Dīwān

The Dīwān is a significant collection of poems by Judah ha-Levi, a prominent Jewish poet and philosopher of the medieval period. Born around 1075 in Tudela, Spain, ha-Levi's work represents a peak in Hebrew poetry influenced by Arabic culture. The Dīwān includes both secular and religious verses, with a strong theme of passionate attachment to Zion, the land of Israel.1

Ha-Levi believed that immigrating to and settling in Palestine would hasten the coming of the Messiah and the deliverance of the Jewish people from exile. His poems celebrate Jerusalem, and his philosophical views on Judaism are presented in his work Sefer ha-Kuzari. The Dīwān script, a distinct style of Arabic calligraphy, developed later in the Ottoman Empire and is unrelated to ha-Levi's poetry collection.12