نصوص أدبيّة: Halper 329

الوصف

Two folios of poetry in an unusual mixture of Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic, and Arabic. 2.5 of the 4 pages are filled with a Judaeo-Arabic & Arabic poem, which is a lament addressed to a communal leader "Rabbi David." The first and last line read: "O Rabbi David, the Jews are suffering in your absence, our friends are stricken and our enemies are gloating." At the bottom of fol. 1r, more of the story emerges: the speakers repent of having wronged Rabbi David (niḥnā qad asaynā fī ḥaqqak) and mourn that those who have replaced him in leading prayers and giving the sermon are no match for him. It is tempting to connect this poem to the deposition and later reinstatement of David I Maimonides (cf. the English edition of Goitein and Friedman, India Traders, pp.115–16 and BL Or. 5549.4). The two folios under this shelfmark also contain half a page of a Hebrew poem and a full page of a macaronic Hebrew/Arabic poem consisting of verses rhyming on "حو/חו." There are five verses per stanza, and there is no clear pattern dictating which verses are Hebrew and which are Arabic. Reminiscent of (but probably unrelated to) T-S AS 151.34 (PGPID 38794). ASE