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R. Shemuel ibn Naghrilla – Intellectual Profile

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R. Shemuel ibn Naghrilla

Name	Shemuel (Samuel) ibn Naghrilla "ha-Nagid" רב שמואל בן יהוסף אבן נגרילה הנגיד
Dates	993-1056
Location	Granada
Works	שירים (בן תהלים, בן משלי, בן קהלת), הלכתא גברתא, ספר על דקדוק לשון הקדש
Exegetical Characteristics
Influenced by	R. Hai Gaon
Impacted on	R. Avraham ibn Ezra

Background

Life

• Name – Samuel (Shemuel) son of Yehosef ibn Naghrilla, the Nagid (haNagid)
  • Hebrew name – שמואל (הנגיד) בן יהוסף הלוי אבן נגרילה
  • Arabic name – إسماعيل (Ismail)
• Dates – 993-1056¹
• Location – born in Cordoba; lives mostly in Granada²
• Teachers – R. Hanokh b. Moshe and R. Yehuda ibn Hayyuj³
• Occupation – Vizier of the Taifa of Granada under King Habbus al-Muzaffar and his son Badis. He was also (probably) a chief military commander of Granada's army.⁴
• Family – R. Shmuel had at least two sons who survived to adulthood, Yehosef (who was killed at the age of about 35 in the year 1066)⁵and Eliasaf. Yehosef was married to the daughter of R. Nissim of Kairouan.⁶ Some believe that he also had a daughter, Qasmunah, who was an accomplished Arabic poet.⁷Yehosef R. Nissim of 
• Contemporaries – R. Nissim of Kairouan, R. Chananel b. Chushiel, R. Hai Gaon, Shelomo ibn Gabirol
• Students - possibly R. David Ben Seʿadya al-Ger⁸
• Time period – Along with R. Nissim of Kairouan and R. Chananel b. Chushiel, R. Shmuel ha-Nagid is considered to be among the three transitional figures between the era of the "Geonim" and the "Rishonim."⁹ As a rabbinic figure who rose to the highest political position under the king, he is also someone associated with the peak of the "Golden Age" in Muslim Spain.¹⁰
• World outlook – R. Shmuel haNagid used his wealth and political position to support Torah scholars and the Jewish people all over the world.¹¹ His poetry frequently reflects how he believed himself to be a recipient of God's special providence so that he could make a great name for his people and spread Torah.¹²

Works

• Poetry – "Diwan," or collected works, compiled by R. Shmuel's sons into three sections: Ben Tehillim, Ben Mishlei, Ben Kohelet
• Rabbinics – 
• • Talmudic novellae – Hilkhata Gavrata¹³ or "Hilkhot haNagid," Peirush Sugyot Hamurot.¹⁴
  • Responsa – Shelomo ibn Gabirol (probably) refers to several letters of responsa written by R. Shmuel haNagid, but (nearly) all of them have been lost.¹⁵
• Grammar – A grammatical work (or dictionary) of 22 chapters¹⁶ 
• Misattributed works – Mevo ha-Talmud, printed in the Vilna ed. of Gemara (Talmud Bavli) Berachot¹⁷

Sources

Significant Influences

• Earlier Sources – R. Shmuel ha-Nagid has great respect for the teachings of the Geonim in halakha¹⁸ but is nevertheless sometimes willing to dispute even the teachings of R. Hai Gaon on occasion.¹⁹

Impact

Later exegetes

• R. Avraham ibn Ezra quotes R. Shmuel haNagid on occasion, including on the meaning of the divine name שד-י²⁰
• Halakhic positions of R. Shmuel haNagid are cited by many of the Spanish commentaries.²¹

¹ R. Avraham ibn Daud, Sefer ha-Kabbalah (G. Cohen ed., Hebrew section p. 55-57)

² R. Avraham ibn Daud, Sefer ha-Kabbalah (G. Cohen ed., Hebrew section p. 55)

³ R. Avraham ibn Daud, Sefer ha-Kabbalah (G. Cohen ed., Hebrew section p. 55). Some historians have questioned this tradition, because R. Shmuel haNagid would have been a young boy when these figures passed away, but other historians note that it is not unusual for medieval rabbis to have completed their formal instruction by the time they were teenagers. Shraga Abramson, “From the Teaching of R. Samuel ha-Nagid of Spain,” Sinai Jubilee Volume [Sinai vol. 100] (Jerusalem: Mosad ha-Rav Kook, 1987)

⁴ This is attested to by R. Shmuel ha-Nagid's many poems pertaining to his life, although some historians have raised doubts about the details provided there. See Wasserstein, D. J. "Samuel Ibn Naghrila ha-Nagid and Islamic Historiography in al-Andalus." Al-Qantara, 14(1), 109. 1993

⁵ R. Avraham ibn Daud, Sefer ha-Kabbalah (G. Cohen ed., Hebrew section p. 57)

⁶ Introduction to Ben Mishlei in Diwan Shmuel HaNagid, ed. Dov Yarden, Jerusalem, 1985

⁷ See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qasmuna and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McgILlw1vCg

⁸ David Sklare, “R. David Ben Seʿadya al-Ger and His Work al-Ḥāwī,” in Joshua Blau, Haggai Ben-Shammai, Mordecai A. Friedman, and Joel L. Kraemer, eds., Encounters in Medieval Judaeo-Arabic Culture [Teʿuda, no. 14] (Tel-Aviv: Tel-Aviv University, 1998), 115n40

⁹ He is recognized as such by R. Avraham ibn Daud, Sefer ha-Kabbalah and R. Menachem Meiri in his introduction to Avot

¹⁰ Ashtor, E. The Jews of Muslim Spain, vol 2. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1973

¹¹ R. Avraham ibn Daud, Sefer ha-Kabbalah, G. Cohen ed., Hebrew section p. 54-55

¹² See his Ben Tehillim (Dov Yarden edition) poems number 18, 27, 49, and 214.

¹³ Written in gratitude for being saved in battle in a miraculous fashion. Dov Yarden, ed., Dīwān Shmuel ha-Nagid: Ben Tehillim (Jerusalem, 1985), p. 151

¹⁴ The nature of these works and the relationship between them is subject to debate. See Hilkhot ha-Nagid, ed. M. Margoliot. Jerusalem, 1962; Shraga Abramson, “From the Teaching of R. Samuel ha-Nagid of Spain,” Sinai Jubilee Volume [Sinai, vol. 100] (Jerusalem: Mosad ha-Rav Kook, 1987)

¹⁵ Shelomo ibn Gabirol, Shirei Hol (ed. Dov Yarden) no. 46 writes in praise of these responsa which are "copied over in gold on scrolls,"
ונקראות תשובותיו בבבל, ונפרשות בראשי הקהילות/ בסוד ראשי נהרדעי וסורא, עירות הפלילות הגדולות/ הרימוהן עלי כל התשובות, ובזהב כתבום במגילות
although this poem does not name its subject, the descriptions throughout the poem cannot refer to anyone other than R. Shmuel haNagid. Although these have been lost, it is possible that some of the halachic material preserved in his name, such as in R. Yehudah Barzilai's Sefer ha-Ittim no. 179 (page 267-268) may be from such responsa letters.

¹⁶ Referred to by R. Avraham ibn Ezra in his introduction to Yesod Mora:  טוב הוא למשכיל שילמוד מזאת החכמה רק לא יתעסק בה כל ימיו לקרוא ספרי ר׳ יהודה המדקדק הראשון וי׳ ספרי ר׳ מרינוס וכ״ב ספרי ר׳ שמואל הנגיד ועל כאלה אמר שלמה (קהלת יב) עשות ספרים הרבה אין קץ. Also, see ibn Ezra's introduction to his own grammatical work, the Sefer Moznaim:  ורב שמואל הנגיד ממדינת קורטבה חקק ספר העושר והוא גדול מכל הספרים הנזכרים ואין למעלה ממנו. About this book and its role in the grammatical controversies of Muslim Spain, see Ilan, Eldar. "On the History of the Grammatical Controversy between Ibn Janah and Samuel Ha-Nagid Following the Discovery of a Geniza Fragment from 'The Book of Shame' by Ibn Janah." [Hebrew] in Studies in the Hebrew Language and Jewish Languages in Honor of Shelomo Morag, edited by M. Bar-Asher, Jerusalem, 1996, pp. 41-61.

¹⁷ Shraga Abramson, “From the Teaching of R. Samuel ha-Nagid of Spain,”, Sinai Jubilee Volume [Sinai, vol. 100] (Jerusalem: Mosad ha-Rav Kook, 1987)

¹⁸ Yehoshua Horowitz. “The Attitude of R. Shmuel Ha-Nagid toward the Geonim / יחסו של שמואל הנגיד לגאונים.” Proceedings of the World Congress of Jewish Studies / דברי הקונגרס העולמי למדעי היהדות יא (1993): 185–90.

¹⁹ As he writes in the introduction to his halakhic work,  ורב האיי גדול כולם אשו לי פליאותיו להתפאר צפירות / ומבורו אני שואב ופתו אני אוכל ולא אמצא מרורות / ומעביו ארוה הצמאים ואביע ישראל מקורות... ולא אהדר פני רם כי פני כל אשר חנף לאל רם לא הדורות. Dov Yarden, ed., Dīwān Shmuel ha-Nagid: Ben Tehillim (Jerusalem, 1985), 151-53

²⁰ R. Avraham ibn Ezra to Bereshit 17:1

²¹ See, for example, R. Zerachia haLevi Ba'al ha-Meor to Shabbat 59b (and Ramban on the same topic, to Shabbat 57a), Ramban to Ketubot 8a, R. Bezalel Ashkenazi Shittah Mekubetzet, Bava Kama 13a