Yehudah ha-Levi u-vene ḥugo : 55 te'udot min ha-Genizah (review)

T H E JE W I S H Q UA R T E R LY R E V I E W, Vol. 94, No. 2 (Spring 2004) 403–404 MOSHE GIL and EZRA FLEISCHER. Yehudah ha-Levi u-vene h .ugo : 55 te‘udot min ha-Genizah (Yehuda ha-Levi and His Circle: 55 Geniza Documents). Jerusalem: World Union of Jewish Studies, 2001. Pp. 640. This masterpiece of scholarship is the work of two of the most distinguished members of the Israeli academic community. Fifty-five Genizah documents, all of them connected in one way or another with Yehuda haLevi —some of them even written in the great poet’s hand—form the core of the book. The documents are incorporated into eight introductory chapters which describe the social, cultural, and economic contexts within which ha-Levi functioned and flourished. Then follow the documents themselves, transcribed, translated, and annotated, after which come high-quality facsimiles of each. A third section comprises an extensive bibliography and a set of indices. The introductory chapters are mainly the work of Fleischer, while the decipherment of the documents was done mainly by Gil. Each author takes responsibility for his section alone. The book’s most striking accomplishment is the relative dating of the documents. In particular, the authors have succeeded in clarifying the facts concerning ha-Levi’s first, abortive attempt to journey to the Holy Land (see especially p. 193). The gap of ten years between ha-Levi’s announcement of his plans and the actual journey that took him, so it seems, to the gates of Jerusalem has long puzzled scholars. It is now evident that in 1129, shortly after making his intentions known, ha-Levi did in fact depart his native country, traveling along with Abraham ibn Ezra to North Africa, and planning to continue his eastward journey by the land route. However, ha-Levi received a message from H . alfon ben Netanel, the prominent Egyptian merchant who was to serve as his host, that he was in straitened circumstances and in no position to furnish the necessary hospitality. Only after a lapse of some ten years was ha-Levi able to carry out his plans. This time he took the sea route from Spain directly to Egypt. Indeed, two entire chapters of the introduction are devoted to H . alfon. A successful merchant who combined economic, communal, and cultural activities in his travels, H . alfon clearly played a key role in deepening the relations between the Jewish communities of Andalusia and Egypt. The space given to H . alfon is a function of the great number of Genizah documents with which he is connected; indeed, all of the documents studied 404 JQR 94:2 (2004) in this volume were conscientiously preserved by H . alfon in his personal archives, from which they eventually made their way to the Cairo Genizah . Nonetheless, it is clear that the author (Fleischer) finds H . alfon, a wealthy bachelor and autograph collector, a fascinating figure and enjoys putting together a lively portrait from the business letters that survive. Even more fascinating and elusive is Isaac Ibn Ezra, who also receives a chapter to himself. Gifted as a poet but lacking business acumen, he is perhaps best known for his conversion to Islam sometime after he had reached Iraq (after ha-Levi’s death). Here in particular Fleischer applies his own copious literary talent in producing out of the few scraps that survive in the Genizah a vivid and dramatic portrait of ha-Levi’s gifted and troubled protégé, and the powerful bond that developed between the two men. This book exemplifies the contribution that Genizah studies can make to scholarship, especially in the hands of two academic giants. The documents are subjected to microscopic examination, and every possible bit of information is extracted. The results of the authors’ research illuminate the last two decades of ha-Levi’s life in rich and lively detail but reveal nothing new about his first five decades. We would certainly like to know more about ha-Levi’s formative years, in particular about the circles within which he moved during those years. The Kuzari is very much a rejection of ha...