Criticism of the estates in Judah Al-Harizi's book of Tahkemoni and in European-Christian literature of the thirteenth century: Affinity and distinction

Satire in general, and estates satire in particular, was the most prevalent genre of writing in European-Christian literature of the thirteenth century. Hebrew literature of that era, on the other hand, barely made use of satire, as it was still influenced by Arabic literature, which was written for aesthetic, rather than didactic purposes. Judah al-harizi's Book of Tahkemoni is considered to be the defining model of the classical Hebrew maqāma influenced by Arabic literature. However, al-harizi announces at the opening of the Book of Tahkemoni that it has didactic aims. The essence of the didactic tendency in the Book of Tahkemoni is expressed, as in the Christian literature of that era, through satire, mainly social satire, which exposes the flaws in representatives of different classes in society, categorized according to status, gender, and profession. In this essay, I hope to illustrate the resemblance between the social satire found in Judah al-harizi's Book of Tahkemoni and European-Christian estates satire. The similarities will be examined through the discussion of six shared components. From the comparison, it might be assumed that al-harizi was familiar with Christian estates satire, yet he did not blindly copy or exclude the influences of one literature while adhering to the other. Rather, al-harizi drew on both styles while retaining the liberty to modify and to combine them. Its integration of Christian motifs and aims with an Arab structure and rhetoric enables us to see the Book of Tahkemoni as a work of mudéjar art.