From Persia With Love: The Arabic Translation and Homiletical Commentary of Salmon Ben Yeruham on the Book of Esther. Karaite Texts and Studies

ISBN-13: 9789004191334 / Angielski / Twarda / 2016 / 99 str.

Michael G. Wechsler

Opis

The commentary on the book of Esther by Salmon b. Yeruham represents the oldest extant Karaite commentary on "Esther" and the second-oldest Jewish commentary on the book after that of Saadia Gaon, Salmon's older contemporary. Salmon's exegesis, while grounded in the driving Karaite ethos of intense Scripturalism, reflects at the same time an even-handed openness (often downplayed in previous scholarship) to Rabbanite (including midrashic-talmudic) exegetical tradition where it both conforms to the strictures of rational analysis and serves to promote his homiletical goals. With respect to the book of "Esther", these goals center upon the presentation of "Esther" as a prescriptive model of Jewish life in Exile - particularly as represented in the early Karaite ethos and constitutional triumvirate of confidence in God's covenant-based solicitude, continual introspection (even self-criticism) and mourning over the exile, and the messianically-charged call to return to Zion.)