The Story of Amīnā and His Wife

Around forty Judeo-Persian poems by the Iranian Jewish poet Amīnā (“The Faithful”), the pen name of Benjamin ben Misha’el, have survived. Amīnā was a prominent member of the Jewish community in Kashan, possibly a spiritual leader, and his poems circulated quite widely, even outside Iran. However, the poet’s personal life was far from easy. One poem indicates that he was married for more than twenty years and fathered seven children, all of whom are named in the work. However, the poem also includes complaints about his wife, and it seems that later he left her and Kashan, although this may have been a result of external constraints. Amīnā composed both secular and religious poetry. While most of his poems are short, he wrote longer works concerning the binding of Isaac and the story of Esther (about three hundred verses in length) that were used in liturgical settings. His poems provide insights into life in Kashan, including one written in praise of Afghan leader Shah Ashraf during the Afghan invasion, a poem criticizing the city’s judges, and a satirical poem about women. One poem in Hebrew by Amīnā has also survived.