What is the name of the Ibn Ezra's sefer of riddles?

scruffy

Wed, Dec 07 2022, 12:24 pm

I am looking for his sefer of riddles and do not know the name.

Would anyone be able to help out?

Thank you!

Chayalle

Wed, Dec 07 2022, 12:45 pm

Following.

My mother AH once told me the famous palindrome of the Ibn Ezra.

אבי קל חי שמך למה מלך משיח לא יבא? דעו מאביכם כי לא בוש אבוש שוב אשוב אליכם כי בא מועד

scruffy

Wed, Dec 07 2022, 12:52 pm

Chayalle wrote:

Wow, I love that!!

Here's a riddle my dh told me yesterday.

סוף סוף תחילת שמי, תחילת סוף סוף שמי, נח בא בתוך התיבה

scruffy

Wed, Dec 07 2022, 2:03 pm

Wolfsbane wrote:

Is it מעדני מלך?
https://hebrewbooks.org/37535

From a cursory glance, this seems to be about chess. So not what I'm referring to, but also very fascinating.

To speak anachronistically, the Ibn Ezra was a real Renaissance man.

Wolfsbane

Wed, Dec 07 2022, 2:04 pm

Wolfsbane wrote:

Is it מעדני מלך?
https://hebrewbooks.org/37535

Never mind, that just seems to be a poem about chess?

Wolfsbane

Wed, Dec 07 2022, 2:10 pm

This seems to be a Diwan, so would be a collection of poetry, but not necessarily riddles...
https://hebrewbooks.org/38498

Wolfsbane

Wed, Dec 07 2022, 2:16 pm

scruffy wrote:

Wow, I love that!!

Here's a riddle my dh told me yesterday.

סוף סוף תחילת שמי, תחילת סוף סוף שמי, נח בא בתוך התיבה

starts with a פ
ends with a ס
נח in the middle...

פנחס?

scruffy

Wed, Dec 07 2022, 2:16 pm

Wolfsbane wrote:

This seems to be a Diwan, so would be a collection of poetry, but not necessarily riddles...
https://hebrewbooks.org/38498

Thank you. I'm trying to read it but getting stuck. Am I correct in thinking that this is not totally written in Hebrew? But not sure what else it could be written in. Is this some kind of Hebrew Arabic dialect?

ETA as I'm glancing through it, I see that some of the poems are written in Hebrew and some are maybe written in Arabic but with the aleph bais...

Last edited by scruffy on Wed, Dec 07 2022, 2:18 pm; edited 1 time in total

scruffy

Wed, Dec 07 2022, 2:16 pm

Wolfsbane wrote:

starts with a פ
ends with a ס
נח in the middle...

פנחס?

You got it!

cbsp

Wed, Dec 07 2022, 2:19 pm

scruffy wrote:

Wow, I love that!!

Here's a riddle my dh told me yesterday.

סוף סוף תחילת שמי, תחילת סוף סוף שמי, נח בא בתוך התיבה

My 7th grade daughter had that as a Parsha riddle earlier this year. It was in a kids book we had read recently, otherwise I don't know if we would have figured it out...

Wolfsbane

Wed, Dec 07 2022, 2:21 pm

scruffy wrote:

The little intro paragraph titled אלגז אלאול looks like it's probably Arabic but the poems that I've glanced at look like they're in Hebrew

Wolfsbane

Wed, Dec 07 2022, 2:23 pm

How about this? https://hebrewbooks.org/37048
Seems to be a compilation of Ibn Ezra writings including riddles

scruffy

Wed, Dec 07 2022, 2:27 pm

Wolfsbane wrote:

How about this? https://hebrewbooks.org/37048
Seems to be a compilation of Ibn Ezra writings including riddles

Thank you! I think this is what I was looking for.

I did find some riddles scattered throughout the second book you linked as well.

Wolfsbane

Wed, Dec 07 2022, 2:29 pm

Wolfsbane wrote:

How about this? https://hebrewbooks.org/37048
Seems to be a compilation of Ibn Ezra writings including riddles

Hmm, seems like that was volume one, which looks like mostly poetry
This is volume 2 on google books https://books.google.com.ag/bo.....false but does not seem to be riddles either.

Wolfsbane

Wed, Dec 07 2022, 2:36 pm

scruffy wrote:

Thank you! I think this is what I was looking for.

I did find some riddles scattered throughout the second book you linked as well.

Oh, it looks like there are indeed riddles in section 6 - starting on page 87 (110 in the PDF).

scruffy

Wed, Dec 07 2022, 2:37 pm

Wolfsbane wrote:

Oh, it looks like there are indeed riddles in section 6 - starting on page 87 (110 in the PDF).

Yes I found the section. I'm really impressed with your search skills! Thank you so much for your help!

Wolfsbane

Wed, Dec 07 2022, 2:38 pm

Hey, there's an entire section on riddles connected to names! But I don't see the Pinchas one there.

Wolfsbane

Wed, Dec 07 2022, 2:40 pm

scruffy wrote:

Yes I found the section. I'm really impressed with your search skills! Thank you so much for your help!

I just ran Ibn Ezra through hebrewbooks Wink

Never realized he wrote so many sefarim.
And what can I say, I am a very dedicated procrastinator...

scruffy

Wed, Dec 07 2022, 2:42 pm

Wolfsbane wrote:

Hey, there's an entire section on riddles connected to names! But I don't see the Pinchas one there.

I don't see it either, but a lot of them do seem to have a similar flavor to the Pinchas one. I'm wondering if it actually is the Ibn Ezra's, and just didn't make it into the sefer, or if it got attributed to him by others due the similarity.

I figured out the Pinchas one on my own pretty quickly, but I don't think I would be able to do the same with all of the others. Some of them are a bit more complex which is great!