Abraham ibn Ezra (jan 1, 1089 – jan 1, 1167)

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Ibn Ezra spends the second half of his life wandering between Italy, France, and England after fleeing the Almohad persecution, writing for communities that lack access to Arabic scholarship. He produces grammatical, astronomical, and mathematical works alongside a biblical commentary marked by rigorous attention to the plain meaning of the text. In several passages he hints, deliberately obscurely, that certain verses could not have been written by Moses, telling the reader who understands to keep silent. Those cryptic remarks are picked up centuries later by Spinoza and become a starting point for modern biblical criticism.

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