Some of the great literary and scholarly works of medieval Spanish Jewry were written in Arabic, and many others in Hebrew. The 14th-century poet Shem Tov of Carrión, however, wrote in Castilian, the precursor to modern Spanish. Vivian Mills describes his work:

Some [scholars], like the late Yitzḥak Baer, have identified him with Shem Tov ben Yitzḥak Ardutiel, a prominent rabbi and author who lived in Carrión de los Condes, home to a flourishing Jewish community . . . that boasted its own rabbinical school. There are a few works in Hebrew that have been attributed to Ardutiel, among them the maqama (a fictional composition that alternates between prose and poetry and often has a humorous or satirical nature) known as The Rabbi’s Tale or The Battle of the Pen and the Scissors, Yam Kohelet (“The Sea of Ecclesiastes”), and a penitential prayer used in Sephardi Yom Kippur ceremonies.

But [the identity of the two Shem Tovs is uncertain, and some scholars have disputed Baer’s conclusion]. What is certain about our Shem Tov is that he was a Jew who lived in Castile during a time of political transition and uncertainty for the kingdom’s Jews, as the old king, Alfonso, had passed away and his heir, Peter, was establishing his reign.

In his poem, Shem Tov petitions the king to settle his father Alfonso’s debt and reminds him of his moral obligation to protect the Jews of Castile, as their lives and safety depend upon being considered “the king’s property.” He exhorts his king to follow in the tradition of his predecessors, who had extended their protection to the aljamas (Jewish settlements) of Castile.

Shem Tov then embarks on a literary reflection that touches on humanity’s fallibility and insignificance in the face of divine greatness, reflects on what makes a good man and the dangers of relying on fortune’s whims, as tragedy and affliction happen to all—even those who perform good deeds—and reminds readers that righteous acts and benevolence should not lead to complacency, because the world is a complicated place. . . . Shem Tov closes the poem by listing the qualities that make a good ruler and by bringing up once more the merçed, or favor, the new king owes him and the Jews of Castile—his protection and goodwill.

While it is commendable that administrators of several universities finally called upon police to crack down on violent and disruptive anti-Israel protests, the actions they have taken may be insufficient. At Columbia, demonstrators reestablished their encampment on the main quad after it had been cleared by the police, and the university seems reluctant to use force again. The school also decided to hold classes remotely until the end of the semester. Such moves, whatever their merits, do nothing to fix the factors that allowed campuses to become hotbeds of pro-Hamas activism in the first place. The editors of National Review examine how things go to this point:

Since the 10/7 massacre, Columbia’s Jewish students have been forced to endure routine calls for their execution. It shouldn’t have taken the slaughter, rape, and brutalization of Israeli Jews to expose chants like “Globalize the intifada” and “Death to the Zionist state” as calls for violence, but the university refused to intervene on behalf of its besieged students. When an Israeli student was beaten with a stick outside Columbia’s library, it occasioned little soul-searching from faculty. Indeed, it served only as the impetus to establish an “Anti-Semitism Task Force,” which subsequently expressed “serious concerns” about the university’s commitment to enforcing its codes of conduct against anti-Semitic violators.

But little was done. Indeed, as late as last month the school served as host to speakers who praised the 10/7 attacks and even “hijacking airplanes” as “important tactics that the Palestinian resistance have engaged in.”

The school’s lackadaisical approach created a permission structure to menace and harass Jewish students, and that’s what happened. . . . Now is the time finally to do something about this kind of harassment and associated acts of trespass and disorder. Yale did the right thing when police cleared out an encampment [on Monday]. But Columbia remains a daily reminder of what happens when freaks and haters are allowed to impose their will on campus.