lands" where he believes the future of Israel must be lived. The King persuades his teacher to remain, but in vain. The "teacher" is obdurate. At last the King consents and sends his companion away, with blessings, addressing him thus: "If the wish hath thus restrained thee from evil and aided thee toward the good, God will help thee in thy good intentions, and will decree good results upon thy desire and undertaking. He will be to thee a succour and a support, and will increase thy reward for the purity of thine heart; for He is a gracious God, full of grace and compassion. There is no God beside him, and no Creator outside of Him." This puts an end to the connection between the pupil and teacher, and the latter sets his face toward the East.
How closely the character of the King's companion is a portrayal of the author, can be deduced from the fact that the wish to depart for Palestine was the one dominating passion of his life, which, in spite of all obstacles, he at last undertook to carry out.
This work of Jehudah Halevi serves two purposes, Arstly to defend Judaism against the “strange” philosophies, and secondly to point out that Israel’s rightful mission is to rehabilitate himself in the land of his fathers. The first was an answer to the Gentiles, the second a warning to the Jew. There is something prophetic in this disposal of the Jewish question as it then existed. What was this embryonic love of Zion but the seed which, planted by the spirit of the poet, shot up its roots through theages, and in this modern era blossomed into the fllower of nractical Zionism. :
It is true, as Zunz wrote of him, that Jehudah Halevi “ sang for all times and occasions,” but the most characteristic of his song ıs that which dwelled on the memory of Zion. In this no other poet has ever excelled him, not even Solomon Ibn Gebirol, who, too, sang of Zion with a passionate and sweet sadness. The touch of Jehudah Halevi had something magical in it, a power peculiarly its own. This Jehudah Halevi’s contemporaries recognized, for they ‚admitted his superiority and crowned him the Prince of Poets. They showered him with adulation, they all but deified the man. But he remained unspoiled by all this display of appreciation. He sang on unconcerned—his harp strung by a hand from heaven, the very nymphs and naiads envying the beauty of his gift of song. Honored in his lifetime his memory was revered long after his voice joined the “ silent majority.”. For he wrote for all times, and the aspirations which he voiced found response in the hearts of his co-religionists hundreds of vears after they were uttered. Over three hundred poems are known to have been left by him, these having been intended for festive occasions only. He wrote many other poems on various themes, both sacred and secular, many of which have become lost in the course of time. Samuel David Luzatto (1800-1856) was the first scholar to whom it occurred to collect and classify the compositions of Jehudah Halevi. But for his chronological genius and historical insight the brightest gems of Halevi’s production would never have been rescued from the chaos of writings in which they were buried. Luzzatto searched every hidden nook and cranny for the buried treasures, he waded through oceans of moss, and struggled with the waves of Lethe which seemed bent to resist his earnest efforts. But he succeeded in rescuing the best of Jehudah Halevi’s thoughts from oblivion—a herculean task indeed, for it is not au easy matter to keep track of the medisval poets who were neither systematic nor simple in their methods. They had a particular fondness for toying with their names. These were apt to be concealed anywhere in the poem. Sometimes they disposed of their names by using each letter for the bginning of words or sentences. Sometimes it was written in the form of an acrostic. They seemed to have an aversion to giving their names in so many terms. The ınystic way of doing things appealed more to them. Jehudah Halevi was less given to this practice than his contemporaries, although he too acrosticized (if I may coin the word) his name. One of these acrostics, Pentecost Song, the present writer has translated into English (vide Jewish coınment). But nothing, not even the love of the mystic, can mar the beauty of Jehudah Halevi’s style; it is redolent with all the rich spices of the Orient. A beautiful tribute to the genius of Jehudah Halevi is the following bouquet of choice thoughts oftered by Alcharisi (1225 C. E.?) : “ The songs of Rabbi Jehudah Halevi are a crown of grace upon the head of the Law—a necklace of rubies and pearls. In the House of’Song he is the central pillar. He sits in the House of Wisdom arrayed in his divine gifts. ‘He flourishes his sword