Books by Michael G . Wechsler
This volume presents a critical edition of the Judaeo-Arabic translation and commentary on the bo... more This volume presents a critical edition of the Judaeo-Arabic translation and commentary on the book of Esther by Saadia Gaon (882–942). This edition, accompanied by an introduction and extensively annotated English translation, affords access to the first-known personalized, rationalistic Jewish commentary on this biblical book. Saadia innovatively organizes the biblical narrative—and his commentary thereon—according to seven “guidelines” that provide a practical blueprint by which Israel can live as an abased people under Gentile dominion. Saadia’s prodigious acumen and sense of communal solicitude find vivid expression throughout his commentary in his carefully-defined structural and linguistic analyses, his elucidative references to a broad range of contemporary socio-religious and vocational realia, his anti-Karaite polemics, and his attention to various issues, both psychological and practical, attending Jewish-Gentile conviviality in a 10th-century Islamicate milieu.
A collection of 25 articles on various topics in Jewish history and literature, encompassing biog... more A collection of 25 articles on various topics in Jewish history and literature, encompassing biography, text editions and translations, grammar and lexicography, exegesis, philosophy, theology, polemics, textual criticism, codicological-textual history, Dead Sea Scrolls, and historiography.
For the Table of Contents and further details click on the publisher's link above.
This volume consists of a critical edition, English translation, and extensive introductory discu... more This volume consists of a critical edition, English translation, and extensive introductory discussion of the Judaeo-Arabic commentaries on Ruth and Esther from the exegetical digest («Kitāb al-bayān») of Tanḥum ben Joseph ha-Yerushalmi (d. 1291 CE), the last known exegete of the “rationalistic” school who wrote in Judaeo-Arabic. Although past scholarship has tended to regard Tanḥum’s exegetical contribution as little more than that of a compiler-abridger, our own assessment, as explored in the introduction, is that his role was in fact much more significant. Not only does he display the critical acumen and intellectual independence of a true exegete in his own right, but he also appears to have assimilated—and hence (like Abraham ibn Ezra) mediated into the continuum of Rabbanite exegesis—certain elements of Karaite exegesis, most notably, as developed by the tenth-century Karaite littérateur Yefet ben ‘Eli, the role of the «mudawwin» in the composition and transmission of the biblical text.
This volume consists of an edition, translated into English and with an extensive introduction, o... more This volume consists of an edition, translated into English and with an extensive introduction, of the Arabic translation and commentary on the book of Esther by one of the preeminent litterateurs of the Karaite “Golden Age” (10th–11th centuries), Yefet ben ‘Eli ha-Levi. Yefet’s text represents the first completely extant, devoted commentary on Esther and, consequently, provides fascinating insight into the history and development of exegetical thought on this book, both among the Karaites as well as the Rabbanites. Various facets of Yefet’s exegesis which we explore in our introduction … read moreinclude his rationalistic method, compilatory tendency, relationship to the doctrines of the Islamic Mu‘tazila, and his influence both by and upon other Jewish exegetes (Karaite and Rabbanite). We also assess Yefet’s Arabic translation technique and include a survey of all extant Karaite commentaries on Esther, both in Arabic as well as Hebrew.
In this volume is presented, for the first time, a critical edition of the earliest retrievable t... more In this volume is presented, for the first time, a critical edition of the earliest retrievable text (i.e., the «Versio Antiqua») of the Gospel of John in Classical Ethiopic (Ge'ez). Altogether 21 manuscripts have been collated, representing four different text types and, for the first two of these, three and four sub-types respectively. The «Versio Antiqua» is represented by the first text type, of which, for the most part, the important Mss Abba Garima I and III, dated to 1270 or earlier, have been employed for the basic text. Five appendices are also included, in the last of which is supplied a collation of the «Versio Antiqua» with the critical apparatus of the 27th edition of «Novum Testamentum Graece». This volume, consequently, should prove useful to anyone interested in textual criticism of the New Testament, the textual history of the Ethiopic Gospel of John, or Ge'ez literature generally.
Articles and Encyclopaedia Entries by Michael G . Wechsler
תור הזהב הקראי: אנתולוגיה של היצירה הקראית במאות התשיעית עד השתים־עשרה [The Golden Age of Karaism: A Hebrew Anthology of Karaite Literature from the Ninth to the Twelfth Centuries], 2022
“ההקדמה והפירוש של יפת בן עלי לאסתר א 1” [The Introduction and Commentary of Yefet b. Eli on Esth... more “ההקדמה והפירוש של יפת בן עלי לאסתר א 1” [The Introduction and Commentary of Yefet b. Eli on Esther 1:1]. In תור הזהב הקראי: אנתולוגיה של היצירה הקראית במאות התשיעית עד השתים־עשרה [The Golden Age of Karaism: A Hebrew Anthology of Karaite Literature from the Ninth to the Twelfth Centuries]. Edited by Yoram Erder and Meira Polliack, 271–78. Jerusalem: Carmel, 2022.
תור הזהב הקראי: אנתולוגיה של היצירה הקראית במאות התשיעית עד השתים־עשרה [The Golden Age of Karaism: A Hebrew Anthology of Karaite Literature from the Ninth to the Twelfth Centuries], 2022
“ההקדמה של סלמון בן ירוחם לאסתר ופירושו לאסתר א 1” [The Introduction of Salmon ben Yeruḥam to Est... more “ההקדמה של סלמון בן ירוחם לאסתר ופירושו לאסתר א 1” [The Introduction of Salmon ben Yeruḥam to Esther and His Commentary on 1:1]. In תור הזהב הקראי: אנתולוגיה של היצירה הקראית במאות התשיעית עד השתים־עשרה [The Golden Age of Karaism: A Hebrew Anthology of Karaite Literature from the Ninth to the Twelfth Centuries]. Edited by Yoram Erder and Meira Polliack, 265–70. Jerusalem: Carmel, 2022.
Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception, 2023
“Numbers, Book of (III.D. Medieval Judaism: Karaites versus Rabbanites).” In the Encyclopedia of ... more “Numbers, Book of (III.D. Medieval Judaism: Karaites versus Rabbanites).” In the Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception. vol. 21. Ed. H.-J. Klauck et al, cols. 931–34. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2023.
Problèmes d’histoire des religions, 2021
“The Reception of Saadia Gaon’s Commentary on Esther in the Karaite Tradition of Judaeo-Arabic Co... more “The Reception of Saadia Gaon’s Commentary on Esther in the Karaite Tradition of Judaeo-Arabic Commentary on the Book.” Problèmes d’histoire des religions 28 (2021): 39–67.
For use by the Author only | © 2020 Koninklijke Brill NV THB logo design: Lika Tov, Jerusalem Cov... more For use by the Author only | © 2020 Koninklijke Brill NV THB logo design: Lika Tov, Jerusalem Cover design: Celine van Hoek Leiden, the Netherlands.
The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2020
From The Encyclopaedia of Islam Three, vol. 2020-2. Ed. K. Fleet et al., 118b–21b. Leiden: Brill,... more From The Encyclopaedia of Islam Three, vol. 2020-2. Ed. K. Fleet et al., 118b–21b. Leiden: Brill, 2020.
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Books by Michael G . Wechsler
For the Table of Contents and further details click on the publisher's link above.
Articles and Encyclopaedia Entries by Michael G . Wechsler
For the Table of Contents and further details click on the publisher's link above.