An early Karaite commentary on the book of Esther
We herein present an edition and translation of the commentary on Esther, extant only up to 3:4, contained on folios 61r-64v of MSII Firkovitch Hebrew-Arabic I 1755, a Karaite commentary on the Hagiographa which is itself only partially extant. The author/compiler of this work, based on internal evi...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
2001
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| In: |
Hebrew Union College annual / Jewish Institute of Religion
Year: 2001, Volume: 72, Pages: 101-137 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Judaism
/ Exegesis
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| IxTheo Classification: | BH Judaism HB Old Testament |
| Further subjects: | B
Esther
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| Parallel Edition: | Electronic
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| Summary: | We herein present an edition and translation of the commentary on Esther, extant only up to 3:4, contained on folios 61r-64v of MSII Firkovitch Hebrew-Arabic I 1755, a Karaite commentary on the Hagiographa which is itself only partially extant. The author/compiler of this work, based on internal evidence, would appear to have been a member of the school of Abū Yaʿqūb Yūsuf ibn Nūḥ, whose nukat (short notes) on Lamentations are included on folios 58r-61r. In comparing the commentary on Esther to those of Yefet ben ʿEli and Salmon ben Yeroḥam — the only other Jerusalem Karaites for whom such works are identifiably extant — we find that our author has drawn largely, in abridged fashion, from both (or perhaps even from previous abridgments). Not surprisingly, several congruencies are also to be noted between our text and the more literal strands of rabbinic exegesis, many of them apparently mediated from the Rabbanite direction via Yefet, whose dependence upon targumic and midrashic sources, as well as the commentaries of Saadia, has been noted in previous studies. |
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| ISSN: | 0360-9049 |
| Contains: | In: Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Hebrew Union College annual / Jewish Institute of Religion
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