I have seen a damsel

Late 12th Century

About This Entry

Moses Dar‘ī wrote this brief poem to praise a young, learned woman. While it was less common for women to be literate and educated in Torah than men, it was not completely unusual. In the medieval Islamicate world, some Jewish women earned a reputation for learning and teaching Torah, although there is no evidence that they studied Jewish law like their educated male counterparts. Here, Moses appreciates the woman’s knowledge of Torah, noting her accuracy and pleasing voice. The poem is in Hebrew, but the headnote is in Judeo-Arabic.

What I also said about a young maiden, with swift perception and memory, who recites the accurate reading [of the Torah] with diligence and talent, and she is meticulous with the melody and the tune, without any mistakes or mispronunciation.

I have seen a damsel reciting the book of the Law

of Moses, may God make it great,

In plain tongue, and pure language

and with a pleasant voice and magnificent singing.

Therefore, I announced on beholding her splendor

and on hearing her with my two ears:

Many daughters have done valiantly

but you surpass them all (Proverbs 31:29).

Source: St. Petersburg RNL Evr. I 803, fol. 157b.

Translated by Renée Levine Melammed and Uri Melammed.

Credits

Moses Dar‘ī, “I have seen a damsel,” MS St. Petersburg RNL Evr. I 803 (dated to the sixteenth century). Film no. 51263 in IMHM [Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts], NLI fol. 157b, no. 182.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 3: Encountering Christianity and Islam.