יוסף אבן אביתור

Joseph ibn Abitur, also known as Rav Yosef ben Yitzchak ben Shatnash ibn Abitur (יוסף אבן אביתור), was a talmid chacham and paytan (liturgical poet) of Sefarad in the tenth century, one of the first poets of Spanish Jewry. He was born in Mérida in al-Andalus to a family of high standing. His father was Rabbi Yitzchak ben Shatnash, and his great-great-grandfather had been a rav and leader of the community.

He learned in the yeshiva of Cordoba under Rabbeinu Moshe ben Chanoch. When his teacher was niftar, the son, Rabbeinu Chanoch, was made head of the yeshiva with the backing of Chasdai ibn Shaprut. After Chasdai’s death Rav Yosef challenged the appointment, holding that as a native of Spain he had the first right to the post. During the dispute Rabbeinu Chanoch placed him under niddui (a ban), and he left the city. He asked Rabbi Shmuel HaKohen ben Yoshiyahu to receive him despite the ban, but Rabbi Shmuel upheld it and turned him away; the two later made peace.

He set out for the yeshivot of Bavel, stayed a long time in Egypt, reached Baghdad, and settled in the end in Damascus. Sefer HaKabbalah relates that while in Egypt he translated the Talmud into Arabic for the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim. In his last years he made peace with Rabbeinu Chanoch. When he had the chance to have him removed and to head the Cordoba yeshiva himself, he refused, and wrote to his supporters in Cordoba in support of Rabbeinu Chanoch. He remained in Damascus and was niftar there.

He wrote a peirush on Tanach in Hebrew and many teshuvot, some of which survive. His piyyutim number more than a thousand, most of them never printed; some were taken into the siddurim of different communities. Best known are his Hoshanot, said by the Sephardim.

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