Medieval Jewish History

This book investigates the interaction between grammatical norms and poetic technique on the basis of a corpus selected from the oeuvre of the payyetan Eleazar be-rabbi Qillir. As a basis for this investigation, a descriptive/comparative analysis of the Qillirian dialect is offered. The first portion of the work is a grammar devoted mainly to morphology and syntax. The second portion of the work is an investigation of the poetic norms, as well as rhetorical techniques employed by Qillir, together with an assessment of their impact on the grammar. The overall aim of the project is to design an analytical framework within which a self-conscious poetic dialect might be investigated.

The Garden of Wisdom is a rare Jewish systematic theology, here presented in English translation as well as in the Arabic (in Hebrew script) original. It is a treatise of the theology of the Jews living in Southern Arabia written by Nathanael Ibn al-Fayyumi in the twelfth century when the Jews of Yemen were undergoing persecution.

The commentary of Rabbi David Kimhi (1160-1235) on the prophet Isaiah, chapters 1-39, in a Hebrew critical edition, makes up the main portion of this study. Presented with an English introduction by Louis Finkelstein, the commentary also includes a useful biography of Kimhi in English, an introduction to his commentary, and a presentation of a previously unknown treatise on Genesis in Hebrew.

Steinschneider’s first section is a dictionary of Jewish Arabic authors. This includes a careful study of Jewish names. The Second section is a study of the lives and literatures of Jews, and Christians, within Muslim society.

A handy grammar of the Aramaic of the Targum, the Talmud, the Midrashim and the Aramaic passages of the New Testament, with notes on where the older dialect of Ezra and Daniel differs.

This volume presents a systematic and detailed elaboration of the halakhic (legal) decisions written by five of the most important authors who wrote responsa concerning conversos between the years 1391 and 1492. The expulsion was an event that radically changed the perspectives of the Iberian conversos. The halakhic authorities were confronted with an absolutely new situation, in which they had to reformulate their position towards the conversos. This volume presents all the responsa written in connection with conversos by Isaac b. Sheshet Perfet, Simeon b. Ṣemaḥ Duran and his descendants: Solomon b. Simeon Duran, Ṣemaḥ b. Solomon Duran and Simeon b. Solomon Duran.

This book investigates the interaction between grammatical norms and poetic technique on the basis of a corpus selected from the oeuvre of the payyetan Eleazar be-rabbi Qillir. As a basis for this investigation, a descriptive/comparative analysis of the Qillirian dialect is offered. The first portion of the work is a grammar devoted mainly to morphology and syntax. The second portion of the work is an investigation of the poetic norms, as well as rhetorical techniques employed by Qillir, together with an assessment of their impact on the grammar. The overall aim of the project is to design an analytical framework within which a self-conscious poetic dialect might be investigated.

The first edition of The Epistle of the Number, composed in Syracuse, Sicily, at the end of the 14th century. It is the first known Hebrew treatise to include extensive algebraic theories and procedures, exposing novel mathematical vocabulary, and enhancing our understanding of the linguistic mechanisms which helped create scientific vocabulary in medieval Hebrew.

In and Around Maimonides presents eight highly focused studies on Moses Maimonides and those around him.

Was Maimonides a radical philosopher who subtly argued for a naturalist world and who saw the obligation to keep the Torah's commandments as a social and moral obligation – or was he a conservative Jewish believer who only tried to formulate philosophical arguments in favour of a revealed religion? This question has been central to the interpretation of Maimonides from the 12th century until modern times. In the four chapters of this book, Shalom Sadik argues for a radical philosophical interpretation of Maimonides.