שלום רב וישע יקרב – Yehuda ha-Levi’s Epistle to Moshe Ibn Ezra: A New Edition and Commentary

Abstract

In the present article, a full critical edition, with commentary, of Yehuda ha-Levi’s rhymed-prose epistle Shalom rav veyesha yiqrav to Moshe Ibn Ezra is presented for the first time, on the basis of manuscripts from the Cairo Genizah as well as the Firkovitch Collection. The edition is accompanied by an introduction, in which a number of literary questions are elucidated, in particular with regard to ha-Levi’s use of epistolary conventions and the composition/improvisation of muwashshaḥāt (girdle poems) in Almoravid Spain.