Judah Halevi
1075 – 1141 Andalusi (Iberian Jewish) Poet, physician, philosopher
Hebrew poet of exile and Zion whose 'Kuzari' defended Judaism against philosophy and rival faiths.
- Religion
- Judaism (Rabbinic)
- Affiliations
- Toledo and Cordoba
Judah Halevi is regarded as the greatest Hebrew poet of medieval Spain, known for his religious verse and his 'Songs of Zion'. His philosophical dialogue 'The Kuzari' frames Judaism as a faith rooted in shared historical experience rather than abstract reason. Late in life he left Spain for the Land of Israel; tradition holds he died soon after reaching the East.
In the timeline
- 1140 Judah Halevi and the Kuzari central figure