The Book of Nativities

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Rabbi Avraham Ben Meir Ibn Ezra (1089-1164) was a renowned Jewish scholar, whose accomplishments and prolific writing encompassed Biblical exegeses, Hebrew grammar, personal, national and liturgical poetry, philosophy, mathematics, geometry, astronomy and Astrology. In mainstream Judaism he is known and loved to this day mainly for his Bible commentary and his poetry, whereas to the Christian European world he was introduced through his astrological and scientific works. The Book of Nativities (Sefer Ha'Moladot) is Meira Epstein's third publication in the series of English translations of Avraham Ibn Ezra's astrological works. The other two are The Beginning of Wisdom (Reshit Hokhma), 1998, and The Book of Reasons (Sefer Ha'Te'amim), 1994. Together, these three, written by Ibn Ezra in this sequence, make one integral body of the astrological doctrine: Introduction of the fundamentals, further theoretical explanations, the application to the individual birth chart and prognosis work. Moladot is a prime example of Ibn Ezra's approach to astrology, in which he combines his Jewish religious beliefs and his philosophical principles with down-to-earth astrological doctrine and techniques.