| Judah
Halevi was a Spanish Hebrew poet (b. before 1075; d. after 1141)
who wrote several important philosophical treatises as well as secular
and sacred poetry (over a thousand works). He is best known for
The Book of the Kuzari (a dialogue between a Jewish scholar and
the king of the Khazars who had converted to Judaism in the 8th
century) and his passionate "Songs of Zion." The following quiet
verse was inscribed on the tombstone of an unidentified "Rabbi Abraham." |
Do
these tears know who made them fall?
Do these hearts know who made them recoil?
They recoiled when their shining light sank into the earth,
and the clods of earth knew not what they hold.
They hold a princely man,
a good man, blameless, upright,
a God-fearing man, discreet and wise.