  Not long after 1108, the year his patron in Toledo, Solomon ibn Ferruziel, was murdered, Halevi began to move from city to city. He traveled in the company of his close friend and younger colleague, Abraham ibn Ezra, the grammarian, biblical exegete, and Neo-Platonic philosopher. As his fame spread, Halevi enlarged his circle of friendships and contacts as far as North Africa and Egypt. One of these, Abu Said Halfon Ha-Levi of Damietta, a distinguished Jewish merchant with whom Halevi corresponded and finally met in person in 1127, became an especially trusted friend and partner in efforts to ransom Jewish captives. He would later become Halevi's host in Egypt.