BENJAMIN OF

See also:

• TUDELA

TUDELA (in

See also:

• NAVARRE (Span. Navarra)

Navarre)  , a Jewish rabbi of the 12th century . He visited Constantinople, Egypt, Assyria and 1 Jerusalem and its district was Jebusite until its capture by David (so 2 Sam. v.) ; for Beeroth and Gibeon, see 2 Sam. iv . 2 seq., xxi . 2, and note the Benjamite and Judahite names which find analogies in the Edomite genealogies . See, on these points, S . A . Cook, Jew . Quarterly Review (1906), pp . 528 sqq . Persia, and penetrated to the frontiers of China . His journeys occupied him for about thirteen years . He was credulous, but his Itinerary, or Massa'oth, contains some curious notices of the countries he visited and of the condition of the Jews .

Thus his

work is of much value for the Jewish history of the 12th century . It is from Benjamin that we know that the Jews of Palestine and other parts of the East were noted for the arts of dyeing and glass-making . His Itinerary was translated from the Hebrew into Latin by Arias Montanus in 1575, and appeared in a French version by Baratier in 1734 . There have been various English translations . One was published by Asher in 1840; another (with critical Hebrew text) by M . N . Adler (Jewish Quarterly Review, vols. xvi.-xviii.; also re-printed as a separate volume, 1907) .