Judah Ha-Levi Bei-Rabbi Hillel

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JUDAH HA-LEVI BEI-RABBI HILLEL

JUDAH HA-LEVI BEI-RABBI HILLEL , medieval paytan, some of whose work was recently discovered in the Cairo Genizah. Judah's piyyutim are based on customs prevailing in Ereẓ Israel, which would indicate that he lived there or in Egypt, where there was a Palestinian community. He is the only paytan known to have composed piyyutim for Tu bi-Shevat. Two of his kerovot for the *Shemoneh Esreh are preserved; one, published by M. Zulay (Leket Shirim u-Fiyyutim (1936)) contains names of trees growing in Palestine.

bibliography:

M. Zulay, in: Eretz Israel, 4 (1956), 138–44; A.M. Habermann, Ateret Renanim (1967), 123.

[Menahem Zulay]