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Charisi (or al Harisi), Jehuda ben-Solomon

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Charisi (Or Al Harisi), Jehuda Ben-Solomon,

the Horace of Jewish poets, was born at Jerez, in Spain, about 1170, and bore also the Arabic name, Alchoni. He travelled over many parts of Europe; and into the East, and died about 1230, probably at Granada. He not only excelled as a poet, but also as a philosopher, physician, and translator. He translated from the Arabic into Hebrew Maimonides' commentary on the Seder Zeraiem; the same author's introduction to the Mishna (Germ. transl. by R. Fuirstenthal, Breslau, 1842), and his Guide or מוֹרֶה נְבֻכַים . ' His principal work is תִּחְכְּמוֹנַי or Diwan, which is not exactly an imitation or translation of Hariri's, though written in the style of the Arabian poet. The author describes human life in a multitude of its phases, relates his own -adventures as a traveller, and takes a critical survey of Hebrew .poetry. Portions of his work have been translated into Latin :by Ure (London, 1772); .into. German by Kiimpf and Dukes; into French by De Sacy. See Furst, Bibl. Jud. i, 164 sq.; De' Rossi, Dizionario Storiico (Germ.:trans.), p. 75 sq.; Gratz, Gesch. der Juden. vi, 209 sq.; Braunschweiger, Gesch. der Juden in der Roman St/aaten, p. 151; Jost, Gesch. d. Juden, u.s. Sekte, iii, 28; Da Costa, Israel and the Gentiles, p. 304 sq.'; Lindo, History of the Jews in Spain, p. 194; Finn, Sephardimn, p. 457 sq.; Etheridge, Introduction to Hebrew Literature, p. 259,382; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. GeCneral.e, s.v.; Delitzsch, Zur Gesch. der Jud. Poesie, p. 42, 47, 55, 87, 137, 140, 142, 160, 169; Geiger, Jud. Zeitschrof, 1872, p. 178 sq.; Carmoly, in Revue Orientale, iii, 469-73; Gratz, Leket Shoshanimn, p. 126 sq.; Kampf, Die Ersten Maklcamem aus demn Tachkemoni (Berlin, 1845); id. Nichtandalusische Poesie, p. xi sq., 3-144 (Prague, 1858); Dukes, Rabbinische Blumenlese, p. 19, 43, 60, 95, 133, 174, 189, 243; Zunz, Literaturgeschichte der Synagpoyalen Poesie. p. 471; and Zur Geschichte u. Literatur, p. 213, 459, 463. (B. P.)