Riddles in Hebrew are referred to as ḥidot (singular ḥidah). They have at times been a major and distinctive part of literature in Hebrew and closely related languages.
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Riddles in the Bible and other ancient Hebrew literature
Riddles are not common in the Bible, nor in Midrashic literature, though other tests of verbal wit are. The most prominent riddle in the Bible is Samson's riddle in Judges xiv.14: Samson outwitted the 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). However, Joseph Jacobs believes 'it would appear that some of the proverbs in which sets of three and of four objects are mentioned (e.g. xxx.15 et seq.) were originally in the form of riddles', while Ezekiel xvii.1-10 is also a riddle of sorts.
The Bible describes how the Queen of Sheba tests Solomon with riddles, but without giving any hint as to what they were (I Kings 10:1-13). On this basis, riddles were ascribed to the Queen in later scholarship: four riddles are ascribed to her in the eleventh-century Midrash Proverbs, and these plus another fourteen in the Midrash ha-Ḥefez. For example, the Midrash Proverbs include '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".’ The early medieval Aramic Targum Sheni also contains numerous riddles.
The Aramaic Story of Ahikar contains a long section of proverbial wisdom that in some versions also contains riddles.
Sirach mentions riddles as a popular dinner pastime, and the Talmud contains several, such as this one from the end of Kinnim: 'What animal has one voice living and seven voices dead?' ('The ibis, from whose carcass seven different musical instruments are made').
Hebrew riddles in the Middle Ages
Under the influence of Arabic literature in medieval al-Andalus, there was a flourishing of literary Hebrew riddles in verse during the Middle Ages. Dunash ben Labrat (920-990), credited with transposing Arabic metres into Hebrew, composed a number of riddles, mostly apparently inspired by folk-riddles. Exponents included Moses ibn Ezra, Yehuda Alharizi, Judah Halevi, and Abraham ibn Ezra. Immanuel the Roman wrote riddles, as did Israel Onceneyra. The tradition extended to Italy from the twelfth century, beginning with the work of Yerahmiel Bar Shlomo.
For example, Moses ibn Ezra asked 'What is the sister of the sun, though made for the night? The first causes her tears to fall, and when she is near dying they cut off her head'. (The answer is 'a candle'.) Judah Halevi asked:
(The answer is 'hand-mirror'.)
There is also 'a curious riddle' at the end of the Haggadah.