Judeo-Arabic

רבי דוד בן רבי יהושע הנגיד, האחרון לשושלת הנגידים שהתחילה ברמב"ם, היה סופר פורה. עד כה פורסם רק חיבור אחד שלו, "מורה הפרישות ומדריך הפשיטות", על ידי יוסף פנטון, שהניח גם את אבני היסוד בזיהוי חיבוריו האחרים. כאן מתפרסמת התחלת פירושו של רבי דוד הנגיד לתפילה, מתוך מהדורה שתראה אור בקרוב. הפירוש משלב באופן מקורי רציונליזם מבית מדרשו של הסב הדגול, הרמב"ם, עם חסידות מבית מדרשו של בנו רבי אברהם, והוא כולל גם מובאות מספר הזוהר.

The study of the Samaritan version of Saadya Gaon’s translation of the Pentateuch (the tafsīr), mainly based on MS London BL OR7562, shows that a Saadyan version in Arabic Characters was adopted by the Samaritans and adapted to the Samaritan Hebrew Pentateuch. The transmission of this version in MS London BL OR7562 continued after the early Samaritan Arabic translation of the Pentateuch and perhaps also its later revision had already been created, since many of their translations were preserved in MS BL OR7562, mixed with its Saadyan basic text. As MS London BL OR7562 also contains numerous words and phrases paralleled only in Christian Arabic translations of the Pentateuch and Saadyan adaptations, mainly related to the Peshitta tradition, it is reasonable to assume that these were the sources of this Samaritan Saadyan version and possibly also of the other Samaritan Arabic translations. The Samaritan version of Saadya’s translation of the Pentateuch also reveals some parallels to tenth- and eleventh-century Karaite translations and it contains prominent Aramaic and Islamic vocabulary, unfamiliar in other versions of Saadya’s tafsīr.

פרסום שריד מתרגום של ר' יחיא אלקאפח (1932-1850) לספר מסעותיו של ר' יעקב ספיר (1885-1822) בערבית-יהודית תימנית. כתוב בניב מיוחד צנעאני-ספרותי. מטרת הפרסום לאשש את השקפתו של פרופ' יהושע בלאו - עדת בני תימן המשיכה לכתוב ערבית-יהודית  על פי תקן הכתיבה של הערבית היהודית הקלאסית, מפני שהיו אמונים על חיבוריהם של רב סעדיה גאון (942-882) ושל הרמב"ם (1204-1138).

קהילת "אלשאמיין", היא קהילת בני ארץ ישראל בפוסטאט, ראתה ברס"ג את אביה הרוחני, אך לא ידוע היה למה. במאמר זה נחשפת דרכו של רבי מצליח גאון, אחד ממנהיגי הקהילה שגלה אליה מדמשק והקים בה את ישיבת "גאון יעקב" ונהג את נשיאותו ברמה. מתברר שהוא ראה עצמו כממשיכו של רס"ג, עד שאת דרשותיו ביסס על ציטוטים מעובדים של דברי רס"ג, בתוספת פתיחות וסיומים.
המאמר מלווה בבירור מקיף אודות קשרים אלו ואודות זהותו של אחד מאנשי הקשר החשובים בפרשה: רבי זכאי, הסופר ואולי גם הדיין. בשלב זה מוהדרת גם דרשתו של רבי מצליח לעשרת הדברות, שכפי הנראה נאמרה בחג השבועות. אף היא מבוססת על דרשתו של רס"ג לחג השבועות.

The Purim Scroll of the Cairene Jewish Community (megillat
pūrīm il-miṣriyyīn) was probably composed by the spiritual leader
of the Jewish community in Cairo, Rabbi Samuel (or Solomon)
Sidilio. The Scroll records events following the deliverance of the
Jews from the tyrannical rule of Ahmad Pasha, self-appointed
governor in Ottoman Egypt in 1524. The community established
the 27th of Adar as a day of fasting and the 28th of Adar as a
festive holiday to be celebrated after the manner of Purim. On
that day the Scroll was read in the local synagogues. There are
two versions of the Scroll among the Cairene Jewish community.
One is more detailed, mentions names of people and places, and
exists in both Hebrew and Egyptian Judaeo-Arabic. The other is
shorter, more general, and has survived only in Hebrew. Both
versions are critically edited using several manuscripts, translated,
and linguistically analyzed in Hary (1992). This chapter exhibits a small paragraph from the scroll in Judeo-Arabic; Arabic transcription; translation into English and a short linguistic analysis.

Medieval wisdom literature and its translation and adaptation from one language into another is a field of study to which contemporary scholars have dedicated several works. Unlike the Arabic, Hebrew, Latin, and Castilian traditions that have received a great deal of attention, the wisdom-literature production in Judeo-Arabic has been neglected in recent scholarship. The following pages present the Kitāb maḥāsin al-’ādāb (The Book of Excellent Conduct), a Judeo-Arabic sapiential work written in the second half of the fifteenth century, which is an adaptation or a shorter translation of a Hebrew work, Mishlei he-‘arav (The Sayings of the Arabs), written in the Iberian Peninsula or Provence at the beginning of the thirteenth century. Furthermore, an edition and a translation into English of the prologue and the index of the work are provided.

תקציר
במאמר זה שחזור נרחב של ההקשרים הספרותיים והגיאו-תרבותיים של ויכוחים המתועדים בקטע גניזה, ועוסקים בשאלת זהותו של אליהו ותיאורו כפינחס הקנאי. ויכוחים אלו התעוררו בבית כנסת בעקבות אמירת פיוטי הבדלה, ובמאמר אנו מצביעים על עליית מעמדו של מדרש האגדה כמקור סמכות, על השפעת הויכוח על נוסחם של פיוטי הבדלה, ועל מרכזיותה של ההגירה האנושית והתרבותית מאירופה הנוצרית בתחילת המאה הי'ג ברקע תהליכים אלו.

Abstract
The article identifies the literary, historical, and geo-cultural contexts of debates regarding the prophet Elijah, and his relation to the biblical figure of Pinheas.  The article traces the growing authority of aggadic midrash and its influence on recensions of the Havdalah poetry, against the backdrop of human and cultural immigration from Christian Europe in the early 13th century.

The book  Ten Commandments عَشْرَة  كَلِمات  التوْراة  ( called Abtida Calamna) by Rabbi Saadia Gaon is now transcribed for the first time from Judeo-Arabic to Arabic.
This paper shall be included in the next edition of Torah in Arabic, The Official Commentary of the Pentatuch by Rabbi Saadia Gaon.
Published by Yomtov Hakohen- Project Saadia Gaon

The study deals with liturgical texts from the Cairo Geniza that contain vestiges of the ancient Palestinian rite and later revisions, some of which can be attributed to the influence of authorities who were loyal to the Babylonian tradition. The case in point concerns the Shabbat evening prayer service. A fragmentary query to Abraham Maimonides (AM) describes recitation of the אשר כילה formula and a liturgical poem (מעריב), מזמור שיר אזמרה. The text was written by Yedutun, cantor of the Palestinian Congregation of Fustat in the early 13th century. Its analysis demonstrates that it was sent to AM shortly after he assumed leadership and was intended to convince him of the validity of the synagogue's custom.
The אשר כילה variant (known from Saadiah Gaon's Siddur) was popular in both Palestinian and Babylonian congregations. Some authorities rejected its recitation; others emended the text. Maimonides objected to the formula but gave instructions not to coerce congregants to abandon it, since it did not involve a thematic change in the benediction and coercion would cause dissension. He nevertheless suggested a revision, similar to one found in a Geniza fragment. In one section of his Mishne Torah he ruled that modification of the text of a benediction that had been fixed by the sages invalidated the blessing but elsewhere that it did not disqualify it, if the prescribed opening בא"י אמ"ה and the theme were preserved. Later authorities debated whether the two rulings reflected a change of mind or different circumstances.
After Maimonides' death, AM and R. Joseph Rosh ha-Seder completely rejected the אשר כילה formula and claimed that it involved a thematic deviation in the benediction. AM cited two baraitot on modifications of the texts of benedictions, one unknown from other sources. The two indicate that the conflicting rulings in Mishne Torah reflect different circumstances rather than the master's revision. In his 1215/6 responsum to Yemen AM informed his correspondents that he had abolished the practice to recite אשר כילה in Fustat (or Egypt) shortly after having assumed leadership. He referred to an earlier responsum which probably was the missing reply to the Geniza query written by Yedutun.
Yedutun's query alludes to other variants of the traditional liturgy. A fragment of the Palestinian Congregation of Fustat's prayer book (Seder Fustat B) from the early 13th century, for Passover weekdays, here edited, and other sources confirm that the text of the מעריב ערבים benediction began without the words אשר בדברו. A baraita in BT Berakhot 12a appears to attest this practice.
Fragments of Seder Fustat B for the Shabbat evening service, here edited, preserve liturgical formulations and practices, which have not been identified elsewhere, such as 'רְצינו במנוחתנו (rather than רְצה במנוחתנו). Some of these appear to be vestiges of the old Palestinian rite. These fragments also preserve the complete text of the liturgical poem מזמור שיר אזמרה, which is edited here as well.
The recitation of the וַיכֻלו verses on Friday evening in the Palestinian liturgical practice is discussed in the concluding section.

The article deals with Saadia's approach to the Golden Calf story. Saadia believed Aaron wanted to test the people and see which people would worship the Calf so that he could later kill them, similarily to what Jehu did (2Kgs 10). The article discusses the reception of Saadia's idea in Judeo Arabic ans Samaritan literature. In: Jewish Biblical Exegesis from Islamic Lands: The Medieval Period, eds. Meira Polliack and Athalia Brenner Idan, Atlanta 2019, pp. 121-128

The publication of this Vol I of  "Diwan al-Malhun in Moroccan Judeo Arabic" is an attempt to highlight a submerged side of Moroccan heritage. The Malhun  Moroccan Judeo Arabic reflects the tolerance of the country  of ATLAS.
After the decline of the Moroccan Jewish heritage due to the large emigration of  a great number of the Jews of morocco for multiple reasons, its a moment in time to save what can be saved  from this important element of Moroccan heritage. The malhun  in Moroccan Judeo Arabic has reached a new life in the context of the idea of return (virtual and physical) of jewish youth to the Land of the sun: Morocco. The malhun is an open school of Moroccan Arabic dialect and is also a big encyclopedia of Moroccan identity in his large concept.
This recompilation of Malhun text is a contribution in the promising reading of our Moroccan heritage in the vast context of the new Moroccan constitution of 2011.

In the present Handbook of Early Middle Arabic, Professor Joshua Blau of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the undisputed dean of the study of Middle Arabic, presents
a reliable and up-to-date survey, comprehensive yet concise, of the whole field.
The Handbook contains a grammatical outline of Middle  Arabic structure, annotated examples of the main Middle Arabic varieties and a glossary of all words occurring in the book.
An important feature of the book is the variety of texts presented. These cover (a) Muslim, (b) Christian and (c) Jewish Middle Arabic, each represented by typical or noteworthy examples, some of them published here for the first time.
Particularly signif icant are the Jewish texts, Rabbanite and Karaite, which have been transmitted in different
orthographical modes. Standard Judaeo-Arabic orthography is represented by samples from Saadia Gaon, Qirqisānī and David b. Abraham al-Fāsī. Linguistically more revealing are Judaeo-Arabic writings in the earlier phonetic orthography;
these are exemplified in the Handbook by selected texts on papyrus, by specimens of a translation of Halakhot Pesuqot
and a translation of the Biblical book of Proverbs. In the Appendix, two examples of vocalized Middle Arabic are given: one written in Coptic characters, the other a Judaeo-Arabic letter from the Cairo Geniza.
Professor Blau's Handbook will enable all Arabists to gain immediate access to the world of Middle Arabic, guided in their journey by the leading authority in the field. On the one hand, scholars familiar only with the classical, literary tongue will be able to see in what directions the language subsequently developed; on the other hand, Arabic dialectologists will be afforded a valuable glimpse into the history of modern colloquial forms. The Handbook will thus be a valuable tool for all who are concerned with the history of the Arabic tongue.

במאמר זה מתפרסמים מספר דפים מהגניזה הקהירית הכוללים עיבוד ארצישראלי לסידורו של רס"ג. מוצעת השערה שמדובר בעיבודו של רבי זכאי הדיין, מחוגו של רבי מצליח גאון. העיבוד מתאפיין בליקוט חלקי ההלכות בלבד מתוך הסידור, שכן נוסח התפילה היה שונה, וגם בהלכות בוצעו התאמות ושינויים לפי מנהג בני ארץ ישראל.
ההדרת קטעים אלו מאלפת ומלמדת אותנו רבות הן על מנהג ארץ ישראל הקדום, הן על שינויים שהתחוללו בו בעשורים הקרובים לדעיכתו, והן על ענייני הלכה שחשיבותם עומדת לעצמה, כגון פשר עיבוד קלף בסיד לכתיבת ספרי תורה, ללא עפצים.

What is the relationship between friendship and human flourishing? This is a central topic in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and one to which Maimonides also returned throughout his career. Despite the relative neglect of this topic in recent scholarship, I argue that friendship (philia) was an important link between moral and intellectual perfection for Maimonides. He identified Aristotle’s virtue friendship with the love between students and teachers and also interpreted many of the divine commandments as efforts to promote both family and virtue friendship among the Jewish people. Friendship was aligned thematically in Maimonides’ writings with topics like kinship and sexuality, circumcision, and the ethics of speech, all of which point in different ways to the unresolved tension between rational and sensual aspects of our human condition. This article therefore contributes to the investigation of the relationship between Maimonides’ legal and philosophical writing on social themes. While Aristotle clearly influenced his reading of biblical and rabbinic texts for example, I will also argue that Maimonides’ religious and communal commitments helped to push his reading of Aristotle in a broadly inclusive direction— both with respect to the range of different goods that are appropriate to an ideal human life as well as the potential accessibility of those goods to different classes of persons. I offer this article as a corrective to the exaggerated focus on seclusion and solitary contemplation that has characterized academic scholarship on Maimonides.

My sincere thanks to Edgar Xavier (https://independent.academia.edu/EdgarXavier2) for kindly pointing out some errors of fact in this paper. On page 70, the Herald is incorrectly identified as an Indonesian Catholic newspaper. The newspaper is Malaysian. And, of course, Kuala Lumpur (as mentioned in footnote 49), is the capital city of Malaysia - not Indonesia. So the phrase in parenthesis at the end of the second paragraph on page 70 should read "(an Arabic loanword in Malay [Bahasa Melayu])".  Again, sincere thanks to Edgar for his close reading of the paper and his taking the trouble to point out these errors.

Jonathan

ספר הגלוי לרס"ג, שנכתב בעת הפולמוס עם ריש גלותא, כולל הרבה מעבר לתיעוד מקרה הפולמוס. חוקרים פרסמו קטעים ממנו במהלך מאה וששים השנים האחרונות, וקטעים אלו כונסו לאחרונה לספר על ידי פרופ' יהושע בלאו ויוסף יהלום.
בקטע שלפנינו, המזוהה ומתפרסם כעת לראשונה, עוסק רס"ג בחשיבות ידיעת המדעים הכלליים, ותרומתם ללימוד התורה: הנדסה ולוגיקה. מתברר שרס"ג הכיר את משפט פיתגורס והשתמש בו, ומתחזקת זיקתו לחיבור מתקופת הגאונים "משנת המידות".

This article is the result of a first-hand exploration of the relevance of the Cairo Genizah as a source for Intellectual history of the Middle Ages. It is not only significant for understanding Jewish thought, previously documented in numerous studies, but also to the Islamic world. Whereas S.D. Goitien’s oeuvre and the groundbreaking work of his disciples widely demonstrated the importance of Genizah documents as historical sources on the Mediterranean region, the relevance of its Islamic/Arabic literature is less often acknowledged. This topic will be addressed in the light of my doctoral research, which examined the legacy of dream interpretation preserved in Genizah fragments of dream books written in Judeo-Arabic during the pre-modern period. After a brief introduction to the history of dream books—manuals for dream interpretation—in the Near East, and to the epistemology of Jewish and Islamic dream interpretation, the main findings of the research will be listed and summarized. Finally, in a detailed case study, a synoptic edition of texts representing the Taʿbīr al-ruʾyā, a brief dream manual attributed to al-Kirmānī, demonstrates the importance of Cairo Genizah manuscripts to the literary history of the composition.

🔗 https://bit.ly/37dNqpR

This book contains a reconstruction of Thābit ibn Qurra’s On Talismans, based on a recently-discovered Judaeo-Arabic text in the Cairo Genizah and the Latin versions. On Talismans, probably written in Baghdad in the late ninth century, was the most authoritative medieval text on the procedure for making talismans that depended for their efficacy on the natural influences of the stars. The Genizah manuscripts also include the first nine talismans of the On the Images on the Decans of the Signs attributed to Ptolemy, a work which forms a natural complement to Thābit’s text and is therefore included in this edition. Editions of the major excerpts of, and quotations from, these two texts in Hebrew, Arabic and Greek, have been added, and the Latin translation of another (lost) Arabic version of Thābit’s text – the Liber prestigiorum Thebidis – made by Adelard of Bath, completes the volume. Adelard’s version adds elements of ceremonial magic (including prayers to spiritual forces) to the effects of the stars. The texts edited here are essential sources for our knowledge of the theory and practice of astrological talismans in the Middle Ages and early modern period.