Judah Halevi (nonfiction)

Judah Halevi (also Yehuda Halevi or ha-Levi; Hebrew: יהודה הלוי‎ and Judah ben Shmuel Halevi יהודה בן שמואל הלוי‎; Arabic: يهوذا اللاوي‎ Yahuḏa al-Lāwī; c. 1075 – 1141) was a Spanish Jewish physician, poet and philosopher. He was born in Spain, either in Toledo or Tudela, in 1075, or 1086, and died shortly after arriving in the Holy Land in 1141, at that point the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Halevi is considered one of the greatest Hebrew poets, celebrated both for his religious and secular poems, many of which appear in present-day liturgy. His greatest philosophical work was the Sefer ha-Kuzari.

Poems

'Tis a Fearful Thing

'Tis a fearful thing
to love what death can touch.

A fearful thing
to love, to hope, to dream, to be –

to be,
And oh, to lose.

A thing for fools, this,

And a holy thing,

a holy thing
to love.

For your life has lived in me,
your laugh once lifted me,
your word was gift to me.

To remember this brings painful joy.

'Tis a human thing, love,
a holy thing, to love
what death has touched."

Fiction cross-reference

• Gnomon algorithm
• Gnomon Chronicles

External links

• Judah Halevi @ Wikipedia