[1] He received his education at Narbonne, his probable birthplace; afterward he lived at Barcelona, and later at Zaragoza, in which city he died about 1209.
He practised medicine, and was the author of a medical work, manuscript copies of which are still extant at Oxford and Munich.
Such was his reputation as a physician that patients came long distances to consult him, and some are said to have journeyed even from Mainz (e.g., Solomon ben Hananel).
Benveniste, whose generosity is praised by Al-Ḥarizi, was poetically gifted and composed several liturgical songs.
Even in his old age he remained a friend of free investigation, as the following epigram on Meïr Abulafia shows: Benveniste directed a letter to the congregation of Lunel, in answer to the epistle of Abulafia to that congregation, in which he freely expresses himself upon the value of Maimonides's "Yad ha-Ḥazaḳah," because it enabled the laity to control the judgments rendered by the Rabbis.