Before the journey

Yehosef ben Samuel ha-Nagid

ca. 1044

By Yehosef ha-Nagid the son of Samuel ha-Nagid, nine and a half years old.

Before the journey I asked if I could go,
  and at the leave-taking my desire waned.
And whoever at the age of nine can bear the parting—
  his heart is of iron or chiseled stone!
Will those who care for me and weep at my departure
  know I am all right, and dear as the second-in-command?
But it is my wish that the Lord will annihilate this separation,
  and the thought or feeling shall not enter my heart!
Translated by Karen Alkalay-Gut.

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

Engage with this Source

In this poem—written when Yehosef was only nine and a half years old—the young poet contemplates the heartache that accompanies traveling. He writes about the dread he feels when leaving his loved ones and wonders whether they grieve too. When he refers to himself as “second-in-command,” he recalls Genesis 41:43 and likens himself to Jacob’s son Joseph, who was sold into Egyptian slavery by his brothers but was never forgotten by his father.

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Related Guide

Early Medieval Poetry

9th to 12th Century

Creator Bio

Yehosef ben Samuel ha-Nagid

1035–1066

Probably born in Granada, in al-Andalus (Muslim Spain), Yehosef, son of Samuel ha-Nagid (993–1056), received his education from his father, whom he succeeded as vizier at the Zirid court. Yehosef played a pivotal role in assembling his father’s poetry, but only a few of his own poems survive, along with several of his letters, in the Cairo Geniza. Yehosef was killed in anti-Jewish riots in December 1066, together with many other Jews of Granada. After his death, poets composed mournful panegyrics. Both Jews and Muslims imagined Yehosef as the prototypical leader of the Jewish community.

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