ABSTRACT

Yehuda (Judah) ḥa-Levī (ca. 1075–1141), a physician and theologian, was chronologically the last of the four luminaries of the Andalusian school of Hebrew poets. He immigrated to al-Andalus from Christian Spain while a young man, but also spent considerable time in Toledo and in other towns along the fluctuating border between Islam and Christendom. Ḥa-Levī’s brilliance as a lyric poet won him the acclaim and envy of Jewish literary intellectuals. By midlife he had become a highly respected communal leader. But after a glorious career as the darling of Jewish courtly society, Ḥa-Levī spent the last fifteen years of his life attempting to turn his back upon the culture and society that had nourished him. He began to formulate a plan to abandon Spain for a life of religious devotion in Palestine. After years of hesitation, and apparently against the counsel of his circle of friends, Ḥa-Levī finally set sail for Egypt in 1140, en route to Palestine, where he disembarked in 1141. He died shortly thereafter.