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oems by DunashDate: 10th century
MATERIAL: Paper
LANGUAGE: Hebrew
CONTENT:
This folio contains two compositions, the first by the (unnamed) wife of Dunash ibn Labra, the tenth-century Spanish poet and grammarian, and the second by himself. In the first she poignantly describes his departure from her and their child and complains about his absence while in the second he responds by assuring her of his undying affection and loyalty.
IMPORTANCE:
In the first instance, this poem by Dunash himself was one of many recovered from the Genizah and not previously known from any other collection. In addition to this, the poem by his wife represents the first piece of Hebrew poetry known to have been composed by a Jewish woman since the Song of Deborah recorded in Judges 5. It is intriguing to speculate on whether it summarizes a real exchange between them or constitutes no more than a literary exercise in moving lyrical composition.
QUOTE: "Will her beloved remember the graceful hind, on the day of separation, her only son on her arm...on the day she took his mantle as a keepsake and as his keepsake he took her veil? "
READING: ‘On Dunash ben Labra, his Wife and Son: New Light on the Beginning of the Hebrew Spanish School’, by Ezra Fleischer (Hebrew), Jerusalem Studies in Hebrew Literature 5 (1984). pp. 189–203 and the English summary in Genizah Fragments 7 (April, 1984), p.3