Isaac Israeli Ben-josef

Isaac Israeli ben-Josef a very distinguished' Jewish writer who flourished at Toledo in the first half of the- 14th century (1300-1340), deserves our notice as the author of יסוֹד עוֹלָם, or The Foundation of the World, a masterly production on Jewish chronology, including also the entire field of the science of astronomy, both theoretically and practically delineated (Berlin, 1777, 4to; and a better edition, ibid. 1848, 4to). This work, of which a part of the MS. has been preserved, was written about 1310 at the express wish of Israeli's teacher, Asher ben-Jechiel. He also compiled tables of Jewish chronology under the title of סֵדֶד הִקִּבָּלָה (Zolkiew, 1805, 8vo, et el.). See Gratz, Gesch. d. Juden, 7:290; Carmoly, Itineraires, p. 224; B. Goldberg, Isaac Israeli (in the Lib. d. Or. 1845), c. 433-435; Furst, Biblioth. Judaica, 2, 150. (J. H.W.)