Jewish society in the Ottoman Empire has not been the subject of systematic research. The seventeenth century is the main object of this study, since it was a formative era. For Ottoman Jews, the 'Ottoman century' constituted an era of gradual acculturation to changing reality, parallel to the changing character of the Ottoman state. Continuous changes and developments shaped anew the character of this Jewry, the core of what would later become known as 'Sephardi Jewry'.Yaron Ben-Naeh draws from primary and secondary Hebrew, Ottoman, and European sources, the image of Jewish society in the...

Samuel Ibn Tibbon (c. 1165-1232) - the eminent translator, philosopher, and exegete - is most famous for his Hebrew translation of Maimonides' Guide of the Perplexed . However, he wrote original works as well, and laid the foundations for a distinctive philosophical-exegetical movement, what is today called 'Maimonideanism'. James T. Robinson's book includes a first English translation of Ibn Tibbon's commentary on Ecclesiastes, which was the foundational work of the Maimonidean tradition. The translation, with full annotation, is accompanied by an introduction, which provides relevant...

Miriam Goldstein's book is an ambitious study of a significant work composed by two leaders of the community of Karaite scholars living in Jerusalem (10th/11th c. C.E.). Y?suf ibn N?h, a grammarian and revered teacher of this scholarly community, authored a lengthy commentary on the Pentateuch, which was revised and updated by his student Abu al-Faraj Harun. Goldstein examines the historical background of the composition and its reception, as well as major principles of its exegetical method, an amalgamation of traditional Jewish techniques with methods and concepts inspired by or absorbed...

Rachel S. Mikva undertakes a close examination of Midrash vaYosha, a medieval rabbinic text which explicates the Song at the Sea (Ex 15:1-18) and the events of the exodus from Egypt leading up to that climactic moment. Relatively short midrashim focusing on a brief biblical narrative or theme were composed in large numbers during the medieval period, and their extant manuscripts are sufficient in number to demonstrate the great popularity of the genre. Based on early manuscripts, two different recensions are transcribed and translated with significant annotation exploring variants, parallels,...

This book contains a critical edition, an English translation, and a detailed commentary of two lengthy Hebrew liturgical poems for the Day of Atonement (called Seder Avodah ) that were composed by a ninth- or tenth-century Jewish poet who apparently lived in Palestine or its environs, Shelomoh Suleiman Al-Sinjari. The first part of the Seder Avodah narrates the creation of the world and the history of the people of Israel from the perspective of the sins that they have committed, while its second part describes, in detail, the ritual service of a high priest (Aaron and his sons) in the...

The authors of the essays collected in this volume are all concerned with the Jewish transmission and use of Greek translations of the biblical books from Late Antiquity to the early modern period. It is only in recent years that the idea of such a Jewish transmission has gained acceptance, and the present volume represents the first attempt to bring together contributions from specialists in a number of areas, including not only biblical and Jewish studies but also such disciplines as epigraphy and Byzantine history and literature, to investigate a wide range of aspects of the subject. The...

This is the first book-length treatment of the reception and transmission of Greek Bible translations by Jews in the Middle Ages. It is the fruit of some 40 years' research by Nicholas de Lange, who has collected most of the evidence himself, mainly from previously unpublished manuscript sources, such as Cairo Genizah fragments. Byzantine Judaism was exceptional in possessing an unbroken tradition of Biblical translation in its own language that can be traced back to antiquity. This work sheds light not only on Byzantine Jewish life and thought, but also on such subjects as the spread of...