Background
Samuel Ha-Nagid was born Samuel ben Joseph ha-Levi ibn Nagdela in 993 in Mérida, Yucatán.
(Translated by Leon J. Weinberger Of all the Hebrew poets ...)
Translated by Leon J. Weinberger Of all the Hebrew poets of the 'Golden Age' in Spain, Samuel Ibn Nagrela (993-1056 A.D.) remains perhaps the most fascinating personality. A leading statesman in the kingdom of Granada, he was as successful in court as on the battlefield, maintaining a position of power for several decades while walking a political tightrope. Endowed with great literary talents, he opened up new paths in Hebrew poetry, and his mastery of its metrical intricacies was as consummate as his political and military skill. Translated by Leon J. Weinberger Of all the Hebrew poets of the 'Golden Age' in Spain, Samuel Ibn Nagrela (993-1056 A.D.) remains perhaps the most fascinating personality. A leading statesman in the kingdom of Granada, he was as successful in court as on the battlefield, maintaining a position of power for several decades while walking a political tightrope. Endowed with great literary talents, he opened up new paths in Hebrew poetry, and his mastery of its metrical intricacies was as consummate as his political and military skill.
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(The first major poet of the Hebrew literary renaissance o...)
The first major poet of the Hebrew literary renaissance of Moslem Spain, Shmuel Ben Yosef Ha-Levi HaNagid (993-1056 c.e.) was also the Prime Minister of the Muslim state of Granada, battlefield commander of the non-Jewish Granadan army, and one of the leading religious figures in a medieval Jewish world that stretched from Andalusia to Baghdad. Peter Cole's groundbreaking versions of HaNagid's poems capture the poet's combination of secular and religious passion, as well as his inspired linking of Hebrew and Arabic poetic practice. This annotated Selected Poems is the most comprehensive collection of HaNagid's work published to date in English. "The Multiple Troubles of Man" The multiple troubles of man, my brother, like slander and pain, amaze you? Consider the heart which holds them all in strangeness, and doesn't break. "I'd Suck Bitter Poison from the Viper's Mouth" I'd suck bitter poison from the viper's mouth and live by the basilisk's hole forever, rather than suffer through evenings with boors, fighting for crumbs from their table.
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General military statesman scholars poet
Samuel Ha-Nagid was born Samuel ben Joseph ha-Levi ibn Nagdela in 993 in Mérida, Yucatán.
Having acquired a thorough Jewish and secular education, he began life as a humble spice dealer, rose to political grandeur.
He became one of the greatest Jewish success stories of all time. After his native city fell to the Berbers (1013), Samuel fled to Malaga, where he opened another store near the residence of Abu al-Kasim ibn al-Arif, secretary to the vizier of Granada. He obligingly read and wrote letters for ibn al-Arifs uneducated servants; having marveled at the Arabic style and penmanship of these letters, and discovered the writer’s identity, Ibn al-Arif gave Samuel his first appointment and recommended him to the vizier. Equally impressed, the latter availed himself of Samuel ibn Nagdela’s many talents and, before the vizier died in 1020, Samuel was his chief aide and adviser.
King Habbus (1019-1038) had more loyal subjects — both Jews and fellow Berbers — within his capital, Granada, than in the rest of his Muslim kingdom. To neutralize potential rivals, Habbus entrusted Samuel with the responsibility of governing as vizier, a task that he discharged in an effective, tactful, and dignified manner. Habbus left two sons, who both claimed the throne, and Samuel was one of the very few notables who backed the older prince, a violent man who enjoyed the common people’s support. In gratitude for his triumph, King Badis (1038-1073) retained his father’s loyal Jewish vizier. Samuel continued to govern the kingdom wisely, but had to spend most of his remaining years at the head of Granada’s armed forces, countering the attacks of Moorish enemies headed by Seville. This Andalusian campaign, which ultimateley hastened his death, involved some narrow escapes on the battlefield as well as many crucial victories — including those scored against two personal antagonists, the viziers of Almeria (1039) and Malaga (1049).
From about 1027, Samuel ibn Nagdela was honored as the nagid (prince or titular head) of Spanish Jewry. In Granada itself, he served as chief rabbi, founded one of the earliest Talmudic academies in western Europe, and wrote works of Jewish law. As a philanthropist, he provided for needy Jewish students at home and abroad, supplied them with biblical and rabbinic manuscripts, and even dispatched olive oil from his own estates to light the synagogues of Jerusalem. He also encouraged Hebrew poets such as Ibn Gabirol and, by virtue of his own religious and secular verse, was an outstanding pioneer of the Spanish golden age. The poetry of Samuel ha-Nagid covers a wide range of themes and moods, from love and merriment to sad reflection and eulogy; it includes the first Hebrew war poems, written while he was on his campaigns, and exhibits great inventiveness and descriptive power. His verse collections, little known after the Middle Ages, have been published and reevaluated in modern critical editions.
His son, Joseph ha-Nagid(1035-1066), though in most respects a worthy and able successor, lacked his father’s discretion. He finally provoked a Berber rebellion in the course of which he was executed (on December 30, 1066) and a momentous anti-Jewish bloodbath took place, the first recorded in Muslim Spain.
(The first major poet of the Hebrew literary renaissance o...)
(Translated by Leon J. Weinberger Of all the Hebrew poets ...)
Quotations:
FROM THE POEMS OF SAMUEL HA-NAGID
• Rather herbs and sacks among your own Than cake and silks where you’re unknown.
• Before the wise man descends a pit.
He fixes a ladder to climb out of it.
• There are three types of companion: Some arc like food — indispensable;
Some like medicine — good occasionally; Others like poison — to be avoided at any time.
He had a son - Joseph ha-Nagid.