Isaac ben Baruch Albalia (1035–1094) was an Andalusian talmudist, astronomer/astrologer, and esteemed communal leader. Most of what is known of his biography comes from Abraham ibn Da’ud’s Sefer ha-Qabbala (Heb. The Book of Tradition). Moses ibn Ezra mentions him in his ars poetica, Kitābal-Muḥāḍara wa-l-Mudhākara (p. 39v), as a writer of poetry and prose. Throughout his life, Albalia was familiar with the main Jewish communities in al-Andalus: Cordova, Lucena, Seville, and Granada. His education and intellectual activity are representative of the Jewish elite of his time, c…