Judah HaLevi in 10 Minutes

Explore the life of the "Sweet Singer of Zion" in our episode on Judah Halevi, the preeminent poet and philosopher of the Spanish Golden Age. In this installment, we delve into the soul of a man who mastered the high-status culture of 12th-century Andalusia—serving as a physician and a court poet—only to eventually reject the comforts of the diaspora for a spiritual journey to the Land of Israel. We'll unpack his philosophical masterpiece, The Kuzari, which framed a defense of the faith through a fictional dialogue between a king and a scholar, and examine his revolutionary "Zionide" poetry that transformed the Hebrew language into a vehicle for intense national longing. Join us as we trace Halevi's dramatic departure from Spain in 1140, exploring the legend of his final moments at the gates of Jerusalem and how his insistence that the heart of his people belonged in the East redirected the course of Jewish thought for nearly a millennium.