238 r Libby Garshowitz
of the Aramaic. Therefore, my translation, repointing tashov to teshev, punning on the
words sippor and the Hebrew root s-f-r, or retaining the text, “go and sing.” The use of
the term ’ama, attendant or servant, is also strange, calling into question Yoshefe’s true
intention for his sister.
- Proverbs 31:29: rabbot banot ̔asu h ayil ve’at ̔alit ̔al-kullana.
- In medieval love poetry, the lack of facial hair denotes the youth of the beloved.
See Elizur, Secular Hebrew Poetry in Moslem Spain, 2:83. - The phrase Jacob ben Elazar uses is “having no penis” (beli ’ever), as in Nahum 3:5
and beli ma ̔ar in I Kings 7:36. See also Segal, “Jacob ben Elazar’s ‘Tales of Love,’“ 360,
where he describes Sippor’s derision of Masos as “crude.” - Nahum 3:5.
- Paraphrasing I Samuel 21:14–15.
- Habakuk 3:9.
- I have altered slightly my previous translation at n. 55 above to reflect its antitheti-
cal meaning. See also Segal, “Jacob ben Elazar’s ‘Tales of Love,’“ 360. - According to prophetic tradition in Islam, “Who loves and remains chaste and
dies, dies as a martyr.” See Giffen, Theory of Profane Love among the Arabs, 103, and
Schirmann, “L’amour spirituel,” 315. - See Exodus 17:8–16; Deuteronomy 25:17, 19; I Samuel 15:2–3. Maskil, the hero of
Mahberet Six, also refers to the black man, Kushan Rish ̔atayyim, as Amalek and derides
the former’s black mistress. On this inherent racist streak in Jacob ben Elazar’s Sippurei
’Ahava, see Schirmann, History of Poetry in Christian Spain and Southern France, 237 and
notes 62 and 63. See also Abraham Melamed, The Image of the Black in Jewish Culture: A
History of the Other, trans. Betty Sigler Rozen (London: Routledge-Curzon, 2003). - Psalm 64 (attributed to David) in which the psalmist asks God for protection from
Machiavellian slanderers who use their words like arrows. When this wish is fulfilled, the
psalmist praises God and offers up thanks. Verse 7, which Sahar quotes in his castigation
of the two black men, contains problematic language in the Hebrew text. The direction of
the arrows hurled by the mysterious plotters is reversed, with God’s help, and discharged
back at the evildoers. Their plotting has backfired, and the psalmist has found safety in
his trust in God. Rashi, at verse 7, suggests that this verse must be studied further. - On the use of “apples” as a love motif, see Songs 2:3, 5; 7:9; and 8:5. For medieval
poets, the alluring apple represents desire (teshuqa). For the importance of “writing” and
“letters” as a means of courting, see also Ibn Hazm, The Dove’s Neck Ring, “Of Allusion
by Words,” 65–67, and “Of Correspondence,” 71–72. - On the use of messengers as a conduit between the lover and his beloved in Arabic
poetry, see Ibn Hazm, The Dove’s Neck Ring, 73–75. - See Secular Hebrew Poetry in Moslem Spain, 2:112–13, in which Elizur analyzes a
love poem by Samuel ibn Nagrela found in Divan Shmuel Hanagid: The Collected Poetry
of Samuel the Prince, 993–1056 (Hebrew), ed. Dov Yarden (Jerusalem: Hebrew Union
College Press, 1966), 311: yishshaq ̔alai yado be ̔ovro ̔alai, “he kisses [his] hand as he
passes me by.” See also Schirmann, “L’amour spirituel,” 318, who states that these type
of kisses were a mark of spiritual love, of necessity according to the [unwritten] code
of courtly love, unfulfilled by physical love. In his lengthier analysis of Sippurei ’Ahava