Beginning of Wisdom

Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra was a remarkably productive itinerant intellectual who contributed to an astonishing array of fields, including biblical exegesis, science, mathematics, grammar, astronomy, astrology, piyyut (liturgical poetry), and philosophy. Born in Toledo, in al-Andalus (Muslim Spain), in the first part of his life Ibn Ezra moved in elite circles, for the most part writing poetry, and enjoyed a close relationship with the poet and theologian Judah ha-Levi. Around the age of fifty, Ibn Ezra fled Almohad persecutions in his homeland and traveled to Italy, northern France, and England. Most of his scientific writings date to this period, including numerous works on astrology, number theory, and grammar. His biblical commentaries, which were concerned with the straightforward meaning of scripture but also incorporated philosophical and scientific insights, were enormously popular. In later centuries, they attracted many supercommentaries , namely, commentaries on his commentary