ABSTRACT
Hebrew meter and poetic form in medieval al-Andalus were indubitably outgrowths of contemporary Arabic poetry. When Arab Andalusian poetry was flourishing in Islamic Spain, the Arab national tragedy entailing and surrounding the loss of this paradise had yet to occur. The mnemonic strains in Hebrew poetry composed in al-Andalus, in Christian Spain, and in the Spanish Jewishb diaspora post-1492, reveal the most about Jewish memories of Spain when they are examined in the context of a series of Jewish national tragedies which, by 70 c.e., had already occurred. One Spanish Jewish figure who managed to rise to unprecedented political heights in Granada, despite his early flight from Berber-invaded Cordoba, was Samuel Halevi, who eventually earned the Hebrew title, Hanagid, “the leader,” in 1030, when he became a vizier in the Granada court. In a Spanish/biblical setting that evokes the sovereignty of the Jewish God and of Israel, Ibn Gabirol finds solace.
