ר׳ חזקיה בן מנוח

ר׳ חזקיה בן מנוח (fl. mid-thirteenth century), known as the Chizkuni, was a French biblical commentator whose surviving biography is almost entirely contained in his commentary and its rhymed introduction. His precise birthplace, teachers, movements and lifespan are unknown. Around 1240 he compiled a commentary on the Pentateuch drawing selectively on approximately twenty earlier works, especially the northern French exegetical tradition of ר׳ שלמה יצחקי, ר׳ שמואל בן מאיר and ר׳ יוסף בכור שור, as well as ר׳ אברהם אבן עזרא, midrash and halakhic sources. Rather than merely reproducing them, he condensed, compared and often reformulated interpretations, preserving otherwise lost material and numerous Old French glosses. A passage in the introduction associates the work with his father Manoah and has been interpreted—uncertainly—as referring to persecution and injury. The commentary was first printed in Venice in 1524 and remains a standard medieval Torah commentary.