The wondrous fables of Ibn Sahula in Meshal haqadmoni, presented
here in English for the first time, provide a most unusual
introduction to the intellectual and social universe of the
Sephardi Jewish world of thirteenth-century Spain. Ibn Sahula wrote
his fables in rhymed prose, here rendered into English as rhymed
couplets. They comprise a series of satirical debates between a
cynic and a moralist, put into the mouths of animals; the moralist
always triumphs. The debates, which touch on such subjects as time,
the soul, the physical sciences and medicine, astronomy, and
astrology, amply reflect human foibles, political compromise, and
court intrigue. They are suffused throughout with traditional
Jewish law and lore, a flavour reinforced by the profusion of
biblical quotations reapplied. With parallel Hebrew and English
texts, explanatory notes, indication of textual variants, and
references for all the biblical and other allusions, this edition
has much to offer to scholars in many areas: medieval Hebrew
literature, medieval intellectual history, Sephardi studies, and
the literature and folklore of Spain. Both the translation and the
scholarly annotations reflect Raphael Loewe's deep understanding of
Ibn Sahula's world, including the interrelationship of Hebrew,
Greek, and Arabic speculative thought and the interplay between
those languages. Scholars will profit enormously from the textual
annotations, and specialist and nonspecialist alike will benefit
from the masterly introduction. Two full series of illustrations
are reproduced alongside the text: the woodcuts from the second
edition (Venice, c.1547), and the splendid vignettes in the
Rothschild Miscellany, a fifteenth-century Italian mansucript in
the Israel Museum. Raphael Loewe was formerly Goldsmid Professor of
Hebrew at University College London, and is a former visiting
professor at Brown University. His publications concern various
aspects of Judaism in late antiquity and the Middle Ages, and
include much translation. His English translations of a substantial
number of liturgical poems for the Passover season are contained in
his Rylands Haggadah (1988), and others-among them the Royal
Crown-in his Ibn Gabirol (1989). His translation of FitzGerald's
Omar Khayy m into medieval Hebrew verse was published in 1982. He
is also a contributing author of the companion volumes to the
facsimile editions of the Barcelona Haggadah (1992), the Rothschild
Haggadah (2000), the Parma Psalter (1996), and the North French
Miscellany (2002). Many other translations remain unpublished,
being privately circulated among friends. 'The joy to be
encountered by those who rise to his intellectual challenge is
great. The Littman Library is owed an immense debt by all lovers of
Hebrew literature for having committed to this ambitious project
and, although the two volumes are expensive, the quality of Meshal
haqadmoni is such that the price is worth paying, and all those
interested in Jewish literature and especially that of the medieval
period should have this work on their shelves. Raphael Loewe's
translation and commentary on Ibn Sahula's work is a lasting
testimony to a great scholar and a great teacher with a poet's
soul.' Charles H. Middleburgh
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