"A Man of Understanding Shall Attain Wise Counsels"

The Introduction and Opening Verses of the Two Versions of Joseph Qimhi's Sheqel ha-Qodesh

Abstract

The twelfth century marks the beginning of a true Renaissance of learning and attainment of knowledge among the Jews of southern France. In this period of cultural change, Provence was host to the activities of a number of Andalusi scholars who had emigrated from Spain and disseminated the cultural heritage of Spanish Jewry throughout southern France. One of these scholars was R. Joseph Qimhi (c. 1105-1170), a translator, grammarian, biblical commentator, religious polemist, and poet. In this paper I focus on Qimhi's main work in the field of poetry, Sheqel ha-Qodesh, which he composed in Narbonne, his new place of residence. This work is a collection of gnomic proverbs and ethical sayings formulated as rhymed verses in quantitative meter, based mainly on Choice of Pearls, a collection of Arabic aphorisms attributed to Ibn Gabirol. The purpose of this paper is to present Qimhi's introduction to Sheqel ha-Qodesh and to publish its two versions, including the opening verses, for the first time, based on all the available manuscripts, with a vocalized text, variant readings, and commentaries. The short accompanying discussion examines the background and features of the two versions of Sheqel ha-Qodesh, the structure and role of each introduction, and the differences between them.