Introduction

This chapter analyses references to silk in medieval Iberian Jewish literature, variously in biblical and Mishnaic commentary, poetry, philosophical works, rabbinic responsa, and halakhic (Jewish legal) literature. These reflect the authors’ familiarity with the production and use of silk, and assumption that their readers share that awareness.

Those who generally study the works cited here have no specialist knowledge of textiles in general, and particularly of silk. The recognition and discussion of allusions, metaphors, and identifications expands our appreciation of these authors. Conversely, these genres of Jewish literature as sources for information on silk, will be presented to textile scholars and historians, as a rule unfamiliar with this material.

Ḥasday Ibn Shaprut, Menaḥem Ibn Saruq and the ‘Khazar Correspondence’

Ḥasdai Ibn Shaprut (c. 905 Jaen – 975 Cordoba) a Jewish scholar, served as private physician and subsequently as trusted advisor to the court of Umayyad caliph Abd al-Raḥmān III (912–961) in Cordoba. Ibn Shaprut was considered the ‘Nasi’ (prince) of Andalusian Jewry. His personal secretary/scribe, Menaḥem Ibn Saruq (c. 910 Tortosa – 970) was a lexicographer and poet. Ibn Shaprut commissioned Ibn Saruq to compose what is known as the ‘Khazar Correspondence’. Today, this correspondence – written in biblical style Hebrew – is generally considered authentic, especially the section which concerns our topic. Praising his homeland, ‘Sepharad’ (the common Hebrew appellation for the Iberian Peninsula), he states: