Hebrew Poetry of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (review)

Abstract

Hebrew Studies 33 (1992) 150 Reviews provides the best safeguard against subjective speculation. With adequate safeguards, tradition-history can take a place of prominence in certain parts of psalmic studies. I do have questions about three aspects of his book. First of all, I doubt whether Traditionsgeschichte is a subdiscipline of tradition-history. The terms are roughly equivalent. Secondly, I would question whether one should term psalms of praise (96, 105, 106) attributed to Asaph in 1 Chronicles 16 as deutero-Asaphite psalms. More accurately, the psalms typified the worship leadership of the Asaphic Levites during the time of the Chronicler. Such psalms of praise belonged to the general heritage of Israel's cult and do not need to be labeled as deutero-Asaphite. Thirdly, due to the late and uncertain dates of psalmic titles or superscriptions, basing a study on them is tentative at best. On the other hand, however, Nasuti has shown the benefits of taking psalmic superscriptions seriously. Readers will find this book on what appears to be an obscure topic useful in two different ways. First, it provides an example of how traditionhistory under some constraints can place materials in social and historical contexts. Second, it reminds us that biblical tradition remains much more diverse than normally accepted. For example, contributions from the northern kingdom of Israel obviously made more of an impact on the theology and cult of Jerusalem than previously has been allowed. J. Gordon Harris North American Baptist Seminary Sioux Falls, SD 57105 HEBREW POETRY OF THE MIDDLE AGES AND THE RENAISSANCE. By Dan Pagis. The Taubman Lectures in Jewish Studies 2. Pp. xvi + 84. Berkeley: University of California, 1991. Cloth, $22.50. The Taubman lectures in Jewish studies given by Dan Pagis at the University of California, Berkeley in 1980-1981 have been published in an attractive volume by the University of California Press. The volume should have been titled Secular Hebrew Poetry of the Middle Ages etc., as noted by Pagis in his introduction: "The three lectures that follow are devoted to the vast field of Hebrew secular poetry" (p. 1). Secular Hebrew poetry Hebrew Studies 33 (1992) 151 Reviews emerged in Spain around the year 950 as a "self-conscious poetic school which (for the first time in Hebrew) concerned itself mainly not with the congregation [as did the synagogue hymnography dating from biblical times] but with the individual" (p. 2). Although secular Hebrew poetry attempted to probe the inner recesses of the self and his relation to others and to the world around him, it came to be seen as stylized and conventional, using stock figures and conceits. Pagis agrees that not all of secular Hebrew poetry was "spontaneous... and expressive" but "an important part of it was." In his lectures titled "Individuality and the Poetic Tradition," "Play and Substance: Aspects of Hebrew-Spanish Imagery," and "Convention and Experience: Hebrew Love Poetry in Spain and Italy," he attempts to support his argument. Pagis begins by stressing the need for an understanding of the poem's "code," which, in modern times, has been misread. Familiarity with the "code" is required in understanding the wide mix of hints at self-expression in the diwan of Moses Ibn Ezra. Regrettably, Pagis did not elaborate on the "code" in these lectures. For a fuller understanding, one is required to consult his Secular Poetry and Poetic Theory: Moses Ibn Ezra and His Contemporaries (Jerusalem: Mosad Bialik, 1970 [HebrewD, pp. 285-286. Pagis then cites several examples of self-expression within the confines of the conventional genre. Even in the love poetry with its stock characters -the desirable and cruel beloved; the hopelessly infatuated suitor; the finger-pointing "reproacher" chastising the lover-the poet reveals his personal feelings. For example, Pagis refers to Samuel the Nagid's meditations on old age which transcend the classic images of wisdom poetry on the subject and go far beyond the familiar "complaint" figures. When the Nagid, responding to congratulations on having reached his fiftieth birthday , writes, "I have nothing in the world but the hour in which I am: it pauses for a moment, and then like a cloud, moves on," he is, as Pagis puts it, "not...