Ishtori Haparchi (1280-1366) (also Estori Haparchi, Ashtori ha-Parhi) (Hebrew: אשתורי הפרחי) is the pen name of the 14th century Jewish physician, topographer and traveler, Isaac Ben Moses.[1]
Ishtori Haparchi was born in France in 1280. His family originally came from Florenzia, Spain.[2] The surname Haparchi means "the Florentine" in Hebrew (perech is Hebrew for flower). He is commonly known by the title Kaftor Vaferech taken from the name of his work, the expression being additionally a pun on his surname. When the Jews were expelled from France in 1306, he travelled to Spain and Egypt, and then settled in Eretz Yisrael. He worked as a physician in Bet She'an, where he died in 1355.
Ishtori Haparchi was the author of the first Hebrew book on the geography of Eretz Yisrael [3] Sefer Kaftor Vaferech (Hebrew: ספר כפתור ופרח (literally "Bulb and Flower"), written in 1322 and published in Venice in 1549. [4]Kaftor Vaferech ("Bulb and Flower") is a Hebrew idiom derived from the description of the menorah in the Temple (Exodus 37:17) and means a "work of art". In the context of the book it refers to the lay of the land. Haparchi lists the names of towns and villages in Eretz Yisrael and discusses the topography of land based on first-hand visits to the sites. Modern scholarship has determined that most of the 180 ancient sites he identified were correct, among them Usha, Modi'in and Betar. [1]