The Book of Conviviality in Exile (Kitāb al-īnās bi-ʾl-jalwa): The Judaeo-Arabic Translation and Commentary of Saadia Gaon on the Book of Esther

685 Pages·2015·7.62 MB·English

by  Michael G. Wechsler (ed.

TheBookofConvivialityinExile(Kitābal-īnāsbi-ʾl-jalwa)
Biblia Arabica
EditorialBoard
CamillaAdang(TelAvivUniversity)
JuanPedroMonferrerSala(UniversidaddeCórdoba)
MeiraPolliack(TelAvivUniversity)
SabineSchmidtke(InstituteforAdvancedStudy,Princeton)
AlexanderTreiger(DalhousieUniversity,Halifax,Canada)
RonnyVollandt(FreieUniversitätBerlin)
volume1
Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.com/biar
The Book of Conviviality in Exile
(Kitāb al-īnās bi-ʾl-jalwa)
TheJudaeo-ArabicTranslationandCommentary
ofSaadiaGaonontheBookofEsther
Edited,TranslatedandIntroducedby
MichaelG.Wechsler
leiden | boston
Coverillustration:MSCULT-SAr.28.160(MS1חinthepresentvolume),fol.1v.CourtesyoftheSyndicsofthe
CambridgeUniversityLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Wechsler,MichaelG.,author.
TheBookofconvivialityinexile(Kitabal-inasbi-'l-jalwa):theJudaeo-Arabictranslationand
commentaryofSaadiaGaonontheBookofEsther/byMichaelG.Wechsler.
pagescm–(BibliaArabica;1)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-90-04-27822-6(hardback:alk.paper)–ISBN978-90-04-28452-4(e-book:alk.paper)
1.Sa'adiabenJoseph,882-942.Kitabal-Inasbi-al-jalwah.English&Judeo-Arabic.2.Bible.
Esther–Criticism,interpretation,etc.,Jewish.I.Sa'adiabenJoseph,882-942.Kitabal-Inasbi-al-jalwah.
English.II.Sa'adiabenJoseph,882-942.Kitabal-Inasbi-al-jalwah.Judeo-Arabic.III.Title.IV.Title:Kitab
al-inasbi-'l-jalwa.V.Title:Kitabal-Inasbi-al-jalwah.
BS1375.52.W432015
222'.9049–dc23
2014049555
Thispublicationhasbeentypesetinthemultilingual“Brill”typeface.Withover5,100characterscovering
Latin,ipa,Greek,andCyrillic,thistypefaceisespeciallysuitableforuseinthehumanities.Formore
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issn2213-6401
isbn978-90-04-27822-6(hardback)
isbn978-90-04-28452-4(e-book)
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Inlovingmemoryofmymaternalgrandmother
ElsbethWolf(néeJakoby)
ל״זרזעילא׳רתבהלארתסא
ח״סרתוילסכבז״כ,(הינמרג)רירטריעבהדלונ
ז״נשתרדאבז״י,(ב״הרא)ימאימריעבהמלועלהכלה
לכַוּתהֲ ינִּמִ המָלְעְנֶ םאִ ןהֵוְ
?המָלָעֲנַ יבִבָלְ ןיעֵמֵ תוֹיהֱ
היפאעלובאהדוהיןבסוֹרדְטָ —
״לכשילבמידועב״
∵

Contents
Acknowledgments xi
TransliterationTables xii
Introduction
Overview 3
MethodsandThemesinSaadia’sExegesisofEsther 6
1 TheMethodologicalFramework:BalancingReasonandTradition 6
2 InteractionwithRabbinicTradition 11
3 Polemics 20
4 ExploringtheExigenceofDissimulation 25
PublicationHistory 30
WrittenWitnessesEmployedforthePresentEdition 33
1 PrimaryWitnessestoSaadia’sCommentaryonEsther 33
2 SecondaryWitnessestoSaadia’sCommentaryonEsther:
Judaeo-ArabicReworkings,Précis,andCitationsbyLaterMedieval
Writers 70
EditorialMethod 76
1 TheBasicText 76
2 TheApparatuses 80
SomeMethodologicalRemarksontheAnnotatedEnglish
Translation 82
Signs,Sigla,andAbbreviations 84
viii contents
Translation
TheTitleandtheIntroduction 93
1 TheFirstSection(al-Qiṣṣatal-ūlā) 114
1.1 Ad1:1 114
1.2 Ad1:2 125
1.3 Ad1:3–4 133
1.4 Ad1:5–8 144
1.5 Ad1:9–12 154
1.6 Ad1:13–22 163
2 TheSecondSection(al-Qiṣṣatal-thāniya) 179
2.1 Ad2:1–4 179
2.2 Ad2:5–7 181
2.3 Ad2:8–11 187
2.4 Ad2:12–15 193
2.5 Ad2:16–20 201
2.6 Ad2:21–23 207
2.7 Ad3:1–5 211
3 TheThirdSection(al-Qiṣṣatal-thālitha) 228
Ad3:6–15 228
4 TheFourthSection(al-Qiṣṣatal-rābiʿa) 254
Ad4:1–4 254
5 TheFifthSection(al-Qiṣṣatal-khāmisa) 265
5.1 Ad4:5–17 265
5.2 Ad5:1–14 289
6 TheSixthSection(al-Qiṣṣatal-sādisa) 306
6.1 Ad6:1–12 306
6.2 Ad6:13–7:10 317
6.3 Ad8:1–14 334
6.4 Ad8:15–17 351
6.5 Ad9:1–19 362
contents ix
7 TheSeventhSection(al-Qiṣṣatal-sābiʿa) 384
7.1 Ad9:20–28 384
7.2 Ad9:29–32 405
7.3 Ad10:1–3 411
Appendix,BibliographicalAbbreviations,Indices,andPlates
Appendix:SecondaryJudaeo-ArabicWitnessestoSaadia’sCommentary
onEsther:EditedTextsoftheReworkingsandPrécis 419
أ
1 AnAnonymousCondensedReworkingofKitābal-īnās() 419
2 ACondensedReworkingofKitābal-īnās,Encompassingthe
Commentaryon1:1–11andtheIntroduction,intheCommentaryof
IsaacGaonbenIsraelonPārāshatTĕrūmā(Exod25:1–27:19)
ب
( ) 424
ت
3 AnAnonymousPrécisofSaadia’sCommentonEsther3:1–4( ) 427
4 AnAnonymousAbridgedReworkingofSaadia’sCommentonEsther
ث
1:1( ) 427
BibliographicalAbbreviations 430
1 Libraries,Institutes,Organizations,andManuscriptCollections 430
2 Books,Articles,andWorksinManuscript 430
Indices 471
Manuscripts 473
ScripturalReferences 479
1 HebrewBible 479
2 Qurʾān 488
RabbinicLiterature 489
MedievalAuthorsandWorks 494
GeneralIndex 511
Plates 520
1 MSא(NLREvr.-Arab.I3866[1א],fol.2r) 520
2 MSב(CULT-SAr.23.44[1ב],fol.3v) 521
3 MSג(BLOHeb.d.62[1ג],fol.118r) 522
4 MSד(BLOHeb.f.19[2ד],fol.1r) 523
5 MSה(CULT-SAr.25.91[2ה],fol.2v) 524
6 MSו(CULT-SAr.25.84[2ו],fol.2r) 525
7 MSז(CULT-SAr.27.51[2ז],fol.1r) 526
8 MSח(CULT-SAr.33.31[2ח],verso) 527