Item Description:

Rabbi Yehuda Halevy was one of the great figures of Spanish Jewry. Known as the poet laureate of Judaism, he was also a seminal thinker and philosopher as well as a physician and leading Torah scholar. This series highlights the events of his life and times. It also reviews his magnificent poetry and finally provides an overview of his philosophy as it appears in his great work "Kuzari." This three tape series will enhance one's appreciation of the poetic, philosophical side of Jewish thought and history.

Individual lectures:

His Life and Times - Torah scholar, poet, physician, and philosopher, Rabbi Yehudah ha Levy was a renaissance man centuries before the Renaissance. Independently wealthy and enjoying comfort and tolerance in Spain in its Golden Age, he nonetheless yearned for the Holy Land. From his family life to his treacherous journeys through the Middle East, Rabbi Wein portrays the triumphs, sorrows, and achievements of this father of Spanish Jewry.

The Poetry of Rabbi Yehuda Halevy - Rabbi Yehudah Ha Levy wrote prolifically his entire life, and the varied themes of his poetry are a direct reflection of the many events that befell him. With a sampling of his work - the personal poems he wrote for his friends, the piyutim that are still included in our prayers, and the love poems he later repudiated, Rabbi Wein gives us a taste of the passion that stirred within this great soul.

The Kuzari - Of all books of Jewish philosophy and theology, the Kuzari is distinct for its novelty of approach. The scenario is fictional; the king of the Khazars invites four people - a philosopher, a Christian, a Moslem, and a Jew - to debate the relative merits of their worldviews. With logical arguments that spell out the principles of the Jewish faith and debunk the erroneous beliefs of the others, Rabbi Yehudah Ha Levy's classic work is simultaneously imaginative and rational, creative and informative.