ISAAC BEN BARUCH ALBALIA
(1035-1094)
Astronomer and Talmudist who became part of the court of King Al-Mu'tamid of Seville as an astrologer. Isaac was born in Cordoba and, according to Ibn Daud, in his youth he had as his teacher the French scholar Rabbi Perigors. He also had a close relationship with Samuel ben Joseph ha-Nagid and with his son Jehoseph ben Samuel ha-Nagid, to whom he dedicated in 1065 his calendrical work Maḥberet Sod ha-Ibbur (“The Secret of Intercalation”). It is known that when Jehoseph died in 1066, Isaac spent large sums of money on rebuilding the family library that had been dispersed.
In 1069 Al-Mu'tamid, King of Seville, appointed him to his entourage as a court astrologer, and also rabbi and nasi (prince) of the Jews in his kingdom. R. Isaac used his influence at court to improve the status of the Jews in the kingdom. Isaac was renowned for his great scholarship, both in general and in Jewish studies.
At the age of 30, he began writing his “Kuppat ha-Rokhelim” (“The Spice-Sellers’ Basket”), a commentary on difficult passages in the Talmud, but did not complete it.
Two of Albalia’s responsa have been preserved:
- One on the laws of “ẓiẓit” in “Temim De’im” by Abraham b. David de Posquières (no. 224).
- One in Arabic in “Toratam shel Rishonim” (ed. by Ch. M. Horowitz, 2 (1881), 36–38).
