The Cultural History of the Jews of the Islamic World in the Middle Ages (9th-13th Centuries)
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Project Directors: Prof. Meira Polliack: meirap@tauex.tau.ac.il 03-6406057 Prof. Yoram Erder: erder@post.tau.ac.il 03-6409021 Project Team: Dr. Marzena Zawanowska, Dr. Ilana Sasson z"l |
About the Project
The Karaite Golden Age: A Modern Hebrew Anthology of Karaite Texts from the Ninth to the Twelfth Centuries
Editors: Yoram Erder and Meira Polliack
The purpose of this anthology is to present the Israeli reader – for the first time – with a corpus of Karaite literature reflecting its great richness. The Karaites made a considerable contribution to Jewish literature with their biblical commentaries and translations, the Masoretic Text, theology, Hebrew grammar and more. This prolific range of materials is not currently accessible to most people, even those in the field. The majority of these sources are manuscripts, most of which are written in Judaeo-Arabic. Therefore, this book will be of great significance in bringing Karaite literature into Israeli discourse and to the attention of all students and readers interested in Jewish Studies and in Jewish Medieval history.
During the 2018–2019 academic year great progress was made on the anthology, on which the editors have been working for several years. The anthology includes a selection of some sixty texts, the majority of which were translated from Judeo-Arabic. Dozens of scholars – the leaders in Karaite research in Israel and abroad – have contributed to the project, each having selected the texts related to his/her research and expertise. Each text will be presented with an introduction and accompanying annotation. Extensive work has been invested in editing and improving the linguistic register of the translations and commentary. After initial editing by Prof. Erder and Prof. Polliack, the material then underwent linguistic editing by Dana Reich. The work is currently in the final stages of processing the material, including rechecking the primary sources, continuing to improve the translations and commentary, clarifying the footnotes, preparing the bibliography, etc. Of the book’s approximately 500 pages, half are already complete. The entire manuscript should be completed by September 2019, hopefully without any further delays. The volume is in the final stages of preparation and publication will likely take place in early 2020.
Publications
Yoram Erder, "The Karaites in the Gaonic Period and the Shi`a: Influences in Scriptural Interpretation", Zion, 83 (2018), pp. 421-445.
Meira Polliack,"'Scribe', 'Redactor' and 'Author' – The Multifaceted Concept of the Biblical Narrator (mudawwin) in Medieval Karaite Exegesis", Yad Moshe – Studies in the History of the Jews in Muslim Lands in Memory of Moshe Gil, Teʽuda, 29 (2018).
Meira Polliack, "Implementation as Innovation: The Arabic Terms Qiṣṣa and Ḵabar in Medieval Karaite Interpretation of Biblical Narrative and its Redaction History", Studies in Semitic Linguistics and Manuscripts:A Liber Discipulorum in Honour of Professor Geoffrey Khan, Edited by Nadia Vidro, Ronny Vollandt, Esther-Miriam Wagner, and Judith Olszowy-Schlanger, Uppsala 2018, pp. 200–216.
Meira Polliack, "Single Script Mixed Code Literary Sources from the Cairo Genizah and their Sociolinguistic Context", Jewish Languages in Historical Perspective, edited by Lily Khan, Brill, 2018.
Meira Polliack and Athalya Brenner-Idan (eds.), Judaeo-Arabic Exegesis from Islamic Lands: The Medieval Period, Atlanta: SBL Press, Atlanta, to be published 2019.
Meira Polliack, "Mixed Code (Dual Script) Sources from the Cairo Genizah: A Preliminary Study", Intellectual History of the Islamicate World, to be published 2019.
Critical Editions, Translation and Studies of Yefet ben ʿEli’s Bible Commentaries
One of the most preeminent and prolific Bible exegetes of the Karaite “Golden Age” (10th-11th centuries) was Yefet ben ʿEli ha-Levi. Dr. Marzena Zawanowska of the University of Warsaw is currently completing her English translation of Yefet ben ʿEli’s commentary on Genesis while simultaneously completing the editing of a volume of articles on the figure of King David in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim commentaries of the Middle Ages. This volume includes a number of articles which also deal with Jewish commentators from Islamic regions, among them Saʿadia Gaon and Yefet ben ʿEli. Dr. Zawanowska is organizing a panel on Arabic translations of the Bible as part of the European Association of Bible Studies’ annual conference, this year taking place in Warsaw in July. Dr. Sasson z"l, who was also a researcher in this project, passed away before her time in the autumn of 2017, in the middle of her work on the English translation of her edition of Yefet ben ʿEli’s commentary on Proverbs. The work will be completed by Prof. Meira Polliack and Prof. Michael Wechsler, editors of the Karaite Texts and Studies series (Brill). In addition, three of Dr. Sasson’s articles, of which she was unable to review the proofs, but of which she had spoken with Prof. Erder and Prof. Polliack, were finalized by them for publication. These include:
Ilana Sasson, "Who Wrote the Book of Proverbs? Yefet ben Eli's view of the Book's collation and editing", Peamim 150–152 (2017), pp. 373–388.
Ilana Sasson, "Yefet Ben ʿEli's Introduction to his Translation and Commentary on Proverbs”, Yad Moshe – Studies in the History of the Jews in Muslim Lands in Memory of Moshe Gil, Teʽuda, 29 (2018), pp. 177–192.
An article to be included in the upcoming volume: Judaeo-Arabic Exegesis from Islamic Lands: The Medieval Period, Meira Polliack and Athalya Brenner-Idan (eds.), Atlanta: SBL Press, to be published 2019.
Conferences
April 10, 2018
Prof. Polliack organized and chaired a special ceremony marking the granting of a commemorative scholarship in memory of Dr. Ilana Sasson z"l, who was a valued member of the project's research team.
June 6, 2018
The center organized an evening symposium in honor of the publication of a new book by Prof. Yoram Erder entitled The Karaite Mourners of Zion and the Qumran Scrolls: On the History of an Alternative to Rabbinic Judaism.
August 1–3, 2018
Prof. Polliack organized and chaired two sessions at the European Association of Bible Studies’ annual conference in Helsinki on the topic “Arabic Translations of the Bible”.
January 8, 2019
The Center organized an evening symposium in memory of Prof. Moshe Gil z”l, in the occasion of the publication of the memorial volume: Yad Moshe – Studies in the History of the Jews in Muslim Lands in Memory of Moshe Gil, Teʽuda, 29 (2018), edited by Elinoar Bareket, Yoram Erder, and Meira Poliack.
April 30, 2019
Prof. Polliack organized and will chair a special ceremony marking the granting of a commemorative scholarship in memory of Dr. Ilana Sasson z"l, who was a valued member of the project's research team.
May 13–16, 2019
Prof. Polliack took part in an international conference held in Brussels, Belgium on the topic “The Future of Karaite Studies”, where she delivered a lecture entitled “Karaism as a Radical Response to Christian and Islamic Influences”.
Forthcoming Conferences
August 2019
Prof. Polliack will take part in “The International Meeting of the Society of Old Testament Studies” which will be held in Aberdeen, Scotland, where she will deliver a lecture entitled “The Arabic Versions of the Bible
