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Three perspectives on Judah Halevi's voyage to Palestine

2010; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 25; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09518967.2010.494091

1743-940X

David Malkiel,

Archaeology and Historical Studies

Abstract The recent publication of Raymond P. Scheindlin's The Song of the Distant Dove (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008) offers an opportunity to chart the course of scholarship on Judah Halevi's famous voyage to Palestine. For a century and a half students of history, literature and philosophy have subjected Halevi's odyssey to microscopic scrutiny, and the present study sorts the literature into two opposing camps, which can be crudely termed Zionist and Diasporist, based on their understanding of Halevi's purpose: one group views the journey as a clarion call to Spanish Jewry to abandon the option of life in the Diaspora, and likewise to forsake the Iberian synthesis of Graeco-Arabic and Jewish culture, while the other group portrays the voyage as a personal-religious quest, akin to the pilgrimages made by devout Muslims in advanced age. A very small group maintains that Halevi may have held both intentions. The historiographical survey concludes by noting that a contemporary tendency can be attributed to the proponents of both the Zionist and Diasporist interpretations. Keywords: pilgrimagepoetryZionism geniza Halevihistoriography Notes 1. Scheindlin Scheindlin, Raymond P. 1991. The Gazelle: Medieval Hebrew Poems on God, Israel, and the Soul, Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society. [Google Scholar], Song, 156. 2. Halevi's image in the eyes of medieval Jews is not relevant to this study, although it awaits adequate treatment. For the early modern era, including the eighteenth century, see Shear Shear, Adam. 2007. "Judah Halevi's Sefer ha-Kuzari in Early Modern Ashkenaz and the Early Haskalah: A Case Study in the Transmission of Cultural Knowledge". In Sepharad in Ashkenaz: Medieval Knowledge and Eighteenth-Century Enlightened Jewish Discourse, Edited by: Fontaine, Resianne, Schatz, Andrea and Zwiep, Irene. 69–83. Amsterdam: Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen. [Google Scholar], 'Judah Halevi's Sefer ha-Kuzari'. For reasons to be made clear, the following discussion focuses on Halevi's image in the thought of late-nineteenth- and twentieth-century Jewish thinkers. 3. Fleischer Fleischer, Ezra. 2000. On the Origins of the 'Amidah: Response to Ruth Langer. Prooftexts, 20: 380–4. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]'s propensity to strongly-worded formulations spurred Ruth Langer to respond to him on a matter of Jewish liturgy with the question: 'Do we serve the world best by propounding theories as if they were facts? By speaking a voice of certainty even as we are aware of the necessarily hypothetical nature of our proposals?' See her 'Considerations of Method', 386. Fleischer responded with a remark about the tendency of some scholars to prefer 'mystification and murkiness' to straightforward thinking: 'Response to Ruth Langer Langer, Ruth. 2000. Considerations of Method: A Response to Ezra Fleischer. Prooftexts, 20: 384–7. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]', 384. 4. Tamtsit artsenu umashma'utah; the translation is from Goitein Goitein, S.D. 1958–1959. Letters about R. Yehuda Hallewi's Stay in Alexandria and the Collection of his Poems. Tarbiz, 28: 343–61. (Hebrew) [Google Scholar], A Mediterranean Society, 5: 289. This is, thus, the beginning of the title of Fleischer's Fleischer, Ezra. 1996. "The Essence of Our Land and Its Meaning" – Towards a Portrait of Judah Halevi on the Basis of Geniza Documents. Pe'amim, 68: 4–15. (Hebrew). [Google Scholar] article: 'The Essence of Our Land and Its Meaning'. 5. Fleischer Fleischer, Ezra. 1994. "Rabbi Yehudah Halevi – Clarifications of his Biography and Oeuvre". In Israel Levin Jubilee Volume: Studies in Hebrew Literature, Edited by: Tsur, Reuven and Rozen, Tovah. 241–76. Tel-Aviv: Tel-Aviv University. (Hebrew). Vol. 1 [Google Scholar], 'Essence', 10. 6. Fleischer Fleischer, Ezra. 1994. "Rabbi Yehudah Halevi – Clarifications of his Biography and Oeuvre". In Israel Levin Jubilee Volume: Studies in Hebrew Literature, Edited by: Tsur, Reuven and Rozen, Tovah. 241–76. Tel-Aviv: Tel-Aviv University. (Hebrew). Vol. 1 [Google Scholar], 'Essence', 10, 13–14. 7. Fleischer Fleischer, Ezra. 1994. "Rabbi Yehudah Halevi – Clarifications of his Biography and Oeuvre". In Israel Levin Jubilee Volume: Studies in Hebrew Literature, Edited by: Tsur, Reuven and Rozen, Tovah. 241–76. Tel-Aviv: Tel-Aviv University. (Hebrew). Vol. 1 [Google Scholar], 'Essence', 10, 13. See also idem, 'Rabbi Yehudah Halevi – Clarifications', 269; Gil and Fleischer Gil, Moshe and Fleischer, Ezra. 2001. Yehuda Ha-Levi and his Circle, Jerusalem: World Union of Jewish Studies. (Hebrew). [Google Scholar], Ha-Levi and his Circle, 248. 8. Two poems by Halevi clearly express his intention to be buried in the Holy Land, and thus not to return to Spain: Ha-yukhlu pegarym – Brody Brody, H., ed. 1909. Dîwân des Abû-l-Hasân Jehuda ha-Levi, Berlin: Mekizei Nirdamim. (Hebrew). Vol. 2 [Google Scholar], Dîwân, 186, l. 51–52 (Scheindlin Scheindlin, Raymond P. 1994. Ibn Gabirol's Religious Poetry and Sufi Poetry. Sefarad, 54: 109–42. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], Song, 203); Lekha nafshy – Fleischer Fleischer, Ezra. 1994. "Rabbi Yehudah Halevi – Clarifications of his Biography and Oeuvre". In Israel Levin Jubilee Volume: Studies in Hebrew Literature, Edited by: Tsur, Reuven and Rozen, Tovah. 241–76. Tel-Aviv: Tel-Aviv University. (Hebrew). Vol. 1 [Google Scholar], 'Essence', 10, 171, l. 31–32 (Scheindlin, Song, 231). See Schirmann Schirmann, Jefim. Life of Judah Halevi. Studies in the History of Hebrew Poetry and Drama (Hebrew), 1250–318. (Hebrew) [Google Scholar], 'Life of Judah Halevi', 294, n. 89. Note also the reference to Halevi as talyb haj (pilgrim) in a letter to him by Abu-l-'Ala of Alexandria: Goitein, 'Hallewi's Stay in Alexandria', 353. 9. The source of the letter is a manuscript in Oxford's Bodleian library: Heb c. 28, f. 31, cited by Goitein as Oxford 1876, the manuscript's number in Adolf Neubauer's catalogue of the Hebrew manuscripts in Oxford's Bodleian library. The document has been published: Gil and Fleischer, Ha-Levi and his Circle, doc. 21, 332–5 (Hebrew translation: 335–7). 10. Goitein Goitein, S.D. 1954/55. The Last Phase of Rabbi Yehuda Hallevi's Life in the Light of the Geniza Papers. Tarbiz, 24: 21–47. (Hebrew) [Google Scholar], 'Last Phase', 25. Schirmann accepts Goitein's reasoning and conclusion. He observes that Halevi's Zion poem, Hetzyqatny (Scheindlin, Song, 219), refers to Isaac as being one of the dear ones Halevi dreaded leaving behind in Spain, which would seem to contradict Goitein's finding that Isaac accompanied Halevi to Egypt. Schirmann Schirmann, Jefim. 1979. Studies in the History of Hebrew Poetry and Drama, 1–2. Jerusalem: Mossad Bialik. (Hebrew) [Google Scholar] therefore concludes that the poem must refer to another Isaac. See Schirmann Schirmann, Jefim. Addenda to "Judah Halevi's Biography. Studies in the History of Hebrew Poetry and Drama (Hebrew)., 1319–41. (Hebrew) [Google Scholar], 'Addenda', 333–4. For an English translation of Hetzyqatny, see Scheindlin Scheindlin, RaymondP. 2002. "Merchants and Intellectuals, Rabbis and Poets: Judaeo-Arabic Culture in the Golden Age of Islam". In Cultures of the Jews: A New History, Edited by: Biale, David. 313–86. New York: Schocken Books. [Google Scholar], 'Merchants and Intellectuals', 375–6. Gil and Fleischer, however, maintain (Ha-Levi and his Circle, 196) that Hetzyqatny refers to Halevi's first, abortive, journey to Palestine in the late 1120s. 11. Gil and Fleischer, Ha-Levi and his Circle, 183, n. 27. See Dozy Dozy, Reinhart Pieter Anne. 1881. Supplément aux dictionnaires arabes, 1–2. Leyden: E.J. Brill. [Google Scholar], Supplément, 2: 168, col. b: 'beau-père, père du mari, ou père de la femme'. 12. Gil and Fleischer, Ha-Levi and his Circle, 336. 13. Gil and Fleischer, Ha-Levi and his Circle, 336, 250, in the text and in n. 275. The fact that the Hebrew translation of the crucial letter reflects Gil's view that Isaac was not Halevi's son-in-law suggests that Gil did most of the work translating the geniza letters published in the volume. On the division of labour between the two scholars, see ibid., 13. 14. Scheindlin Scheindlin, RaymondP. 2008. The Song of the Distant Dove: Judah Halevi's Pilgrimage, Oxford: Oxford University Press. [Google Scholar], Song, 268, n. 3; Gil and Fleischer, Ha-Levi and his Circle, 336ibid., 281–82, n. 7. Another problem with Goitein's interpretation noted by Scheindlin is that in Halfon's letter 'amm carries a plural, rather than a singular, possessive suffix, and Scheindlin believes that this precludes the possibility that Halfon was referring to Halevi as Isaac's father-in-law. This argument does not clarify matters a great deal, since the plural suffix would be equally problematic if we were to posit that Halfon referred to Isaac's paternal uncle. Moreover, this problem must have a linguistic solution, for immediately prior to the reference to Halevi, Halfon refers to Abraham (ibn Ezra) as wldhm, which is translated – undoubtedly correctly – as 'your father' (in the singular) despite the plural suffix. 15. Likewise, dod, the Hebrew term for uncle, poetically denotes affection rather than kinship, as in Canticles. 16. Gil and Fleischer, Ha-Levi and his Circle, 159–60, 249–50; the authors are inconsistent on this point. When Isaac laments the death of Halevi, whom he calls 'the father like no other' (Be-sheli, l. 22), they explain that Halevi was Isaac's father in the sense that he was his father-in-law: ibid., 169. They also refer to Halevi as Isaac's father-in-law (193) and to Isaac as Halevi's son-in-law (248). 17. Goitein, 'Last Phase', 24–5. 18. Goitein Goitein, S.D. 1959. 'The Biography of Rabbi Juda Ha-Levi in the Light of the Cairo Geniza Documents'. Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, 28: 41–56. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], 'Biography', 43, n. 7; idem, A Mediterranean Society, 5: 635, n. 179. Goitein cites Dozy, Supplément, 2: 665, col. A. 19. Gil and Fleischer, Ha-Levi and his Circle, 51–2; 335, n. 4. 20. Gil and Fleischer, Ha-Levi and his Circle, 51–2; 335, n. 4, 497. 21. Gil and Fleischer, Ha-Levi and his Circle, 51–2; 335, n. 4, 250. For the letter by Amram ben Isaac, known as TS 13 J 14, f. 1, see: Goitein, 'Last Phase', 34; idem, 'Hallewi's Stay in Alexandria', 355, 358; Gil and Fleischer, Ha-Levi and his Circle, 497: doc. 55, l. 23. Gil also adduces other documents that refer to the relationship between Halevi and Isaac in a variety of terms but not as father- and son-in-law: ibid., 250–1. Goitein's reference to Isaac as Halevi's 'relative' in A Mediterranean Society, 5: 459, apparently alludes to this letter by Amram ben Isaac; Goitein promptly explains that this is the Isaac 'already known to us as the poet's son-in-law'. 22. Schmelzer Schmelzer, Menahem H., ed. 1979. Isaac ben Abraham ibn Ezra – Poems, New York: The Jewish Theological Seminary of America. (Hebrew). [Google Scholar], Isaac, 14, n. 50. 23. Gil and Fleischer, Ha-Levi and his Circle, 153, n. 29, with reference to Goitein Goitein, S.D. 1988. A Mediterranean Society: The Jewish Communities of the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza, Vol. 5, Berkeley: University of California Press. [Google Scholar], A Mediterranean Society, 5: 453, 454, 458, 459. 24. Friedman Friedman, Mordechai Akiva. 2007. "On Judah ha-Levi and the Martyrdom of a Head of the Jews: A Letter by Halfon ha-Levi b. Nethanel". In Adaptations and Innovations: Studies on the Interaction between Jewish and Islamic Thought from the Early Middle Ages to the Late Twentieth Century, Dedicated to Professor Joel L. Kraemer, Edited by: Langermann, Y. Tzvi and Stern, Josef. 83–109. Paris: Peeters. [Google Scholar], 'On Judah ha-Levi', 101, n. 75. My thanks to Tova Beeri for supplying this reference. 25. Ibn Yahya Ibn Yahya, Gedalyah. 1587. Chain of Tradition Venice (Hebrew). [Google Scholar], Chain of Tradition, 41a; Abravanel Abravanel, Isaac. 1579. Commentary on the Pentateuch Venice (Hebrew) [Google Scholar], Commentary, 209d. This tradition was also known to Azariah de' Rossi (Light of the Eyes, ch. 42, 528) and Yair Hayyim Bacharach Bacharach, Yair Hayyim. 1699. Responsa Frankfurt am Main (Hebrew) [Google Scholar] (Responsa #238). Abraham Zacut Zacut, Abraham. 1857. Yuhasin ha-Shalem Edited by: Filipowski, Herschell. London [Google Scholar] thought Halevi and ibn Ezra were maternal cousins: Yuhasin ha-Shalem, 217, col. 2. See Ben-Menahem Ben-Menahem, Naftali. "Rabbi Judah Halevi and Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra". In Rabbi Yehudah Halevi: Kovetz Mehqarim ve-Ha'arakhot, Edited by: Zemorah, Israel. 334–59. Tel-Aviv: Mahbarot le-sifrut, 1950. (Hebrew) [Google Scholar], 'Rabbi Judah Halevi', 343–59. 26. Ibn Yahya, Chain of Tradition, 40b (Scheindlin, Song, 249). 27. MS Cambridge TS 13 J 9, f. 6. See Goitein Goitein, S.D. 1977. Did R. Judah Halevi Reach the Land of Israel'?. Tarbiz, 46: 245–50. (Hebrew). [Google Scholar], 'Did R. Judah Halevi'. For a fragmentary version of the geniza letter, see Mann Mann, Jacob. 1970. The Jews in Egypt and in Palestine under the Fatimid Caliphs, 2nd ed., New York: Ktav Publishing House. [Google Scholar], Jews in Egypt, 1: 224. Gil and Fleischer tentatively concur with Goitein's conclusion, as does Yosef Yahalom Yahalom, Joseph. 2002. "Judah Halevi: Records of a Visitor from Spain". In The Cambridge Genizah Collections: Their Contents and Significance, Edited by: Reif, Stefan C. 123–35. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Google Scholar]: Gil and Fleischer, Ha-Levi and his Circle, 255–6; Yahalom Yahalom, Joseph. 2001. The Immigration of Rabbi Judah Ha-Levi to Eretz Israel in Vision and Riddle. Shalem, 7: 33–45. (Hebrew) [Google Scholar], 'Immigration', 40–2; idem, 'Records of a Visitor', 133–4. Note that Yahalom identifies Isaac ibn Ezra as Halevi's son-in-law and embraces Goitein's interpretation of the letter's flowery, hagiographical language. Scheindlin, however, maintains that Halevi's saintly image is understandable even if he died a natural death: Scheindlin, Song, 250. 28. Scheindlin, Song, 277, n. 2. 29. Sachs Sachs, Michael. 1845. Die religiose Poesie der Juden in Spanien Berlin [Google Scholar], Religiose Poesie, 300. 30. Imber was not the only poet to write about Halevi, but he was the only one to address the significance of Halevi's journey. See Werses Werses, Shmuel. 1986. "Judah Halevi from the Nineteenth-Century Perspective". In Be'orah Mad'a, Edited by: Malachi, Zvi. 247–85. Lod: Habermann Institute for Literary Research. (Hebrew). [Google Scholar], 'Nineteenth-Century Perspective'. On Bialik and Halevi, see: Ish-Shalom Ish-Shalom, Michael. 1942. Judah Halevi and H.N. Bialik. Knesset, 7: 53–84. (Hebrew) [Google Scholar], 'Judah Halevi; Katz Katz, Sara. 1999. Bialik in the Bounds of Ibn Gabirol, Jerusalem: Reuven Mass. (Hebrew) [Google Scholar], Bialik in the Bounds, 22–5. 31. Imber Imber, Naftali Herz. 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Notwithstanding Halevi's use of the first person, the dream may be a literary device for publishing his prognostication, akin to his use of the dream in the frame story of the Kuzari. Incidentally, the poem should probably not be dated to 1130 (Scheindlin, Song, 88), since prognosticators generally locate the messianic advent a decade, a generation, or more in the future. See Silver Silver, Abba Hillel. 1927. A History of Messianic Speculation in Israel, New York: Macmillan. [Google Scholar], History of Messianic Speculation, passim. 56. Levin Levin, Israel. 1993. Rabbi Judah Halevi's Journey to the Land of Israel – The Conclusion of a Spiritual Process. Apiriyon, 26–27: 7–14. (Hebrew). [Google Scholar], 'Journey to the Land of Israel', 11. 57. Levin Levin, Israel. 1993. Rabbi Judah Halevi's Journey to the Land of Israel – The Conclusion of a Spiritual Process. Apiriyon, 26–27: 7–14. (Hebrew). [Google Scholar], 'Journey to the Land of Israel', 11, 12–13. 58. 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Philosopher and Prophet: Judah Halevi, the Kuzari and the Evolution of his Thought, Albany: State University of New York Press. trans. Lenn J. Schramm [Google Scholar], Philosopher and Prophet, 153–8. 64. On the tendency of modern historians to interpret Halevi's oeuvre and his migration to Palestine in the light of their own ideological concerns, see Doron Doron, Aviva. 1982. A Study of Judah Halevi's Attitude towards Eretz Yisrael. Proceedings of the Eighth World Congress of Jewish Studies – Division C, 3: 159–64. (Hebrew) [Google Scholar], 'Halevi's Attitude towards Eretz Yisrael', 159. In the continuation of her essay, Doron's classification of the main avenues of interpretation differs somewhat from that presented here. 65. Scheindlin previously advanced this approach in a study of the influence of Sufi poetry on the Hebrew poets of al-Andalus: see his 'Ibn Gabirol's Religious Poetry', 125–9. See also Pines Pines, Shlomo. 1980. 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[Google Scholar] preference for the personal-religious interpretation of Halevi's voyage over the political-educational one dovetails with his critique of the 'lachrymose' conception of Jewish history, for both imply a relatively benign view of Jewish existence in the Diaspora. 68. Joseph Yahalom's Yahalom, Joseph. 2009. Yehuda Halevi: Poetry and Pilgrimage, Jerusalem: Magnes Press. trans. Gabriel Levin [Google Scholar] recent monograph on Halevi's poetry and journey, entitled Yehuda Halevi, is a small but significant contribution to the scholarly literature surveyed in the present study, one which doubtless merits independent treatment. At present all that can be said is that it concretizes the timeless fascination Halevi's voyage continues to hold for scholars of Hebrew poetry and Jewish history.