the leader of the Jew
Jew

A Jew is a member of the Jewish people, an ethnoreligious group that traces its ancestry to the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East....
ish community there.

Life and career
Joseph was born in Granada
Granada

Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada , in the autonomous communities of Spain of Andalusia, Spain....
, the eldest son of Rabbi Sh'muel ha-Nagid (Samuel ibn Naghrela
Samuel ibn Naghrela

Samuel ibn Naghrela , also known as Samuel HaNagid , 993-1056, was a Talmudic scholar, grammarian, philologist, poet, warrior, and statesman, who lived in Spain at the time of the Moorsish rule....
).

Some information about his childhood and upbringing is preserved in the collection of his father's Hebrew poetry
Hebrew poetry

Hebrew poetry is poetry written in the Hebrew language. It encompasses such things as:* Biblical poetry, the poetry found in the poetic books of the Hebrew Bible...
, which Joseph writes that he began copying at the age of eight and a half.






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Joseph ibn Naghrela or Joseph ha-Nagid (Hebrew: ??? ????? ?? ????? ???? ????? Rabbi Yehosef ben Sh'muel ha-Levi han-Nagid; Arabic: ??? ???? ?? ???????? Abu Hussein bin Naghrela) (September 15, 1035 - December 30, 1066) was a vizier
Vizier

A Vizier , is a term for a high-ranking political advisor or minister, often to a Muslim monarch such as a Caliph, or Sultan. It sometimes refers to ministers and advisors of the Persian Empire's Shahs....
 to the Berber
Berber people

Berbers are the indigenous ethnic groups of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are discontinuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River....
 king Badis al-Muzaffar of Granada
Granada

Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada , in the autonomous communities of Spain of Andalusia, Spain....
, during the Moorish
Moors

In the Spanish language, the term for Moors is Moro; in Portuguese language the word is mouro. There seems to have been some confusion about the relationship of the word moro/mouro to the word moreno , both from Greek language ma?ros, i.e....
 rule of Andalusia
Andalusia

Andalusia is a country in the Spanish State. It is the most populous and the second largest, in terms of land area, of the seventeen autonomous communities of the Spain....
, and the leader of the Jew
Jew

A Jew is a member of the Jewish people, an ethnoreligious group that traces its ancestry to the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East....
ish community there.

Life and career


Joseph was born in Granada
Granada

Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada , in the autonomous communities of Spain of Andalusia, Spain....
, the eldest son of Rabbi Sh'muel ha-Nagid (Samuel ibn Naghrela
Samuel ibn Naghrela

Samuel ibn Naghrela , also known as Samuel HaNagid , 993-1056, was a Talmudic scholar, grammarian, philologist, poet, warrior, and statesman, who lived in Spain at the time of the Moorsish rule....
).

Some information about his childhood and upbringing is preserved in the collection of his father's Hebrew poetry
Hebrew poetry

Hebrew poetry is poetry written in the Hebrew language. It encompasses such things as:* Biblical poetry, the poetry found in the poetic books of the Hebrew Bible...
, which Joseph writes that he began copying at the age of eight and a half. For example, he tells how once (aged nine and a half, in the spring of 1045) he accompanied his father to battlefield, only to suffer from severe homesickness, about which he wrote a short poem.

His primary teacher was his father. On the basis of a letter to Rabbi Nissim Gaon attributed to him, in which Joseph refers to himself as R' Nissim's disciple, some claim that he also studied under R' Nissim at Kairwan. Joseph later married R' Nissim's daughter.

On R' Shmuel's death, Joseph succeeded him as vizier and rabbi
Rabbi

Rabbi , in Judaism, means a religious ?teacher?, or more literally, ?my great one?, when addressing any master. The word rabbi derives from the Hebrew root word , rav, which in biblical Hebrew means ?great?, used in many senses, including the sense of a ?master? and apprentice, whence someone who is a distinguished ?teacher?....
, directing at the same time an important yeshiva
Yeshiva

Yeshiva or yeshivah , or metivta or mesivta ) also frequently referred to as a Beth midrash, Talmudical Academy, Rabbinical Academy or Rabbinical School is an institution unique to classical Judaism for Torah study, the study of Talmud, Rabbinic literature and History of responsa....
. Among his students were Rabbi Isaac ben Baruch ibn Albalia and Rabbi Isaac ibn Ghayyat.

Character


Rabbi Abraham ibn Daud
Abraham ibn Daud

Abraham ibn Daud was a History of the Jews in Spain astronomy, historian, and philosopher; born at Toledo, Spain about 1110; died, according to common report, a martyr about 1180....
 describes Joseph in highly laudatory terms, saying of him that he lacked none of his father's good qualities, except that he was not quite as humble, having been brought up in luxury.

The 1906 edition of the Jewish Encyclopedia
Jewish Encyclopedia

The Jewish Encyclopedia was an encyclopedia originally published between 1901 and 1906 by Funk and Wagnalls. It contained over 15,000 articles in 12 volumes on the history and then-current state of Judaism and the Jews as of 1901....
 states that "Arabic chroniclers strangely relate that he believed neither in the faith of his fathers nor in any other faith. It may also be doubted that he openly declared the principles of Islam to be absurd. Arabic poets also praised his liberality."

Further, the Jewish Encyclopedia reports that Joseph "controlled" the King and "surrounded him with spies." He was also accused of several acts of violence, which drew upon him the hatred of the Berbers, who were the ruling majority at Granada. The most bitter among his many enemies was Abu Ishak of Elvira, a fanatical Arabic poet who hoped to obtain an office at court and wrote a malicious poem against Joseph and his coreligionists. This poem made little impression upon the king, who trusted Joseph implicitly; but it created a great sensation among the Berbers. They spread a rumor to the effect that Joseph intended to kill Badis, deliver the realm into the hands of Al-Mutasim
Banu Sumadih

The Banu Sumadih were an Islamic dynasty that ruled Almer?a in Al-Andalus in the 11th century, subordinate to Zaragoza, until it was conquered by the Almoravid dynasty....
 of Almerķa
Almerķa (province)

Almer?a is a Provinces of Spain of southern Spain. It is bordered by the provinces of Granada , Region of Murcia, and the Mediterranean Sea. Its capital is Almer?a....
 with whom the king was at war, then to kill Al-Mutasim and seize the throne himself.

Other sources report that Joseph attempted to ease the tension between the Berbers and the Arab population and prevent excesses against the local Arabs, which led to a civil war.

Death and massacres


On December 30, 1066 (9 Tevet
Tevet

Tebet is the fourth month of the civil year and the tenth month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew calendar. It follows Kislew and precedes Shebat....
 4827), Muslim mobs stormed the royal palace where Joseph had sought refuge, then crucified
Crucifixion

Crucifixion is an ancient method of execution , whereby the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead....
 him. In the ensuing massacre of the Jewish population, most of the Jews of Granada were murdered. "More than 1,500 Jewish families, numbering 4,000 persons, fell in one day."

Joseph's wife fled to Lucena
Lucena

Lucena is a town in southern Spain, in the C?rdoba Province, Spain, in Andalusia, 60 km southeast of C?rdoba, Spain, 85 km north of M?laga, Spain, 140 km east of Seville, Spain, 105 km west of Granada, Spain, and 90 km southwest of Ja?n, Spain....
 with her son Azariah, where she was supported by the community. Azariah died in early youth.

See also

  • Golden age of Jewish culture in the Iberian Peninsula
    Golden age of Jewish culture in the Iberian Peninsula

    The Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain, also known as the Golden Age of Arab Rule in Iberia, refers to a period of history during the Al-Andalus of the Iberian Peninsula in which Jews were generally accepted in society and Jewish religious, cultural, and economic life blossomed....
  • History of the Jews in Spain
    History of the Jews in Spain

    Spanish Jews once constituted one of the largest and most prosperous Jewish communities under Muslim and Christian rule in Spain, before they were expelled in 1492....