Everything about Joseph Ibn Naghrela totally explained
Joseph ibn Naghrela or
Joseph ha-Nagid (
Hebrew: רבי יהוסף בן שמואל הלוי הנגיד
Rabbi Yehosef ben Sh'muel ha-Levi han-Nagid;
Arabic: ابو حسين بن النغريلة
Abu Hussein bin Naghrela) (
September 15,
1035 -
December 30,
1066) was a
vizier to the
Berber king
Badis al-Muzaffar of
Granada, during the
Moorish rule of
Andalusia, and the leader of the
Jewish community there.
Life and career
Joseph was born in
Granada, the eldest son of Rabbi Sh'muel ha-Nagid (
Samuel ibn Naghrela).
Some information about his childhood and upbringing is preserved in the collection of his father's
Hebrew poetry, 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, directing at the same time an important
yeshiva. Among his students were Rabbi
Isaac ben Baruch ibn Albalia and Rabbi
Isaac ibn Ghayyat.
Character
Rabbi
Abraham ibn Daud describes Joseph in highly laudatory terms, saying of him that he lacked none of his father's good qualities, except that he wasn't quite as humble, having been brought up in luxury.
The 1906 edition of the
Jewish Encyclopedia 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 of
Almería 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 4827), Muslim mobs stormed the royal palace where Joseph had sought refuge, then
crucified 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 with her son Azariah, where she was supported by the community. Azariah died in early youth.
Further Information
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