Judah Halevi Biography

Judah Halevi (also Yehuda Halevi or ha-Levi; Hebrew: יהודה הלוי‬ and Judah ben Shmuel Halevi יהודה בן שמואל הלוי‬; Arabic: يهوذا اللاوي‎; c. 1075 – 1141) was a Spanish Jewish physician, poet and philosopher. He was born in Spain, either in Toledo or Tudela, in 1075 or 1086, and died shortly after arriving in the Holy Land in 1141, at that point the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. Halevi is considered one of the greatest Hebrew poets, celebrated both for his religious and secular poems, many of which appear in present-day liturgy. His greatest philosophical work was The Kuzari.