Alessandro Guetta, PhD (1993) in Philosophy, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris, is professor of Jewish Thought at Inalco, Paris. He has published extensively on the intellectual history of Italian Judaism, including Philosophy and Kabbalah. His latest work is Elijah Benamozegh and the Reconciliation of Western Thought and Jewish Esotericism (SUNY Press, 2008).Masha Itzhaki, PhD (1979) Tel Aviv University, teaches Hebrew literature in INALCO Paris. She is the author of many books and papers on Hebrew medieval poetry and about Israeli literature. Her books include Jardin d'Eden, Jardin d'Espagne, (BNF & Sueil, Paris 1993), Yehuda Ha-Levi, from Toledo to Jerusalem, (Albin Michel, Paris 1997), Poésie hébraïqe amoureuse, (Somogy, Paris 2000).

• CONTENTSIntroduction PART 1: Poetry as HandicraftArs Poetica in Medieval Hebrew Secular Poetry: Same Symptoms, Different Diagnosis Nili ShalevKitāb al-Muḥāḍarah wa-al-mudhākarah by Moshe ibn Ezra Compared with Kitāb al-Badīʻ by Ibn al-Muʻtazz Yosef TobiPART 2: Themes of Hebrew Poetry in the Muslim World and Christian IberiaCollections of Homonym Poems in Medieval Hebrew Literature Judith DishonChanging Landscapes of the Hebrew Rhymed Prose Narrative Jonathan P. DecterOn Books and Poems: Poetic Exchanges in Hebrew Poetry in Al-Andalus Aurora SalvatierraCriticism of the Estates in Judah al-Ḥarizi’s Book of Taḥkemoni and in European-Christian Literature of the Thirteenth Century: Affinity and Distinction Ayelet OettingerPART 3: Ashkenaz, Italy: Literary Genres ReconsideredSingle Zulatot in Ashkenaz Elisabeth HollenderA Contextual Analysis of the Jewish Italian Elegy at the Time of the Ghettos (Sixteenth–Eighteenth Centuries)Asher SalahPART 4.1: From East to West, Monographical Studies: The Muslim EastSome Remarks on Judeo-Arabic Poetical Works: An Arabic Poem by Moshe Darʻi (ca. 1180–ca. 1240) Arie SchippersThe Research History of the Baghdadi-Jewish Poet Elʻazar ha-Bavli (Thirteenth Century) Wout van BekkumPART 4.2: From East to West, Monographical Studies: The Christian Aragon The Literary World of Shelomoh Bonafed Angel Sáenz-BadillosCritical Editions of the Poetical Correspondence between Vidal Abenvenist and Solomon de Piera Judit Targarona Borrás and Tirza VardiPART 5: Judah Halevy: In the Laboratory of the Poet/Thinker“I Asked about a Ḥasid, Not a Ruler”: The Ḥasid as a Ruler in the Poetry of Rabbi Judah Halevi Ephraim HazanLe Surnom Amoureux dans la Poésie Liturgique de Pessaḥ de Judah Halevi Eric Dahan