The Spanish Hebrew poet and religious thinker Judah Halevi (ca. 1085-ca. 1150) taught that God had revealed Himself primarily through the people of Israel.

Few definite facts are known about Judah Halevi. He was born in Toledo, Castile, to a family of means. A gifted youth, he received his Jewish training in the school of the famous Talmudist Isaac Alfasi. He also had a secular education in Greek and Arabic philosophy, the poetic arts, and medicine. Halevi was not happy in the medical profession; he found fulfillment, however, in his poetry, in which he expressed his true genius and gift. He employed the forms and structure of Arabic poetry in his Hebrew verse. Halevi's verse is replete with graphic symbolism and simile, embroidered with biblical idioms and allusions. It may be divided in three main classes: secular, religious, and national.

The first half of his life Halevi seems to...