ר׳ אשתורי הפרחי

ר׳ אשתורי הפרחי (c.1280–c.1355) was a physician, halakhist, traveller and the pioneering Hebrew geographer of the Land of Israel. Born into a scholarly Provençal family, he studied with relatives, ר׳ אליעזר בן יוסף of Chinon and ר׳ יעקב בן מכיר אבן תיבון at Montpellier, acquiring Torah alongside Arabic, Latin, medicine and science. Expelled from France in 1306, he travelled through Spain and Egypt before reaching the Land of Israel. After about a year in Jerusalem he settled at Beit She’an, where he practised medicine and systematically explored the country. Over seven years he compared biblical and rabbinic place names with living Arabic names, routes, ruins, agricultural conditions and local traditions. He completed כפתור ופרח in 1322 and submitted it for rabbinic review. The work combines geography with the commandments dependent on the land, Temple measurements, calendar questions and practical halakhah. Rediscovered and printed in Venice in 1549, it became an indispensable source for historical topography and the study of medieval Jewish settlement. He remained in Beit She’an until his death around 1355.