Jewish Parody and Allegory in Medieval Hebrew Poetry in Spain r 227Why are you angry and why downcast?
To kiss and hug, is that our task?
This is not done at our flat!
(ll. 301–309)Nobility of heart and soul, protected by a guardian angel (malakh yedi-
dim), is required for members of the higher classes, the aristocracy, not
members of the “half-breed class” (benei ha-ta ̔aravot, ll. 299–300)!^63
Kima emphasizes that pure love, righteous deeds, and the spirit of our
love are chivalrous (neqi-khaf bar pe ̔alim ve-ruah ’ahavatenu nediva, l.
312). Their kisses, therefore, are symbolic, from afar! They may be in each
other’s company, not to hug or kiss but to purify and unite their hearts
(’aval lev zeh be-lev zeh doveq); such is the responsibility of the presti-
gious, to embrace moral instruction, righteousness, justice, and fairness
(musar haskel, sedeq u-mishpat u-mesharim, ll. 305–306).^64 Indeed, they
converse and sing love songs (shir ’ahav) all through the night, neither
approaching nor touching, although they crave and ache for each other,
having to content themselves by simply drinking in each other’s radi-
ance (ll. 328–33). But Jacob ben Elazar may be ridiculing this protracted,
drawn-out flirtatious affair, for the verb he uses, va-yithareshu, “and they
were silent” (l. 333), is the same verb used to describe the silence of the
people of Gaza “who surrounded [the house] and waited all night long to
kill Samson.”^65 Yet this very root, h-r-sh, in a secondary sense, means “to
plough,” perhaps hinting that Kima and Sahar had not passed the night in
melody and misery but in (imaginary) lovemaking,^66 the reason for dis-
simulating being Kima’s fear of her father the king, to whom she swears
that despite her passionate love for Sahar, their relationship is celibate. In
keeping with the ideals of courtly love, love for its own sake was worth
pursuing, worth suffering for. Sahar has endured Kima’s flirtations and
banishment from the palace’s environs. Also, he has endured the sting
of burning arrows and has been forced to suffer other indignities such as
endless wanderings, awaiting any word from Kima, content to listen to
anyone who has any knowledge of his beloved. In his lovesickness, Sahar
will pour out his torment to anyone who will listen. In an impassioned ad-
dress in which he describes how they have mutually inflamed each other,
Sahar reiterates that their mutual separation (pereda) has slain her as well
as him. The woman, the owner of the apple (l. 104), whom Kima has sent
to test Sahar, now gives him a perfumed letter in which Kima pours out