Almost nothing is known about David (Abū ʾl-Ḥasan) ben al-Dayyan, who lived during one of the most fecund periods of Hebrew culture in al-Andalus (11th-12th century). We have no information about his profession, and nothing to suggest that he himself wrote poetry, as did so many distinguished Jews of the era. He probably belonged to the same family as Abū ʿAmr ibn al-Dayyan, mentioned by Moses ibn Ezra in his Kitāb al-Muhāḍara wa ’l-Mudhākara as an inhabitant of eastern al-Andalus (Halkin ed., p. 76).

David was a member of the wide circle of friends of Judah ha-Levi and the addressee of th…