HARIZI

harizi, judah ben solomon (13th cent.), called also al-harizi, a spanish hebrew poet and traveller. he translated from the arabic to hebrew some of the works of maimonides (q.v.) and also of the arab poet hariri. his own most considerable work was the _tahkemoni_, composed between 1218 and 1220. this is written in hebrew in unmetrical rhymes, in what is commonly termed "rhymed prose." it is a series of humorous episodes, witty verses, and quaint applications of scriptural texts. the episodes are bound together by the presence of the hero and of the narrator, who is also the author. harizi not only brought to perfection the art of applying hebrew to secular satire, but he was also a brilliant literary critic and his _makame_ on the andalusian hebrew poets is a fruitful source of information. see, on the _tahkemoni_, kaempf, _nicht-andalusische poesie andalusischer dichter_ (prague, 1858). in that work a considerable section of the _tahkemoni_ is translated into german. (i. a.)