Romance Literature in Hebrew Language with an Arabic Twist: The First Story of Jacob ben El'azar's «Sefer ha-meshalim»

Abstract

Jacob ben El‘azar’s Sefer ha-meshalim (Book of Stories), was written in the first half of the 13th century in Toledo, a place where Arabic, Hebrew and Romance literary traditions had the opportunity to intermingle, most notably in the works of Jewish authors. Ben El‘azar exemplifies the figure of the Jewish author who straddled the diverse traditions of this time and space: he translated works from Arabic into Hebrew and composed original works in Judeo-Arabic and Hebrew. Further, while some Jewish authors of the period, such as Judah al-Ḥarizi, felt a close connection to the Arabic intellectual environment and largely ignored developments in Romance language practices, Ben El‘azar demonstrated an awareness of the Romance milieu without undervaluing his indebtedness to Arabic.