by Judah al-Harizi

For more than 700 years Islamic dynasties ruled over a swath of the Iberian Peninsula designated as al-Andalus, which, though dominated by Muslims, was also peopled by minority groups. Christian Spain meanwhile engaged in a gradual conquest of al-Andalus (commonly called the Reconquest), during which the centers of Jewish life moved from areas under Islamic domination to areas under Christian control. Even after the Arabic-inspired Golden Age of Hebrew poetry in al-Andalus (c. 960-1147), Arabic currents continued to be felt in the Hebrew literature written in Christian Spain. Hebrew fictional narratives were grounded in the Arabic maqamah, an anecdotal short story in rhymed prose. Most famous among the collection of Hebrew maqamat is the Book of Tahkemoni by Judah al-Harizi (1166?-1225), an author who composed works in Hebrew and Arabic and ultimately left Christian Spain to...