The Golden Age of Jewish Culture

In the Middle Ages, when the political center of Muslim Spain was first Seville and later Córdoba, a way of life and institutions characteristic of an Islamic state were established in Spain. The lifestyle of Muslim Spain, suitable for a highly developed country, and the successful adaptation of Jews to it led to the flourishing of Jewish culture and literature in Arabized Spain, which spans the 8th to the 12th centuries. Jewish literature of the period called the Golden Age; was greatly influenced by Arabic and was distinguished by its thematic and genre diversity. Romantic lyricism is widely represented in Andalusian poetry. The favorite themes of Andalusian poets also include motifs of friendship, wine, and revelry, to which both Arab and Jewish poets dedicated their poems. At the end of the 11th century, the genre and stylistic features of Jewish secular poetry were finally established in Andalusia. During the heyday of Jewish poetry, along with traditional Eastern Arabic genres, new, innovative genres and themes adapted to the existing reality emerged, vividly conveying the moods, feelings, and emotions of Jewish poets. Themes such as homeland and the issue of belonging to it, “Elegy for the Cities,” or longing (“Hanin”) became prevalent. Longing for the homeland was considered the most common theme in Andalusian poetry. One of the significant innovations was that Jewish poets began to write secular poems alongside traditional liturgical poetry. The article presents the poets of the Andalusian Golden Age of Jewish culture (Yehuda Halevi, Shelomo ibn Gebirol, Moshe ibn Ezra, Abraham ibn Ezra, Shmuel Hanagid, Yehuda Alkharizi, and others), notes their merits and creative features and discusses the innovative genres and themes characteristic of this period.