# Hebrew riddles

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Hebrew_riddles
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Hebrew_riddles.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_riddles
> Source revision: 1313351623
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

[Riddles](/source/Riddles) in [Hebrew](/source/Hebrew_language) are referred to as חידות *ḥidot* (singular חִידָה *ḥidah*).[1] They have at times been a major and distinctive part of literature in Hebrew and closely related languages. At times they have a complex relationship with [proverbs](/source/Proverb).[2]

## In the Bible

Riddles are not common in the [Bible](/source/Bible),[3] though other tests of verbal wit are. The most prominent riddle in the Bible is [Samson's riddle](/source/Samson's_riddle): [Samson](/source/Samson) outwitted the [Philistines](/source/Philistines) by posing a riddle about the lion and the beehive until they learned the answer from his Philistine bride, costing Samson 30 suits of clothes (Judges 14:5-18).[4] In the [Book of Proverbs](/source/Book_of_Proverbs), it mentions "the words of the wise and their riddles."[5] In Proverbs 30:15, in which sets of three or four objects are mentioned were likely originally in the form of riddles. In [Ezekiel](/source/Book_of_Ezekiel) [17](/source/Ezekiel_17):1-10 is also a riddle of sorts[6] as well as in [Habakkuk](/source/Book_of_Habakkuk) 2:6-20.

## In post-Biblical and rabbinic literature

Riddles are not common in [Midrashic literature](/source/Midrash),[7] but some are found. For example, the *[Lamentations Rabbah](/source/Lamentations_Rabbah)*, composed around the middle of the first millennium CE, expounds the first verse of the [Book of Lamentations](/source/Book_of_Lamentations) by telling eleven stories in which Jerusalemites outwit Athenians. Most of these are in some sense riddlic;[8]: 39–87 the one most straightforwardly containing a riddle[8]: 55 features schoolboys asking "what is this thing: nine go out and eight are complete, and twenty-four serve, and two pour, and one drinks". These numbers turn out to refer respectively to nine months of pregnancy, eight days between birth and circumcision, twenty-four months of breastfeeding, two breasts, and one baby.[8]: 48–49

[Sirach](/source/Sirach) mentions riddles as a popular dinner pastime.

The [Talmud](/source/Talmud) contains several riddles, such as this one from the end of [Kinnim](/source/Kinnim): 'What animal has one voice living and seven voices dead?' ('The ibis, from whose carcass seven different musical instruments are made').[6]

The Aramaic *[Story of Ahikar](/source/Story_of_Ahikar)* contains a long section of proverbial wisdom that in some versions also contains riddles.[9]

### Solomon and the Queen of Sheba

The Bible describes how the [Queen of Sheba](/source/Queen_of_Sheba) tests [Solomon](/source/Solomon) with riddles, but without giving any hint as to what they were.[10] On this basis, riddles were ascribed to the Queen in later writings (see: [Colloquy of the Queen of Sheba](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Translation%3AColloquy_of_the_Queen_of_Sheba)). Four riddles are ascribed to her in the tenth- or eleventh-century *[Midrash Proverbs](/source/Midrash_Proverbs)*,[11][12] including the following: 'She said to him: "Seven exit and nine enter, two pour and one drinks". He said to her: "Surely, seven days of menstruation exit and nine months of pregnancy enter, two breasts pour and the baby drinks".’[13] These plus another fourteen or fifteen tests of wisdom, some of which are riddles, appear in the *[Midrash ha-Ḥefez](/source/Midrash_ha-%E1%B8%A4efez)* (1430 CE), for example:[11]

- There is an enclosure with ten doors: when one is open nine are shut; when nine are open, one is shut. — The womb, the bodily orifices, and the umbilical cord.
- Living, moves not, yet when its head is cut off it moves. — A ship in the sea (made from a tree).
- What was that which is produced from the ground, yet produces it, while its food is the fruit of the ground? — A wick.[12]

The early medieval Aramaic *[Targum Sheni](/source/Targum_Sheni)* also contains three riddles posed by the Queen to Solomon.[11]

## In medieval verse

Under the influence of [Arabic literature](/source/Riddles_(Arabic)) in medieval [al-Andalus](/source/Al-Andalus), there was a flourishing of literary Hebrew riddles in verse during the Middle Ages. [Dunash ben Labrat](/source/Dunash_ben_Labrat) (920-990), credited with transposing Arabic metres into Hebrew, composed [a number of riddles](/source/Dunash_ben_Labrat#Riddles), firmly rooted, like folk-riddles, in describing everyday, physical objects.[14] His *[diwan](/source/Diwan_(poetry))* includes a twenty-line poem comprising ten riddles, one of which runs:

וּמַה שָׁחוׂר וְגַם אָדוׂם יְרוּצוּן שׁנֵי מַתִים אֲלַיהֶם כֵּעֲבָדִים בְּהֶאֶחֶד רְפוּאָה גַם חְּעָלֶה וְהַשֵׁנִי עֲדִי בַּת הַנְּגִידִים[15]

Subsequent exponents included [Samuel ibn Naghrillah](/source/Samuel_ibn_Naghrillah) (born 993), the sixth section of whose philosophical verse collection *Ben Mishlei* (literally 'son of [Proverbs](/source/Book_of_Proverbs)', but more idiomatically 'after Proverbs') presents a series of philosophically inclined riddles.[16][17][18] The subjects of his riddles generally remained concrete — examples include the moon, pen and ink, a boat or fountain — but he began to introduce riddles on abstract themes such as God, wisdom, joy, and folly, with a didactic purpose.[19]: 20

- And he said to me: Is there life in death, without a heart?
- I answered: foolishness.
- And he continued: Is there death in life, with the body intact?
- I answered: poverty.

Frequently, the word representing the solution was integrated into the end-rhyme of the poem, making the solution to the riddle the completion of a verse.[20]: 100–101

Samuel was followed by [Moses ibn Ezra](/source/Moses_ibn_Ezra) (born c. 1055×60), [Judah Halevi](/source/Judah_Halevi) (born c. 1075), [Abraham ibn Ezra](/source/Abraham_ibn_Ezra) (born 1089×92) and [Yehuda Alharizi](/source/Yehuda_Alharizi) (born 1165).[6][21]

Judah is noted as the most prolific Hebrew riddler of his time, with a corpus of at least sixty-seven riddles,[19]: 21 some of which survive in his own hand, and even in draft form.[22] These are mostly short, monorhyme compositions on concrete subjects such as everyday artefacts, animals and plants, or a name or word.[23][22] For example, he wrote:

- Evincing the infinite— - the size of your palm—
- what it holds is beyond you, - curious, at hand.[24]

(The answer is 'hand-mirror'.) However, his riddles also include a piece as long as 36 verses, to be solved both as 'pomegranate' and 'Granada';[19] the solution to some remains the subject of research.[25]

Meanwhile, Abraham is noted for maximising the use of riddles as a meditation on knowledge and the divine.[20]: 104 n. 1[26][27]

The Andalusian tradition extended to Italy from the twelfth century, beginning with the work of [Yerahmiel Bar Shlomo](/source/Yerahmiel_Bar_Shlomo).[20] [Immanuel the Roman](/source/Immanuel_the_Roman) wrote riddles, as did [Israel Onceneyra](/source/Israel_Onceneyra).[28]

## Post-medieval

In Hebrew-speaking Spain and Italy during around 1650-1850, a [baroque](/source/Baroque) sub-genre of the literary riddle called *ḥiddat hatsurah vehalo‘ez* (literally 'riddles of an emblem with foreign-language passages', known in English simply as 'emblem riddles') flourished. The genre was characterised by alluding to words in languages other than Hebrew (*lo‘ez*) in order to provide clues to the solution. For example, one riddle includes the Hebrew phrase *Eh ko nistarti* ('I am hidden somewhere here'). The first two of these words sound the same as the Italian/Spanish word *eco* ('echo'), and 'echo' (Hebrew *hed*) is indeed the solution to the poem. Each riddle would include an '[emblem](/source/Emblem)' (*tsurah*) near the opening in the form of an allusive picture, poem, or phrase, or a combination of these, after which the riddle proper would commence. Poems in this genre were [occasional](/source/Occasional_poems), composed in celebration of specific high-society events such as weddings and circumcisions. The topic of the riddle would often reflect the occasion and audience (with solutions such as 'wisdom' for a gathering of scholars, or 'love' at a wedding), and the riddle might make use of information about the people at the gathering in ways which would make little sense to a wider audience.[29]

At the end of the [Haggadah](/source/Haggadah), there is also the [Echad Mi Yodea](/source/Echad_Mi_Yodea), characterised by [Joseph Jacobs](/source/Joseph_Jacobs) as 'a curious riddle'.[6]

## See also

- Yehuda Ratzaby, '[Halakhic Poetic Riddles of R. Shalem Me'oded](https://www.jstor.org/stable/23415145)', *[Sefunot](/source/Sefunot): Studies and Sources on the History of the Jewish Communities in the East* (שירי-חידה הלכיים לר' שלם מעודד יהודה רצהבי, ספונות: מחקרים ומקורות לתולדות קהילות ישראל במזרח) New Series /סדרה חדשה, כרך א (טז) (תש"ם), pp. 273–286
- Y. Ratzhaby, 'Ahuda Na' ['Let me Utter Riddles'], *Yeda-am*, 2 (1954), 36-42.
- Dan Pagis, *A Secret Sealed: Hebrew Baroque Emblem-Riddles from Italy and Holland* (Jerusalem: The Magnes Press, 1986).
- רוזן-מוקד, טובה [Tova Rosen-Moked], “'Testing with Riddles': The Hebrew Riddle of the Middle Ages” [in Hebrew], הספרות [*Ha-Sifrut*], 30–31 (1980): 168–83
- רוזן-מוקד, טובה (1999–2000). ["החידה כמשל - על חידות דיאלוגיות של שמואל הנגיד"](https://www.jstor.org/stable/23417452) [Dialogic Riddles in "Ben Mishle" by Samuel Ha-Nagid]. *דפים למחקר בספרות*. **12**: 7–23. [JSTOR 23417452](https://www.jstor.org/stable/23417452)

## References

1. ["Klein Dictionary - חִידָה"](https://www.sefaria.org/Klein_Dictionary%2C_%D7%97%D6%B4%D7%99%D7%93%D6%B8%D7%94.1?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en). [Sefaria.org](/source/Sefaria)

1. Galit Hasan-Rock, 'Riddle and Proverb: The Relationship Exemplified by an Aramaic Proverb', *Proverbium* 24 (1974), 936–40.

1. Harry Torcszyner, 'The Riddle in the Bible', *Hebrew Union College Annual*, 1 (1924), 125-49, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/43301983](https://www.jstor.org/stable/43301983); Othniel Margalith, 'Samson's Riddle and Samson's Magic Locks', *Vetus Testamentum*, 36 (1986), 225-34, DOI: 10.2307/1518382; [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1518382](https://www.jstor.org/stable/1518382).

1. Margalith, Othniel, "Samson's Riddle and Samson's Magic Locks", *[Vetus Testamentum](/source/Vetus_Testamentum)* 1986; 36, pp. 225-234 (p. 226) [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1518382](https://www.jstor.org/stable/1518382).

1. ["Proverbs 1:6"](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+1%3A6&version=NKJV). [BibleGateway](/source/BibleGateway)

1. Joseph Jacobs, '[Riddle](http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12747-riddle)', in *The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day*, ed. by Isidore Singer (New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1901-1907)

1. Dina Stein, 'A King, a Queen, and the Riddle Between: Riddles and Interpretation in a Late Midrashic Text', in *Untying the Knot: On Riddles and Other Enigmatic Modes*, ed. by Galit Hasan-Rokem and David Dean Shulman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), 125-74 (at p. 127).

1. Galit Hasan-Rokem, *Web of Life: Folklore and Midrash in Rabbinic Literature*, trans. by Batya Stein (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000) [first publ. *Riqmat hayim: ha-yetsira ha-ammamit be-sifrut hazal* (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1996)]; ISBN 9780804732277.

1. Archer Taylor, *The Literary Riddle before 1600* (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1948), pp. 41-42.

1. [I Kings](/source/I_Kings) 10:1-13

1. Jacob Lassner, *Demonizing the Queen of Sheba: Boundaries of Gender and Culture in Postbiblical Judaism and Medieval Islam*. University of Chicago Press, 1993, pp. 9-17

1. Christine Goldberg, *Turandot's Sisters: A Study of the Folktale AT 851*, Garland Folklore Library, 7 (New York: Garland, 1993), p. 24.

1. Annikki Kaivola-Bregenhøj, *Riddles: Perspectives on the Use, Function, and Change in a Folklore Genre*, Studia Fennica, Folkloristica, 10 (Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society, 2001), p. 13; [https://dx.doi.org/10.21435/sff.10](https://dx.doi.org/10.21435/sff.10); [http://oa.finlit.fi/site/books/detail/12/riddles/](http://oa.finlit.fi/site/books/detail/12/riddles/) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20161009085945/http://oa.finlit.fi/site/books/detail/12/riddles/) 2016-10-09 at the Wayback Machine.

1. Archer Taylor, *The Literary Riddle before 1600* (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1948), pp. 33-35, citing Nehemya Aluny, '[Ten Dunash Ben Labrat's Riddles](https://www.jstor.org/stable/1452496)', *The Jewish Quarterly Review*, New Series, 36 (1945), 141-46.

1. Nehemya Aluny, '[Ten Dunash Ben Labrat's Riddles](https://www.jstor.org/stable/1452496)', *The Jewish Quarterly Review*, New Series, 36 (1945), 141-46 (p. 146).

1. Samuel ibn Naghrīla, *Ben Mishlei*, ed. by Dov Yarden (Jerusalem: Libov School of Graphic Arts, 1982).

1. Sarah J. Pearce, *The Andalusi Literary and Intellectual Tradition: The Role of Arabic in Judah Ibn Tibbon's Ethical Will* (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2017), pp. 68-69 ISBN 9780253025968.

1. Ángel Sáenz-Badillos, 'La Poesía Gnómico-Sapiencial de Šěmu’el Ha-Nagid', in *La sociedad Andalusi y sus tradiciones literarias*, pp. 127–38; [doi:10.1163/9789004485402_008](https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004485402_008).

1. Aurora Salvatierra, '[La "Granada" más hermosa: una adivinanza de Yĕhudah Ha-Levi](https://www.meahhebreo.com/index.php/meahhebreo/article/viewFile/315/336) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20190808100528/http://www.meahhebreo.com/index.php/meahhebreo/article/viewFile/315/336) 2019-08-08 at the Wayback Machine', *Biblio*, 47 (1998), 19-36.

1. Dan Pagis, 'Toward a Theory of the Literary Riddle', in *Untying the Knot: On Riddles and Other Enigmatic Modes*, ed. by Galit Hasan-Rokem and David Shulman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), pp. 81-108.

1. The 1928-29 edition of the works of [Solomon ibn Gabirol](/source/Solomon_ibn_Gabirol) (born 1021×22) attributes seven riddles to him: אבן גבירול שלמה ב"ר יהודה הספרדי (1928–1929). [*שירי שלמה בן יהודה אבן*](https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=38216&st=&pgnum=41). Vol. 5. תל אביבגבירול. p. 35.. But these have since been reassigned to Dunash ben Labrat: Nehemya Aluny, '[Ten Dunash Ben Labrat's Riddles](https://www.jstor.org/stable/1452496)', *The Jewish Quarterly Review*, New Series, 36 (1945), 141-46.

1. נחמיה אלוני/N. Allony, '[שלושים חידות אוטוגראפיות לר' יהודה הלוי](https://www.jstor.org/stable/24161593)' [Thirty autograph riddles by R. Yehudah ha-Lev], .עלי ספר: מחקרים בביבליוגרפיה ובתולדות הספר העברי המודפס והדיגיטל/*Alei Sefer: A Journal for the Study of the Hebrew Book*, 3 (October 1976), 20-43 (repr. Allony, N., 'Šělošim hidot 'otografiot Iě-R. Yehudah ha-Levi, *[Studies in medieval philology and literature: collected papers, 4: Hebrew medieval poetry, Volume 4](https://books.google.com/books?id=vgBIvgAACAAJ)* (Jerusalem: Ben Zvi Institute, 1991), pp. 425-48).

1. Brody, H.,1894-1930, Dîwân des Abû-l-Hasan Jehudah ha-Levi. Diwan wĕ-hu 'sefer kolel šire 'abir ha-mešorerim Yĕhudah ben Šĕmu'el ha-Levi. Berlin, 2 vols. II, 191-211 (riddles), 141-56 (notes on the riddles).

1. *The Dream of the Poem: Hebrew Poetry from Muslim and Christian Spain, 950–1492*, ed. and trans. by Peter Cole (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007), p. 150.

1. בן-שבת, שמואל (1955). ["פתרונים לחידות סתומות לר' יהודה הלוי ור' שלמה אבן-גבירול"](https://www.jstor.org/stable/23588346) [The Solution of Hitherto Unsolved Riddles of Yehuda Hallevi and Shelomo ibn Gabirol]. *תרביץ*. **25**: 385–392. [JSTOR 23588346](https://www.jstor.org/stable/23588346)

1. Masha Itzhaki, 'The Riddles of Abraham Ibn Ezra', in *[Abraham Ibn Ezra y su tiempo: actas del Simposio Internacional: Madrid, Tudela, Toledo, 1-8 febrero 1989/Abraham Ibn Ezra and his Age: proceedings of the International Symposium: Madrid, Tudela, Toledo, 1-8 febrero 1989](https://books.google.com/books?id=SoIRAQAAIAAJ)*, ed. by Fernando Díaz Esteban (1990), pp. 163-68, ISBN 84-600-7500-1.

1. Haviva Ishay, 'The Biblical Exegesis of Abraham Ibn Ezra as a Hermeneutical Device: A Literary Riddle as a Case Study', in *Exegesis and Poetry in Medieval Karaite and Rabbanite Texts*, ed. by Joachim Yeshaya and Elisabeth Hollender, Karaite Texts and Studies, 9 (Leiden: Brill, 2016), pp. 122-46.

1. See further Archer Taylor, *The Literary Riddle before 1600* (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1948), pp. 35-37.

1. Arthur Lesley, '[The Riddles of Dan Pagis](https://www.jstor.org/stable/20689297)', *Prooftexts*, 11.1 (January 1991), 76-80.

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Hebrew riddles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_riddles) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_riddles?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.