● Jews in Spain were kinda sad watching the Crusades happen and people fighting over

Jewish shrines
● They felt left out by history
● If sovereignty is bestowed by god and you have none, then are you forgotten?
○ Christians and Muslims thought the Jews had been forgotten
● This wasn’t a new issue of course
● The answer, figured out between the 1st and 2nd centuries, was that this was temporary
due to straying from the torah
● These discussions became part of the liturgical texts and poetry
● The Talmud debates which words the Shema should begin with, and how the eulogy at
the end should be written
○ The part at the end often had poetry attached to it during the Golden Age, called
ahava
○ It’s based on gratitude and love towards god
○ The Song of Songs were seen as not trivial, but a key to the message of mutual
love between god and israel
● Solomon Ibn Gabirol was the first known poet to incorporate themes from Arabic love
poetry in the synagogue
● Song of Songs also incorporates the use of the term of endearment gazelle
● In much of secular poetry the lover’s friends were a foil, criticizing him for dedication,
urging him to behave more prudently
● The springtime setting of Song of Songs also has a parallel in Arabic poetry
● Another common thing was the theme of frustration from the love poetry, this time used
for exile instead
● The tones of intimacy and intense feeling were also adopted, and often it was clear that
the person referred to was actually god
● In some cases it’s not even clear if a poem was originally a secular Arabic one or not
● Sufi poetic liturgy was also happening
○ Devotional poetry dated back to 800
● Later Hebrew poetry is also about longing to unite with god
● Ibn Gabirol was also a philosopher who wrote about metaphysics called ​Source of Life​,
which wasn’t quite philosophical, defining scholasticism like ​The Book of Beliefs and
Opinions​, or aristotelian like ​Guide to the Perplexed
● It was actually Arab humanism
● Themes of exile and redemption eventually merged, and the soul was written about a lot
○ Separation of the soul from its source
○ The exile of Israel was synonymous with the exile of the soul
● The philosophical notion of “cosmic love” also played a part, where everything seeks to
return to a common source
● Ibn Gabirol’s “Erotic vision of redemption” was about the Messiah being the beloved, not
god
○ It could also have been about the Temple