His name in Hebrew is given as Ч‘ЦґЦјЧ Ц°Ч™ЦёЧћЦґЧ™Чџ ЧћЦґЧЦјЧ•ЦјЧ“Ц¶ЧњЦёЧ” the Arabs, who respected him highly, know him as Binyamin Al-Tutayli (ШЁЩ†ЩЉШ§Щ…ЩЉЩ† Ш§Щ„ШЄШ·ЩЉЩ„ЩЉ). It is a tragedy that we know so little of his early life, but it seems he was raised as a devout Jew and became proficient in rabbinical learning by his early adulthood. He was born in the city of Tudela, in the Kingdom of Navarre in Castile around 1130. He states where he has been, records his strongest impressions, and moves on. He reminds us more of Ibn Fadlan than these other two names for he never indulges in wild speculation, never digresses, and gives an impression of reliability that we find wanting at times in the wily Venetian and the loquacious Ibn Battuta. But he ranks as one of the most accomplished of the great medieval travelers, occupying the same ground as such luminaries as Ibn Battuta, Ibn Fadlan, and the Venetian Marco Polo.

The name of Benjamin of Tudela is not likely to be a familiar one to the modern reader. Following close behind them would be a thirst to seek oneвЂ™s fortune, to take a certain measure of the world and its people, and to test oneвЂ™s mettle against the mettlesome natures of others. The desire to get out, to get away from everything that reeks of contemptible familiarity, to smash through obstacles and barriers both mental and physical, to be confronted with stimuli both terrifying and strange: these would be primary impulses. The motivations of intrepid travelers are not difficult to discern.

Benjamin of tudela book of travels