Esoteric and Exoteric Aspects in Judeo-Arabic Culture (Etudes Sur Le Judaisme Medieval)

351 Pages·2006·3.14 MB·English

by  Benjamin H. Hary

Esoteric and Exoteric Aspects
in Judeo-Arabic Culture
ÉTUDES SUR
LE JUDAÏSME MÉDIÉVAL
FONDÉES PAR
GEORGES VAJDA
DIRIGÉES PAR
PAUL B. FENTON
TOME XXXIII
ESOTERIC AND EXOTERIC ASPECTS
IN JUDEO-ARABIC CULTURE
ESOTERIC AND
EXOTERIC ASPECTS IN
JUDEO-ARABIC CULTURE
EDITED BY
BENJAMIN HARY and HAGGAI BEN-SHAMMAI
BRILL
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2006
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cover illustration: [Nathaniel Crouch], Choice-Emblems, Divine and Moral, Ancient and
Modern: Or, Delights for the Ingenious, etc., London 1684. Reproduced by courtesy of
the British Library, London.
DiTommaso, Lorenzo.
The book of Daniel and the apocryphal Daniel literature/by Lorenzo DiTommaso.
p. cm. — (Studia in Veteris Testamenti pseudepigrapha, ISSN 0169-8125;v.20)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 90-04-14412-9 (alk. paper)
1. Bible. O.T. Daniel—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 2. Bible. O.T. Apocrypha.
History of Susanna—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 3. Bible. O.T. Apocrypha. Bel
and the Dragon—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 4. Daniel-Diegese—Criticism,
interpretation, etc. 5. Syriac apocalypse of Daniel—Criticism, interpretation, etc.
I. Title. II. Series.
BS1700.S78 vol. 20
[BS1555.52]
229’.91 s—dc22
[224’.506] 2005042079
ISSN 0169-815X
ISBN-10 90 04 15233 4
ISBN-13 978 90 04 15233 5
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Benjamin H. Hary
Introduction …………………………………………… vii

David R. Blumenthal
Philosophic Mysticism: The Ultimate Goal of
Medieval Judaism …………………………………… 1

Paul B. Fenton
A Mystical Commentary on the Song of Songs in
the Hand of David Maimonides II …………………… 19

Steven Harvey
Logistical and Other Otherworldly Problems
in Saadya ………………………………………………… 55

Daniel J. Lasker
Judah Halevi on Eschatology and Messianism ………… 85

Diana Lobel
Itti(cid:2)(cid:3)l and the Amr Il(cid:3)h(cid:4): Divine Immanence and the
World to Come in the Kuzari …………………….............. 107
vi Table of Contents
Na(cid:2)em Ilan
Between Halakhic Codification and Ethical Commentary:
Rabbi Israel Israeli of Toledo on Intention in Prayer……. 131

Gideon Libson
Betrothal of an Adult Woman by an Agent in Geonic
Responsa: Legal Construction in Accord with
Islamic Law ……………………………………………. 175

Haggai Ben-Shammai
The Judeo-Arabic Vocabulary of Saadya’s Bible
Translations as a Vehicle for Eschatological Messages:
The Case of Saadya’s of the 8th Form of Arabic QDR …… 191

Benjamin H. Hary and María Ángeles Gallego
Lexicography and Dialectology in Spanish
Maqre Dardeqe ……………………………………….… 227

Geoffrey Khan
An Early Karaite Grammatical Treatise ………………... 257

Menahem Ben-Sasson
Jews in Changing Empires of Medieval Islam: Not Only
Eschatology and Messianism …………….……………… 279

Arnold Franklin
Relations Between Nesi’im and Exilarchs: Competition
or Cooperation? ……………………………..….……… 301

Indices
General Index …………………………………..……. 323
Index of Names …………………………………..……. 333
INTRODUCTION

Benjamin Hary and Haggai Ben-Shammai

In spring 1984, several scholars with a special interest in Judeo-
Arabic texts met in Chicago at the invitation of Professor
Norman Golb. During the course of that conference, it became
apparent that there was a real need for a society dedicated to the
study of Judeo-Arabic language, literature, and culture. When
the group now augmented met again in Jerusalem the following
year, the society was firmly established. Henceforth, biennial
conferences would be convened in Israel, Europe and North
America. During the past twenty-one years, the members of the
society have assembled twelve times and the membership rose
from perhaps a score to upwards of two hundred. As the society
has matured, so has the field of Judeo-Arabic studies as a whole.
The publication of numerous articles, monographs, and text
editions by the members attests to the fascination exerted by this
interdisciplinary enterprise. A cursory glance at the published
conference proceedings from Chicago, Jerusalem, Cambridge,
Tel Aviv, Bar-Ilan and some other volumes which will soon go
to press, will confirm the growth of the subject. Every year, new
students are attracted to the old leaves, notably to those of the
Geniza, while the vast manuscript treasures of St. Petersburg,
viii Benjamin Hary and Haggai Ben-Shammai
which can now be consulted in Jerusalem, suggest fresh avenues
of research. Several new initiatives have been inaugurated by the
Hebrew University and the Ben-Zvi Institute, and ongoing
projects are conducted in Princeton, Cambridge and elsewhere.
Much is still needed to be done in the area of Judeo-Arabic
studies and its academic future holds great promise.
This volume represents selected, refereed papers from the
ninth conference of the Society for Judaeo-Arabic Studies held
at Emory University, Atlanta, in 1999. At that conference some
losses were sorely felt. The late Professors Hava Lazarus-Yafeh
and Yedida Kalfon Stillman each contributed significantly to her
chosen area of specialization, while enriching the intellectual
and cultural worlds she inhabited. Moving tributes have been
offered during that conference by those who knew and loved
them. We mourn their passing; may their memories be blessed.
Time, too, brings its celebrations: At the conference we were
delighted to mark the eightieth birthday of our Emeritus
President, Professor Joshua Blau, yibbadel le-hayyim arukkim. A
prominent founder of Judeo-Arabic philology and linguistics,
Professor Blau has set the tone at our meetings from the
beginning, exacting standards coupled with courtesy and gentle
humor.
The title of this volume, Esoteric and Exoteric Aspects in
Judeo-Arabic Culture highlights the themes running through
many of the conference papers: the diversity and vitality of
Judeo-Arabic culture. The volume represents the interdiscip-
linary nature of the field. There are articles in Jewish thought,
philosophy and mysticism, language and linguistics, religious
studies, intellectual and social history, law, biblical exegesis,
and more.
Introduction ix
The volume opens with the notion of ‘Philosophical
Mysticism,’ which is the phrase David Blumenthal has used to
describe Maimonides’ program for achieving the summum
bonum. His paper discusses the Sage’s idea of worship
(avodah/(cid:5)ib(cid:3)da) and its relation to knowledge and love of God.
In the next paper in the volume Paul Fenton analyzes an
unknown commentary on the Song of Songs. The text was
copied (or composed?) by David b. Joshua Maimuni (ca. 1335–
1415) and features the kind of Sufi terminology familiar from
his oeuvre. In the following paper on the seventh treatise of
Saadya’s Book of Doctrines and Beliefs, Steven Harvey argues
that the St. Petersburg recension is more consonant with the
book’s overall message than the Oxford text and contains the
Ga’on’s final views on resurrection.
In a couple of intriguing papers, Daniel Lasker and Diana
Lobel both discuss Judah Halevi’s views on the afterlife of the
soul and eschatology. As Lasker observes, while the Book of the
Kuzari treats neither subject in depth, it is possible to draw
certain conclusions about the author’s stance, which may be
closer to the naturalistic position of Maimonides than is
generally believed. Lobel investigates the elusive terms amr
il(cid:3)h(cid:4) and itti(cid:2)(cid:3)l (‘connection’ or ‘union’) with which Judah
Halevi expressed the relationship between a transcendent God
and human beings.
In the area of law, Gideon Libson discusses the
interdependence of halakhah and Islamic law. He shows how
the geonim dealt with the betrothal of minor daughters—a
common practice among Jews living under Islam. The following
paper in the volume, by Nahem Ilan, shows how Rabbi Israel
Israeli (Toledo, 13th–14th c.) polemicized against kabbalistic
teachings in his treatment of kavvanah (‘intention in prayer’).