Poetry
Selected Poems of Jehudah Halevi
שירים
Yehuda Halevi · 1130
Opening lines
לִבִּי בְמִזְרָח וְאָנֹכִי בְּסוֹף מַעֲרָב
אֵיךְ אֶטְעֲמָה אֵת אֲשֶׁר אֹכַל וְאֵיךְ יֶעֱרָב
אֵיכָה אֲשַׁלֵּם נְדָרַי וָאֱסָרַי, בְּעוֹד
צִיּוֹן בְּחֶבֶל אֱדוֹם וַאֲנִי בְּכֶבֶל עֲרָב
My heart is in the East, and I am at the end of the West;
how can I taste what I eat, how could it be sweet to me?
How shall I fulfil my vows and my bonds, while
Zion is in the fetters of Edom and I in the chains of the Arabs?
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from benyehuda.org
Synopsis
About eight hundred poems, gathered into a diwan shortly after the author's death, probably in Egypt. Modern editors distinguish among them poems of friendship and praise, love songs, elegies, riddles, religious pieces and letters in verse. About thirty of them, the Zionides, express longing for the land of Israel: “My heart is in the East” contrasts the sweetness of Spain with the call of Zion, and “Zion, do you not ask” has entered the liturgy of the 9th of Av.
Context
During his lifetime, his poems circulated in small collections, from which the diwan was compiled after his death. Heinrich Brody edited it in four volumes from 1895 to 1904 and sorted its pieces into seven categories, including about thirty-five Zionides. The Kuzari, which holds the divine presence to be more perceptible in the promised land, sheds light on the journey of his last years. Nina Salaman translated a selection into English in 1924, Franz Rosenzweig ninety-two hymns and poems into German.
Who it is for
A considerable body of work, with no complete French translation. It is worth knowing that the poet also wrote in Arabic a treatise on the Jewish faith, the Kuzari.
Prizes and reception
Its author was regarded in his own time as the great Jewish national poet; his poems left their mark on the liturgy and, much later, on Zionist literature.