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...

This volume presents a critical edition of the Judaeo-Arabic translation and commentary on the book of Esther by Saadia Gaon (882-942). This edition, accompanied by an introduction and extensively annotated English translation, affords access to the first-known personalized, rationalistic Jewish commentary on this biblical book. Saadia innovatively organizes the biblical narrative--and his commentary thereon--according to seven "guidelines" that provide a practical blueprint by which Israel can live as an abased people under Gentile dominion. Saadia's prodigious acumen and sense of communal...