I shall state my case
Menaḥem Ibn Sarūq
ca. 960
I shall state my case, and I know that I shall be acquitted. This is what you wrote in reply to my letter, this is what you dispatched to me: “If you have sinned, I have already repaid you as you merit; but if you have not sinned, I have made you merit eternal life in the world beyond.” Do you consider this a judgement? Do you think such words are…
Menaḥem Ibn Sarūq sent this poetic Hebrew self-vindication, formatted here by the translator as prose paragraphs, to his patron Ḥasday (here, Ḥisdai) Ibn Shaprūṭ, after accusations had led to Menaḥem’s falling out of favor with Ibn Shaprūṭ, who served the Umayyad caliph ‘Abd al-Raḥmān III (r. 912–961) in Córdoba. Menaḥem refers to earlier written exchanges, now lost, and pleads for Ḥasday to render fair judgment. His entreaties were ultimately unsuccessful, and he never regained his membership in Ḥasday’s inner circle.
Related Guide
Correspondence in the Early Medieval World
Creator Bio
Menaḥem Ibn Sarūq
Menaḥem ben Jacob Ibn Sarūq, a native of Tortosa, was one of the first prominent Jewish figures known in al-Andalus (Muslim Spain). A poet and philologist, Menaḥem became secretary to Isaac Ibn Shaprūṭ and his son Ḥasday Ibn Shaprūṭ. It was Ḥasday who asked Menaḥem to compose his Notebook (Maḥberet), prior to a falling-out between them sparked by Dunash ben Labraṭ’s accusations that Menaḥem had Karaite sympathies. Menaḥem is known for his opposition to the application of Arabic models to Hebrew poetry and his refusal to interpret biblical Hebrew by way of rabbinic Hebrew or through comparisons to other Semitic languages. Menaḥem’s students defended their teacher at some length, but his positions were largely discarded by later Andalusi Jews.
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