I continue sharing with you one of the classes of my dear uncle, Hakham Yosef Faur, z”l. Rabbi Faur had a passion for history and particularly the history of the Jews of Spain. In this class he referred to “Four Giants of Sepharad”. Previously, we spoke about Rabbenu Bahiya. Today we will talk about Ribbi Yehuda haLevi, born in Toledo (or Tudela), Spain, 1075.
THE CUZARI
Ribbi Yehuda was a prominent philosopher, and his most famous book is the Cuzari. A work written in the form of a dialogue, questions and answers, between King Bulan, from the Khazar empire and Rab Isaac haSangari. King Bulan, who did not practice any religion, summoned an Imam, a Christian priest, a rabbi and a philosopher (equivalent today to an atheist thinker) and asked each one to present their arguments. In the end, King Bulan thought that the rabbi’s arguments were the most convincing, and he decided to convert and convert the subjects of his empire to Judaism. The historical and philosophical principles that the Jewish Sage transmitted to King Bulan constitute the content of the book of “The Cuzari”. This widely documented mass conversion took place in the 8th century. And the Jewish empire of the Khazars (the first “independent Jewish state” after the destruction of the second Bet haMiqdash, sic.!) continued for around 200 years after this event.
POETRY AND THEOLOGY
Apart from his philosophical work, Ribbi Yehuda haLevi is also known for his poetic work. To understand the importance of poetry in 11th century Spain we need a brief introduction. For the Arabs the Quran is the most revered book. And the proof of the superiority of the Quran (and Islam over other religions) is the perfection of the Arabic language. “There is no Arabic more perfect than the Arabic of the Quran, and there is no language more perfect than the Arabic language.” But how can anyone prove that one language is superior to another? In the Middle Ages the answer was: “poetry”. The Arabic language has a certain plasticity, which Western languages, for example, do not have. This allows to create a type of “metric” poetry, where the verses are written with mathematical precision.
A four words verse may be written, for example, in this way:
FIRST WORD (two syllables): 1. Half vowel, open syllable. 2. Long vowel, closed syllable.
SECOND WORD (two syllables): 1. Open syllable, long vowel. 2. Closed syllable, long vowel.
THIRD WORD (two syllables): 1. Half vowel, open syllable. 2. Short vowel, closed syllable.
FOURTH WORD (two syllables). 1. Long vowel, open syllable. 2. Short vowel, closed syllable.
In this type of Arabic poetry, the art is to write all verse maintaining the same structure. But to preserve this sophisticated structure, which among other things facilitates the adaptation of these poems to a wide variety of melodies, something had to be sacrificed: the content of the poem. In any case, this metric, impossible in other languages such as Spanish, Latin or Greek, demonstrated the superiority of Islam.
DUEL OF THE POETS
Rabbi Faur explains that the Rabbis of Spain, then under Muslim rule, responded to this challenge that threaten the credibility of Judaism. The famous sages Yona Ibn Jannah, Hasday Ibn Shaprut, and many other grammarians of the Hebrew school of Córdoba (X and XI century) began formulating the grammatical rules of Biblical Hebrew and made it possible to compose metric poetry in Hebrew, something that until then was not very common. The Jewish Sages composed Hebrew poems that were as elaborate as the poems in Arabic. But with one advantage: Arabic poetry sounded very good, but it said nothing, since it was extremely difficult to force content into such closed structures. Hebrew poetry, however, in addition to preserving the sophisticated metric structure, was extremely rich in content. In fact, the four words example of metric poetry that I mentioned above corresponds to the first stanza of “A-don o-lam a-sher ma-laj,” a poem adaptable to a wide variety of melodies thanks to its perfect metric, with a very profound theological content (It was composed, according to some opinions, by the famous poet Ribbi Shelomo Ibn Gabirol, 1028 -1051).
A JOURNEY TO THE HEART OF RIBBI YEHUDA HALEVI
Rabbi Faur ends his exposition on Yehuda haLevi explaining that he developed a new genre of poetry (in Spanish is called: género sionida) that is, the poetry that expresses the love of the Jewish people for Zion, and the desire to return to Yerushalayim. Rabbi Faur says that in this way Ribbi Yehuda haLevi became the pioneer of modern Zionism.
One of Ribbi Yehuda haLevi’s most celebrated poems is “My heart is in the Orient”.
Let’s see one stanza of this beautiful and famous song.
לִבִּי בְמִזְרָח וְאָנֹכִי בְּסוֹף מַעֲרָב אֵיךְ אֶטְעֲמָה אֵת אֲשֶׁר אֹכַל וְאֵיךְ יֶעֱרָב אֵיכָה אֲשַׁלֵּם נְדָרַי וֶאֱסָרַי, בְּעוֹד צִיּוֹן בְּחֶבֶל אֱדוֹם וַאֲנִי בְּכֶבֶל עֲרָב יֵקַל בְּעֵינַי עֲזֹב כָּל טוּב סְפָרַד, כְּמוֹ יֵקַר בְּעֵינַי רְאוֹת עַפְרוֹת דְּבִיר נֶחֱרָב
«My heart is in the East [Israel]; while I am at the end of the West [Spain].
How could I feel the taste of what I eat; how could I enjoy sweetness [on my palate, while I’m not in the Land of Israel]?
How am I to fulfill my promises and vows [in the Bet haMiqdash] while Zion is under the yoke of Edom [= Christendom. During the first crusade, in 1099, Christians conquered Jerusalem], and I am here, trapped in the bonds of Arabia?
How easily I would abandon all the pleasures of Spain, to delight my eyes seeing the dust of the ruins of the destroyed Sanctuary… ”.
At the end of his days, and after a very difficult journey, Rabbi Yehuda haLevi fulfilled his dream and arrived in Jerusalem. It is said that as soon as his eyes finally saw the ruins of the Bet haMiqdash, he was killed by an Arab rider, near the Western Wall. It is for this reason that the stairs leading down from the Old City to the Kotel are named in his honor “Ma’alot Rabbi Yehuda haLevi” .
