THE WIFE OF DUNASH

(mid-tenth century)

This single poem by THE WIFE OF DUNASH Ben Labrat is all of her work that has come down to us. It is, so far as we know, the only poem by a woman in the entire medieval Hebrew canon. The poem’s heading in manuscript explains that it was composed on the occasion of her husband’s forced departure from Spain. The reasons for his leaving remain obscure, but the last line of the poem suggests that he fell out of favor with Hasdai Ibn Shaprut, the leader of Spanish Jewry and patron of the local Hebrew revival. Apart from these lines and the crisis they treat, we know nothing about the poet, not even her name. That said, the poem’s restraint and quiet dignity, along with its tenderness and subtle complication of tone—melding affection, resentment, and above all a sense of acceptance of what seems to be a tragic fate—speak for her character. A relatively recent discovery, this gentle lyric was reconstructed from torn Geniza fragments by scholar Ezra Fleischer, who hailed it as “the first fully realized personal poem in the new Andalusian style.” That it emerged at such an early stage of the poetry’s evolution, and from the pen of a woman, makes the find all the more remarkable.

WILL HER LOVE REMEMBER?