Bahya ben Asher
Spanish rabbi
Bahya ben Asher ibn Halawa (בחיי בן אשר אבן חלואה, 1255–1340) was a rabbi and scholar of Judaism, best known as a commentator on the Hebrew Bible.
He is one of two scholars now referred to as Rabbeinu Behaye, the other being philosopher Bahya ibn Paquda.
Biography
Bahya was a pupil of Rabbi Shlomo ibn Aderet (the Rashba). Unlike the latter, Bahya did not publish a Talmud commentary; he is, however, considered by Jewish scholars to be one of the most distinguished of the biblical exegetes of Spain.
He "discharged with zeal" the duties of a darshan (Hebrew for "expounder") in his native city of Zaragoza, sharing this position with several others. He is buried in Kadarim, Israel, a few minutes walking distance from the prophet Habakkuk.
Works
Bahya's principal work is his commentary on the Torah (the five books of Moses), but he is also known for others, especially Kad ha-Kemah.
Torah commentary
The commentary on the Torah - "מדרש רבינו בחיי על התורה " - enjoyed much favor, as attested to by the numerous supercommentaries published on it (not less than ten are enumerated by Bernstein (Monatsschrift xviii. 194-196)).
Owing to the large space devoted to the Kabbalah, the work was also particularly valuable to Kabbalists.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q458707. VIAF identifies the subject as 229046142. The Library of Congress control number is n80070852. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1255 and 1340.
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