Jewish piety in Islamic Jerusalem: the lamentations commentary of Salmon ben Yeruhim
Cover -- Series -- Jewish Piety in Islamic Jerusalem -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Preface -- Notes on the Translation -- PART 1 STUDIES -- 1. Lamentations and the Mourners for Zion -- The Mourners for Zion: The Karaite "Return" to Jerusalem...
| Summary: | Cover -- Series -- Jewish Piety in Islamic Jerusalem -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Preface -- Notes on the Translation -- PART 1 STUDIES -- 1. Lamentations and the Mourners for Zion -- The Mourners for Zion: The Karaite "Return" to Jerusalem -- Biblical Scholarship in the Threefold Mandate to Return -- Scholars of the Karaite Community in Jerusalem -- 2. The Lamentations Commentary of Salmon ben Yerūḥīm -- Salmon b. Yerūḥīm and His Commentary on Lamentations -- Structure of the Commentary -- Programmatic Introduction (Ṣadr or Muqaddima) -- The Translation of Lamentations -- Translation and Figurative Imagery -- Linguistic Principles to Justify a Translation Choice -- The Verse Comments -- Biblical Citations from Outside Lamentations -- Citations from Other Scholars -- Actualizing Interpretations -- The Refrain -- Consolations (Neḥamot) -- 3. Salmon's Engagement with Rabbinic Sources -- Rabbinic Knowledge Among Salmon and the Jerusalem Karaites -- Explicit Citation of Rabbinic Sources, Including the Targum -- Using Midrash in Contextual Exegesis: The Transfer of the Divine Glory in Lamentations 1:6 -- Rabbinic Hermeneutics: The Ten Commandments and Requital in Kind in Lamentations 1:8 -- Rabbinic Mourning Practices and the Jerusalem Karaites in Lamentations 1:8 -- 4. Salmon's Approach to Figurative Language -- Salmon's Arabic Terminology for Figurative Language -- Figurative Language (Majāz) and Metaphor (Istiʿāra) -- The True Sense (Ḥaqīqa) -- Likening, Analogy, or Extended Metaphor (Tamthīl) -- Mathal and Mashal: Interpreting a Biblical Parable (The Pot of Ezekiel 11 and 24) -- Conclusions -- 5. The Art of the Homily -- Salmon's Homiletical-Exegetical Project -- The Homiletical Voice in Jewish Literature -- Oratory (Khuṭba) and Pious Counsel (Waʿẓ) in Arabic-Islamic Contexts. "The emergence of the Jewish Bible commentary in the tenth century marks a turning point in Jewish intellectual history, namely, the transition from ancient rabbinic culture to the Arabized Judaism of the medieval period. This book explores a formative moment in this cultural reorientation by analyzing one of the earliest Jewish Bible commentaries. Written in Arabic in tenth-century Jerusalem, Salmon ben Yeruhim's commentary on Lamentations reveals a nuanced negotiation between the rabbinic tradition and the intellectual resources of the Islamic world. Salmon was a prominent figure among the Karaites, a Jewish movement defined by its commitments to biblical scholarship and penitential practices. For him, Lamentations is "instruction for Israel"--spiritual guidance for the Jewish community in exile--and his task is to communicate that instruction. Jewish Piety in Islamic Jerusalem explores the medieval Arabic dimensions of Salmon's project, tracing his engagement with the nascent fields of Arabic literary theory, historiography, and homiletics. The central argument of the book is that Salmon articulates a Jewish pietistic message through emergent Arabic-Islamic genres, transforming them to reflect his own religious and exegetical commitments. In this way, Salmon applies Arabic learning to the Bible at the same time that his understanding of the biblical text expands the Arabic intellectual tradition. The book advances these claims through six analytical chapters and an annotated English translation of the homilies and excursuses of Salmon's commentary."--Publisher's website |
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| Item Description: | Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (xxviii, 405 pages) |
| ISBN: | 0197639585 |
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780197639559.001.0001 |