Shalom Shabazi Biography | Poet

Rabbi Shalom ben Yosef Shabbazi, also Abba Shalem Shabbezi or Salim Elshibzi (Hebrew : , Arabic) was one of the greatest Jewish poets who lived in 17th century Yemen and now considered the 'Poet of Yemen'. Shabbazi was born in 1619 at Jewish Sharab, close to Ta'izz, and lived most of his life in Ta'izz from which he was expelled, along with most of the Yemenite Jews in 1679. He died in 1720. His father, Yosef ben Abijad bin Khalfun was also a Rabbi and a poet. Shabbazi's extant poetic diwan, comprising some 550 poems, was published for the first time by the Ben-Zvi Institute in 1977. He wrote in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Judeo-Arabic. Shabbazi's other writing include a treatise on astrology and a cabbalistic commentary on the Torah. Shabbazi's grave in Ta'izz is revered by Jews and Muslims alike. He is now considered by Academics as the 'Shakespeare of Yemen'.