Joseph Kimhi

Joseph Qimḥi or Kimchi (1105–1170) (Hebrew: יוסף קמחי‎) was a medieval Jewish rabbi and biblical commentator. He was the father of Moses and David Kimhi, and the teacher of Rabbi and poet Joseph Zabara.

Grammarian, exegete, poet, and translator; born in southern Spain about 1105; died about 1170. Forced to leave his native country owing to the religious persecutions of the Almohades, who invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 1146, he settled in Narbonne, Provence, where he spent the rest of his life. The Hachmei Provence were under the considerable influence of the neighboring Spanish Jewish community to the south at the time.

Qimḥi is known to have written commentaries on all the books of the Bible, though only fragments of his work have survived until today. The foundation of his work is a literal reading of the Masoretic Text ("