Maimonides is certainly the most important Jewish writer of the Twelfth Century, if not, of the millennium. But in this brief survey, we’ll take a peek at the writings of three of his contemporaries.

-Yehudah Halevy’s poetry ranges from political to love songs to spiritual laments.

-Benjamin of Tudela spent more than a decade traveling across Europe, India, and the Arabian Peninsula, and travel diaries are a wonderful source of insights into the past.

-Abraham ibn Ezra wrote about math, astronomy, and grammar, but is best known for his biblical commentaries and his witty poetry.

Join us at Bet Ha'am for a brief literary journey to Twelfth Century Spain, led (over Skype) by Steve Steinbock.

Steve Steinbock is a longtime member of the Bet Ha'am community who will be leading, with Rabbi Saks, a Sephardic history trip to Spain and Holland in November of this year.

In Spain, we'll explore the golden age of Spanish Jewry in Madrid, Segovia, Toledo, Cordoba, Granada, and Seville, as well as encounter contemporary Jewish life in modern Spain. Our experiences will include the rich encounters between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam on the Iberian Peninsula. Then, we'll follow the journey of Sephardic Jews during the time of the Inquisition and travel north to Amsterdam for an encounter with its Jewish history and that community's experience during the Holocaust, as well as modern Jewish life in Amsterdam.