Letter to Aaron Ibn al-‘Ammānī

Judah ha-Levi sent the lengthy, effusive letter excerpted here from Cairo to his friend Aaron Ibn al-‘Ammānī in Alexandria. Much of the emotional and erotic language in the opening sections of this text draws on frequent themes in Andalusi poetry about friendship. The real subject of concern for Aaron (namely, Judah’s meeting with the leader of Egyptian Jewry, the nagid) appears only in the middle of this letter. Judah assures Aaron of his standing with the communal leader. Judah also touches on the tension between spiritual and worldly pleasures, a common theme in his writings, and closes with a lengthy poem that continues the erotic themes set forth at the outset. Unbracketed ellipses indicate lacunae in the manuscript.