Samuel Ha Nagid (993 – 1056 CE), also known as Samuel Ibn Nagrilla, was the leader (the ‘Nagid’) of the Jewish community in Granada when Al-Andalus was at its cultural height. He was a Talmudic scholar and merchant, but by coincidence and ability he rose very high in life. He had a spice shop near the palace of the vizier, and when the maid of the vizier came to him to have letters written, this led to an acquaintance with her master. In time Samuel rose to become himself the vizier or first minister of the Muslim ruler. In addition to his worldly accomplishments, he is seen as the fountainhead of a tremendous movement of mystical Jewish poetry, restoring Hebrew to the status of a living literary language.

She said: “Be happy that God has helped you reach
The age of fifty in this world,” not knowing
That to me there is no difference between my life’s
Past and that of Noah about whom I heard.
For me there is only the hour in which I am present in this world:
It stays for a moment and then like a cloud moves on.

Translation Leon J. Weinberger