Hiyya al-Daudi - Biography

Hiyya al-Daudi (born in Babylonia, died Kingdom of Castile, 1154) (in Hebrew: חייא אלדאודי) was a Jewish prominent rabbi, composer and poet of Andalusia.

Hiyya al-Daudi was the son of David, son of Hezekiah Gaon. He came from Babylonia to the Iberian Peninsula, according to the historian Abraham Zacuto. He was an outstanding Rabbi, and in addition he was a liturgical composer and poet, and served as Advisor to King Afonso I of Portugal. Two of his piyutim (poems) were included in the compilation Betulat bat Yehudah by the scholar Samuel David Luzzatto.

His son Yaish Ibn Yahya (died 1196) was the father of Yahia Ben Rabbi.

Sources

• Ibn Daud, Abraham: Seffer Hakabbala (in Hebrew), Oxford, 1888, page 67.
• Zacuto, Abraham: The book of Lineage, Zacuto Foundation, Tel Aviv, 2005, pp 515 and 534.