Yehuda Halevi: Poetry and Pilgrimage follows the life story of the greatest Hebrew poet of medieval times from his first publication in Christian Toledo to his heroic journey toward Zion from Muslim Spain. The description is based, for the first time, on the entire collection of his poetry- the Diwan, which was edited and reedited between East and West at every important crossroad of his life. This in turn is done through comparison to autobiographical letters and contemporary correspondence discovered and collected over the past 50 years in the Cairo Geniza collections. Documentary material and Literary works, which were shun behind the iron wall in The Russian National Library in St. Petersburg, are woven for the first time into one, enabling us to examine closely the intricate relationship between old Jewish traditions and the ideological heritage associated with Halevi's innovative writings in prose and in poetry. Confronting Halevi's "Zion, will thou not ask"? opens the study which is mainly concerned with the story of Halevi's odyssey from Christian to Muslim Spain and eventually to Egypt, including the epic quest to the beloved yet fatal Zion.
Professor Joseph Yahalom Studies and teaches Hebrew poetry at the Hebrew Literature Department of The Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
IBERIA JUDAICA,by Carlos del Valle, 2012 (Spanish)
In this little volume Joseph Yahalom applies the considerable biographical information we have on R. Judah Halevi to shed light on his poetry, while also drawing on the latter to gain insights into the poet’s life. Halevi’s diwan was edited a number of times after his death; extracting the biographical information requires apprehending how each of the editors approached his task, and what he added and eliminated. Yahalom masters his sources and makes numerous illuminating comments. Discussing the poems in their biographical contexts requires ordering them chronologically, at least tentatively. Yahalom supposes that his readers are (almost) as erudite as he is himself and does not waste time on introductions and explanations. This makes the reading of this book a bit difficult for the uninitiated, but at the same time whets our appetite to get deeper into Judah Halevy’s touching poetry, with its personal and collective emotions. - Aleph. Historical Studies in Science & Judaism, VOLUME 10, ISSUE 1