In the first volume, released in 2016, I published the critical edition of Yefet ben ʿEli’s translation and commentary on the book of Proverbs with an extensive introduction. This volume includes the translation of Yefet’s work into English. This translation makes Yefet’s Arabic translation and commentary on Proverbs accessible to scholars and lay people who are not versed in Arabic, and opens it to a general audience.
Yefet ben ʿEli lived and worked in Jerusalem in the tenth century. He was one of the most prominent Karaite scholars during the golden age of Karaite scholarship (late-ninth through eleventh centuries). Yefet both translated into Arabic and commented on the entire Bible. His translation is literal and didactic, and is meant to accompany the biblical Hebrew text, not to replace it. His commentary is original and innovative, rationalistic, and egalitarian. He exhibits great knowledge of Kalām and Muʿtazilite doctrine, as well as a deep knowledge of Jewish sources such as the Talmud and midrash. In addition, he is versed in the sciences of his time, and he has a special propensity for language and lexicography. In spite of some critical and polemical aspects, his commentary on Proverbs is written with a strong sense of identity as a member of the Jewish faith, not as a member of a sectarian movement.
Only in the past few decades has attention been given to the rich heritage that came down to us from medieval Jewish scholars who lived in the Islamic world, and in particular Karaite scholars. While not a liturgical text, the book of Proverbs was an important source that was extensively quoted in Jewish sources. Yet early commentaries on this book are rare. Yefet’s commentary made a significant impact on subsequent generations and captured the interest of later commentators, both Rabbanite as well as Karaite. His commentary on Proverbs represents an important contribution to the history of biblical interpretation. For example, his depiction of the mudawwinūn, the writers/redactors, of the book of Proverbs as including women contributors, and his egalitarian concept with regard to women’s roles are only beginning to be explored. So too, his concept of wisdom treated as a divine attribute, in light of Muʿtazilite doctrine, while at the same time considered synonymous with the Torah, in accordance with midrash.
My personal involvement with the heritage of the Jews of the Islamic world begins with my parents who emigrated from Baghdad, Iraq, to what was at the time the British-mandated territory of Palestine in the early 1940s. As children of immigrants we yearned to blend into the mainstream culture of the young State of Israel. We were embarrassed by our parents’ mother tongue, the Jewish-Iraqi dialect of Baghdadi Arabic. We were ashamed of their accent, and considered it ugly and uncultured. At the time, we were not able to appreciate the language, culture, heritage, and tradition that they brought with them. Society of the time did not make it any easier. I attended one of the best high schools in the country, and I remember that when one of my grade-mates, a Moroccan-born student, asked the history teacher why we did not study the history of the Jews of the Islamic world, the teacher said, “Because you, the Jews of the Islamic world, do not have a history.” My life work on Yefet was partially motivated by the need to right this wrong, and open up a forgotten chapter in Jewish exegesis.
This volume was prepared within the framework of the DFG-DIP international research project “Biblia Arabica: The Bible in Arabic among Jews, Christians and Muslims.” My deepest gratitude to Prof. Meira Polliack of Tel-Aviv University and to Prof. Michael Wechsler of the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago for treating my work not only with the highest professional standards but also with utmost compassion and love. My gratitude to the staff of Brill for the publication of this volume in their prestigious series Karaite Texts and Studies. My gratitude also to The Jewish Theological Seminary, where all this research began, and especially to Prof. Alan Cooper, the Elaine Ravich Professor of Jewish Studies and provost of The Jewish Theological Seminary, to Prof. Raymond Scheindlin, and to Prof. David Kraemer, the Joseph J. and Dora Abbell librarian and professor of Talmud and Rabbinics, for their invaluable advice and support.
This volume is dedicated to my dear and devoted husband, who draws great pleasure in my academic achievements, and to my most amazing two sons, Noam and Eden, who fill my heart with joy every day, and about whom it was said,
I would like to extend my gratitude to all my other friends, colleagues, and family members whom I did not mention by name.
Any possible errors and inaccuracies are solely my own responsibility.
Ilana Sasson
Teaneck, NJ, July 2017