Jewish Parody and Allegory in Medieval Hebrew Poetry in Spain r 219loving entreaty in which she describes her sadness at the temporary loss
of her beloved (hosheq), her brief separation from him, and how she pur-
sued Yoshefe “from mountain to mountain” (ll. 240–50), in contrast to the
male lover in Song of Songs who “comes leaping over the mountains,”^41
she entreats the weeping, bitter Yemima, “my sister,” also an inversion of
the term in the biblical Song of Songs,^42 to join her and Yoshefe, to com-
pose metered poetry: “wake up, wake up, sing a song,”^43 which enthralls
Yoshefe (ll. 260–79). Yemima does, telling Yoshefe how her love for him
has entrapped her (shevi ’ahava), and now she pleads for reciprocal love (l.
269). Yoshefe is overjoyed by her pleas and consents, captivated by both
lovers’ beauty, their faces alternating between the red of pomegranates
and the whiteness of snow (ll. 275–79). Jacob ben Elazar has utilized the
descriptive visual imagery of medieval Arabic and Hebrew poetry, along
with flattery, exaggeration, simile, and metaphor to turn this battle among
jealous lovers into a witty farce about the use of language. Such was his
intent.
The two women’s bonding leads to the three lovers settling down into
a harmonious and loving ménage à trois, “kissing, hugging, lusting,”^44 but
not before a still-chastened Yoshefe asks Yemima why, if she is so enam-
ored of him, did she kidnap him and make him walk behind her horse,
beating him all the while? Said he to his lover (ra ̔ayato) Yemima: “If you
loved and desired me, how could you steal me away into captivity?” (ll.
281–82). She protested that she did not like to be cast away when every
other suitor thought her beautiful and sweet-voiced. Yoshefe, neverthe-
less, persisted: “Your beauty you have praised, but me you have abased”
(l. 303). Yemima’s answer: “Because you took my sister Yefefia and cast
me away, I who am desired and esteemed by many a swain.” In alluring,
autoerotic song (ll. 287–302) Yemima gives voice to her own comeliness
(u-mare’i na’eh), as does the damsel in Song of Songs.^45 Nor does she over-
look her exquisite voice (qoli ye ̔erav, ll. 283–302):
Is not every swain by my great beauty swayed?
On my face basks the sun in its rising and setting.
My face is a beloved’s toy and my voice a sweet joy.
(ll. 10 and 11)Yemima, not to be outdone by her former rival, also regales Yoshefe with
his own attractiveness: “laughing, white, even teeth, not detached, like his
poetry thus!” (mesummadim ve-’ayn nifrad, l. 307), shining countenance,