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Page 16 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE December 5, 1975
Published by TARBUTH FOUNDATION, INC, 2 Penn Plaza (Suite 1980] , New York 10001 — (212) 947-3745 • President: Or. Abraham Goodman; Executive Vice President: Dr. Emil Lehman; Editor: Dr. Max Rothschild
Jehuda Halevi Lives On... Upon the 900th Anniversary of His Birth
The year 1975 marks—probably—the
nine hundreth anniversary of the greatest
Hebrew poet of the middle ages, Jehuda
Halevi. Although his exact birthplace is
not known, it is generally assumed that
he saw the light of the world in Castilia
in 1075, during the "Golden Age” of
Spanish Jewry.
Jehuda Halevi was the first poet who
used Hebrew in every-day life, after the
classical period, and wrote not only for
religious purposes: he also composed,
besides prayer-poems, poems on love and
friendship, nature, as well as drinking songs,
and he was engaged, as was the fashion of
the upper classes of Spanish Jewry of the
time, in the fields of science, medicine,
astronomy, and philosophy. Highly influ
enced, at first, by Arab culture and style,
Jehuda Halevi predated by two to three
centuries the "uomo universale” of the
Renaissance.
His poems have been compared to the
psalms of the Bible, and many found their
way into the prayerbook. Yet Halevi’s use
of the Hebrew language goes beyond the
narrow cultic confines of his predecessors.
He was, of course, a master of Bible and
rabbinic literature, but he adopted also
many forms of style and rhythm of his
Arab contemporaries. He was called a
“maa’yan ha’mitgaber." a wellspring that
kept running ever stronger.
In good times—he was a successful
physician and lived the life of a Spanish
court Jew—as well as in bad times—
there were occasional pogroms during his
early years in Spain—his personal experi
ence of Jewish galut life never allowed
him to keep himself aloof from his peo
ple. Eventually, Jehuda Halevi was to dis
card the type of life of a court Jew. Never
an apologetic Jew, his most personal ex
periences, as expressed in his verses, al
ways related to the Jewish people. He
could not forget that he lived in the Dias
pora.
Thus, as a poet, he did not indulge in
the sophisticated artificiality of "fart pour
fart" of many of his contemporaries, but
he displayed the natural beauty and
strength of the Hebrew tongue, uniting
sensitivity with simplicity. This is why
Jehuda Halevi was so much admired by
later poets, such as Heinrich Heine. All
of his poems, be they eulogies over the
death of a friend, or even religious “piyu-
tim," show a deep personal involvement
and commitment. Most famous of his
lyrical creations are his “Songs of Zion,”
expressing his longing for Eretz Yisrael
As a philosopher, Halevi is known for
his masterwork "Kuzari”—originally writ
ten in Arabic—which left a lasting im
pression on future Jewish generations.
This imaginary dialogue between the king
of the Khazars who lived in the Crimea
and converted to Judaism together with
his entire tribe in the 8th century, and
a learned rabbi who converted the king
to Judaism, was actually not so much a
work of Jewish philosophy as an essen
tially anti-philosophical tract. In the words
of a modern Jewish thinker, Jehuda
Halevi defended here not only Judaism as
a religion, but above all: Jewish honor, the
honor of the Jewish people.
Revelation and tradition are for Halevi
the only valuable source of truth, not ab
stract philosophy, and he stresses the ac
tion element in Judaism over abstract
belief as it is to be found in Islam, Chris
tianity, and also the atheism of his time.
Jehuda Halevi did something which
must have looked unbelievable in his days
and which most of his friends opposed:
In his older age, he went on Aliyah, travel
ling to the Holy Land via Egypt amid
great dangers. Legend has it that he was
killed, with his "Ode to Zion" on his lips,
by a Saracen horseman a* he knelt among
the ruins of Jerusalem, a city that seemed
at that time beyond hope after the con
quest by the Crusaders.
Modern Hebrew owes much to Jehuda
Halevi's resourcefulness. As a thinker,
however, he presaged the existentialist
trends in contemporary Jewish thought.
No wonder that Franz Roscnzweig pub
lished an entire volume of Halevi's poems
with commentary, dedicating the work to
Martin Buher, and viewing Jehuda Halevi
as a forerunner of modern religious think
ing, and a forerunner of Zionism as well.
THE FAIR MAIDEN
The night when the fair maiden revealed the
likeness of her form to me,
The warmth of her cheeks, the veil of her hair,
Golden like a topaz, covering
A brow of smoothest crystal—
She was like the sun making red in her rising
The clouds of dawn with the flame of her light.
TWO LOVE POEMS BY JEHUDA HALEVI
A SLAVE TO LOVE
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rnyj rvax nn 1 ?? ^
rnyfe> noxi rr;nnon
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rrjyn rmon n 1 ? nfn
O’-iKn nn^ya boba nno-j
rrrjnr an^y »|Bh ’JJirny
w tnm
SHUTTLE DIPLOMACY HEBREW
to conduct
negotiations
freeze, stalemate
yt>0
o’Vib’tn
nvfnn nym
o'jnbnrj
Shuttle, shutjle
trip
a speed-up of the
shuttles
is needed
the shuttle phase
in the
negotiations
bargaining:
the political
bargaining position
oyism-i bjoitn >”y nbapnnn nnwi nso
Kissinger has found a formula acceptable to Israel and Egypt
orim by-pto v? ovj’a osun
an interim agreement between Israel and Egypt was signed
bajin iVon
D'jib’tn abvi
irio-i nwo-i
nip’o
mp’an rnray
n’O’bian
the talks have
reached a
stalemate
gap; the gap has
narrowed
formula
?h)b
inm nto
rtNopn ,jiN0p
ty'jn rnrvv/n
msopob
typrt ,tyo
□90U9D
a limited
achievement
presence
the American
presence
warning stations
the manning of
the warning
stations
a peace
agreement
a secret
commitment
a protest rally
demonstrations
for and against
the arrangement
leak, news leak
bfOYM by unb ns’b njm niab-tnn by rm rmy\?
the news leaks are likely to create pressure upon Israel
jvi’npu
nvnpijn
n’NianoN.n
riN^rn ’jpjvo
NpTIO ytl’N
hVnnn
cnbw D3t>n
rvu’’nnn
jvNkfn'
nNnpn rnajr
iga nS»pn
norm un
nabbn
a preliminary
discussion
guarantee
’any im
n-myn
-m»>a i«»Nb nioxyon bw rmvnynij
the guarantees of the powers for a balance in the area *
By the life of our troth, my love, by thy life
and the life
Of love which hath shot an arrow at me.
Verily have I become a slave to Love, that
hath pierced
Mine ear, that hath cloven my heart in twain.
nans 1 ? lay
'it ti’jit ’-rh nnan 'n
’xn *3 nrn*e> n^rwn
nyif! nyrunt 1 ? iay 'ny ttV-Dy
:’$ro rnny^V] Dry
Hodirn /Hjittllan
MARCHING ON JERUSALEM
They're marching on Jerusalem—peace
fully and from all parts of the country.
Announcement of this year’s
JERUSALEM HIKE
.September 24, 1975
Can You Dig That?
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n'buiiT
i’"3ujn
Kf 75 ’H3D 24
.o’tntnv jny« nun unnw* o'syix juaja
»»’)c j’tmb in>> nntnn 'vav
,'pxi sx-tn pn
m niTan
□aunyi crium
lltOpiN 24 — 13I3U0C 26
Dibon Nbb nbbbst nj'b
ivpnnb to
irn mnN ,pib bN-ivo -vi
•o*bWV 02—273403/4 ,bo
Tens of thousands of marchers will par
ticipate this year in the JERUSALEM
HIKE Registration forms may be ob
tained at all branches of the Postal Bank
in the country.
Be Your Own
Traffic Light
and stop
If not, it’s a call for volunteers to
participate in excavations at Caesarea.
Excavations at Cesarea
September 26-October 24
Lodging and food are free
Please contact Dr. Israel Levin,
Avivah Rosen
Phone Jerusalem 02-273403/4
IB 1 y>k6 kf
,jv^mr
ink Id /p/c
i'oi>r Ed'
P'tfiT) b'Pn
r t fXi*
for soldiers!
An appeal in
HAARETZ.
Driver:
Not everybody can be at the front,
But everybody can give a lift to
soldiers that come from there!
Israel Television
can now be seen in America!
Watch the Tarbuth Founda
tion’s program every Thursday
at 6:30 P.M., over Channel 10,
Tclepromptcr Cable TV, in New
York City.
For showings in other cities,
write or call
Tarbuth Foundation
2 Penn Plaza (Suite 1980)
New York, N Y. 10001
Tel.: (212) 947-3745