The Author, Hebrew poet, was born in Toledo and spent most of his life there. In his youth Abulafia composed a series of poems in honor of Jewish notables close to the court of Alfonso X of Castile and later Sancho IV. He accompanied Don Isaac b. Don Solomon Zadok (Don Caq de la Maleha; see Ibn Zadok) on his travels, shared in his diversions and, apparently through his influence, was brought in touch with the royal court. He divided his time between poetry and finance and succeeded at both. In common with others of his class at that period, his morals were lax and he had many liaisons with non-Jewish women. He was among the Jews of Castile arrested by royal order in January 1281. In prison he wrote many poems which seem to indicate a change in outlook, although none of them expresses contrition for his past behavior. After the release of the prisoners, with the impact of their misfortune still fresh in their minds, the rabbi Todros ben Joseph Abulafia called upon his kinsmen to repent and demanded that all those who continued to consort with Muslim or Christian women be excommunicated. The poet himself, however, did not alter his own conduct nor did he see in it any contradiction of his religious views. After great effort Abulafia succeeded in regaining his status at court; in 1289 he is mentioned among the men of affairs in the service of Sancho IV, and some years later headed a group of Jewish financiers who received important monopolies. The last certain date mentioned in his poems is 1298. Abulafia was a prolific writer, His Gan ha-Meshalim ve-ha-Hidot (“Garden of Apologues and Saws”) contains more than 1,000 poems. Abulafia's poems are repetitive and superficial; they are, however, valuable for the historical material they contain and for the interesting relation to the general literature of the times which is revealed, for example, in the “girdle” poems, polemical verses, poems on spiritual love, etc. Few of the Judeo-Spanish poets wrote about themselves as candidly as Abulafia, even on matters which were likely to arouse the resentment of his readers.