Lovesickness in Hebrew Literature: the fake physician in al-Harizi's Tahkemoni

el médico impostor del Tahkemoni de Al-Harizi

Abstract

This article tries to put in context a story that, even if brief, is quite exceptional in Hebrew literature. The fragment that has interested us deals with the 'remedies for lovesickness', a universal and timeless topic. Common to most known literatures, it appears, however, only once in the Hebrew literary corpus. In order to contextualize it, testimonies of Hebrew Love Literature from the times of the Old Testament to the Middle Ages are collected, as well as testimonies of very close literatures at a given time, such as the Arabic. Reference works have also been taken into account in this regard, such as Ovid's Remedia Amoris, which we consider to be a must in this respect, despite the fact that its overwhelming influence throughout the centuries and in very diverse geographies, never reached the Hebrew literature of any period.