EUR  â¬230.40EUR  â¬192.00 excl. VAT
The Book of Conviviality in Exile (KitÄb al-Ä«nÄs bi-ʾl-jalwa)
The Judaeo-Arabic Translation and Commentary of Saadia Gaon on the Book of Esther
Series: - Biblia Arabica, Volume: 1
Author:
This volume presents a critical edition of the Judaeo-Arabic translation and commentary on the book of Esther by Saadia Gaon (882â942). 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 narrativeâand his commentary thereonâaccording to seven âguidelinesâ that provide a practical blueprint by which Israel can live as an abased people under Gentile dominion. Saadiaâs prodigious acumen and sense of communal solicitude find vivid expression throughout his commentary in his carefully-defined structural and linguistic analyses, his elucidative references to a broad range of contemporary socio-religious and vocational realia, his anti-Karaite polemics, and his attention to various issues, both psychological and practical, attending Jewish-Gentile conviviality in a 10th-century Islamicate milieu.
Michael G. Wechsler, Ph.D. (2006), University of Chicago, is Professor of Hebrew Bible at the Moody Bible Institute, Chicago. He has published several volumes and articles on Semitic Bible translation and Judaeo-Arabic exegesis, including Strangers in the Land: The Judaeo-Arabic Exegesis of Tanḥum ha-Yerushalmi on the Books of Ruth and Esther (2010), The Arabic Translation and Commentary of Yefet ben ʿEli the Karaite on the Book of Esther (2006), and Evangelium Iohannis Aethiopicum (2005).
Acknowledgments
Transliteration Tables
Introduction
Overview
Methods and Themes in Saadiaâs Exegesis of Esther
1 The Methodological Framework: Balancing Reason and Tradition
2 Interaction with Rabbinic Tradition
3 Polemics
4 Exploring the Exigence of Dissimulation
Publication History
Written Witnesses Employed for the Present Edition
1 Primary Witnesses to Saadiaâs Commentary on Esther
2 Secondary Witnesses to Saadiaâs Commentary on Esther:
Judaeo-Arabic Reworkings, Précis, and Citations by Later Medieval Writers
Editorial Method
1 The Basic Text
2 The Apparatuses
Some Methodological Remarks on the Annotated English Translation
Signs, Sigla, and Abbreviations
Translation
The Title and the Introduction
1 The First Section (al-Qiṣṣat al-Å«lÄ)
2 The Second Section (al-Qiṣṣat al-thÄniya)
3 The Third Section (al-Qiṣṣat al-thÄlitha)
4 The Fourth Section (al-Qiṣṣat al-rÄbiÊ¿a)
5 The Fifth Section (al-Qiṣṣat al-khÄmisa)
6 The Sixth Section (al-Qiṣṣat al-sÄdisa)
7 The Seventh Section (al-Qiṣṣat al-sÄbiÊ¿a)
Appendix, Bibliographical Abbreviations, Indices, and Plates
Appendix: Secondary Judaeo-Arabic Witnesses to Saadiaâs Commentary on Esther: Edited Texts of the Reworkings and Précis
1 An Anonymous Condensed Reworking of KitÄb al-Ä«nÄs
2 A Condensed Reworking of KitÄb al-Ä«nÄs, Encompassing the Commentary on 1:1â11
and the Introduction, in the Commentary of Isaac Gaon ben Israel on PÄrÄshat TÄrÅ«mÄ (Exod 25:1â27:19)
3 An Anonymous Précis of Saadiaâs Comment on Esther 3:1â4
4 An Anonymous Abridged Reworking of Saadiaâs Comment on Esther 1:1
Bibliographical Abbreviations
1 Libraries, Institutes, Organizations, and Manuscript Collections
2 Books, Articles, and Works in Manuscript
Indices
Manuscripts
Scriptural References
1 Hebrew Bible
2 QurʾÄn
Rabbinic Literature
Medieval Authors and Works
General Index
Plates
The Edited Text
Editorial Introduction (Abridged)
The Judaeo-Arabic Text of KitÄb al-Ä«nÄs bi-ʾl-jalwa
Transliteration Tables
Introduction
Overview
Methods and Themes in Saadiaâs Exegesis of Esther
1 The Methodological Framework: Balancing Reason and Tradition
2 Interaction with Rabbinic Tradition
3 Polemics
4 Exploring the Exigence of Dissimulation
Publication History
Written Witnesses Employed for the Present Edition
1 Primary Witnesses to Saadiaâs Commentary on Esther
2 Secondary Witnesses to Saadiaâs Commentary on Esther:
Judaeo-Arabic Reworkings, Précis, and Citations by Later Medieval Writers
Editorial Method
1 The Basic Text
2 The Apparatuses
Some Methodological Remarks on the Annotated English Translation
Signs, Sigla, and Abbreviations
Translation
The Title and the Introduction
1 The First Section (al-Qiṣṣat al-Å«lÄ)
2 The Second Section (al-Qiṣṣat al-thÄniya)
3 The Third Section (al-Qiṣṣat al-thÄlitha)
4 The Fourth Section (al-Qiṣṣat al-rÄbiÊ¿a)
5 The Fifth Section (al-Qiṣṣat al-khÄmisa)
6 The Sixth Section (al-Qiṣṣat al-sÄdisa)
7 The Seventh Section (al-Qiṣṣat al-sÄbiÊ¿a)
Appendix, Bibliographical Abbreviations, Indices, and Plates
Appendix: Secondary Judaeo-Arabic Witnesses to Saadiaâs Commentary on Esther: Edited Texts of the Reworkings and Précis
1 An Anonymous Condensed Reworking of KitÄb al-Ä«nÄs
2 A Condensed Reworking of KitÄb al-Ä«nÄs, Encompassing the Commentary on 1:1â11
and the Introduction, in the Commentary of Isaac Gaon ben Israel on PÄrÄshat TÄrÅ«mÄ (Exod 25:1â27:19)
3 An Anonymous Précis of Saadiaâs Comment on Esther 3:1â4
4 An Anonymous Abridged Reworking of Saadiaâs Comment on Esther 1:1
Bibliographical Abbreviations
1 Libraries, Institutes, Organizations, and Manuscript Collections
2 Books, Articles, and Works in Manuscript
Indices
Manuscripts
Scriptural References
1 Hebrew Bible
2 QurʾÄn
Rabbinic Literature
Medieval Authors and Works
General Index
Plates
The Edited Text
Editorial Introduction (Abridged)
The Judaeo-Arabic Text of KitÄb al-Ä«nÄs bi-ʾl-jalwa
All those interested in exegesis of the book of Esther, Saadia Gaon, the history of Jewish Bible translation and exegesis, Rabbanite-Karaite polemics, Islamicate Jewry, Islamic-Jewish conviviality, and Judaeo-Arabic literature.