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UID:669@amyisrael.org
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20261201T183000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20261215T193000
DTSTAMP:20261105T201341Z
URL:https://www.amyisrael.org/events/a-random-walk-through-jewish-history-
 and-culture-lecture-series/
SUMMARY:A Random Walk Through Jewish History and Culture Lecture Series
DESCRIPTION:As some of you know\, Howard Schickler\, our tour guide\, has l
 ong been interested in Jewish life under Islam in the Medieval period. Wha
 t he did not know was that this was the world in which 90 percent of the w
 orld's Jews lived and a world where\, like with us today for English\, Ara
 bic had become the everyday language of most Jews\, to the extent that whi
 le they could read the Torah in Hebrew\, they needed a translation into Ar
 abic to understand the text.\n\nWhat developed was Judeo-Arabic\, Arabic w
 ords written in Hebrew letters. He was surprised to learn that Maimonides 
 Guide to the Perplexed and other major works were written in Judeo-Arabic\
 , which suggests to Howard that Maimonides' audience was exclusively Jewis
 h people who understood Arabic AND could read the Hebrew letters.\n\nThis 
 series will explore some of the most important works created in the centur
 ies when Arabic was the everyday language of most Jewish communities. Our 
 path will take us from the great literary works used in religious life to 
 the patchwork of Judeo-Arabic texts that filled the daily routine. Along t
 he way\, we’ll gain a clearer sense of how deeply this Judeo-Arabic worl
 d shaped Jewish history and writing. We’ll conclude by looking at the re
 lationship between Hebrew and Arabic\, and the roles each played in this f
 ascinating period.\n\nLecture I: A World Written in Judeo-Arabic: From Sa
 ’adia’s Tafsir to al-Andalus\n\nFrom Miriam Goldstein\, the series lec
 turer:\n\nOne of the most influential works ever written in Judeo-Arabic i
 s the Torah translation\, or Tafsir\, of Rabbi Sa‘adia Gaon (d. 942). Th
 is work was groundbreaking – it gave Jewish communities a way to read th
 e Torah in their everyday language and set the model for how Arabic could 
 be written in Hebrew letters. In this session\, we’ll meet Sa‘adya him
 self\, explore his Tafsir\, and place it alongside his other writings and 
 the world in which he lived.\n\nLecture II: Voices of Daily Life\n\nLearni
 ng about everyday life using Judeo-Arabic is possible on the basis of lett
 ers and documents from the Cairo Genizah. We will meet and even “hear”
  Jewish women and men who lived more than a millennium ago\, listening to 
 what they cared about\, what they wrote about\, and what they read. Throug
 h their voices\, we will gain understanding of the Jews of the time\, of t
 he varied Mediterranean region and of medieval history.\n\nLecture III: Th
 e Lady and her Handmaiden\n\nJews who spoke Arabic every day had a unique 
 relationship with Hebrew\, the language of their prayers and Scriptures. W
 e’ll see how Arabic opened new ways of understanding the Bible\, and how
  some writers even imagined the two languages in rivalry with one another.
  We’ll read Hebrew poems composed in the language of the Bible\, but sha
 ped by Arabic style and images\, and we will follow the story of how\, in 
 the later medieval period\, Jewish scholars – even those who were biling
 ual – gradually shifted from Judeo-Arabic back toward Hebrew.\n\nThe pre
 sentations are by Professor Miriam Goldstein\n\nI am Professor of Arabic a
 t the Department of Arabic Language and Literature at the Hebrew Universit
 y of Jerusalem\, where I research and teach the cultural\, intellectual\, 
 and literary history of the Jews in the Mediterranean and Near East\, on t
 he basis of Judeo-Arabic\, Arabic and Hebrew texts. I hold degrees from Ha
 rvard College (A.B.\, Near Eastern Literatures and Civilizations) and the 
 University of Cambridge (M.Phil\, Oriental Studies) as well as a PhD from 
 the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. My current research focuses on the Kar
 aite scholar Yaʿqūb al-Qirqisānī in his rich and cosmopolitan context 
 of tenth-century Baghdad\, as well as on the long and colorful history of 
 Toledot Yeshu\, a counter-historical narrative composed by Jews in Late An
 tiquity and transmitted until the present.\n\nIF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THI
 S SERIES PLEASE LET HOWARD KNOW BY EMAIL (hschickler@sbcglobal.net). This 
 will allow Howard to share any related materials he finds. The lectures ar
 e complete by themselves\, so reading any such materials is not necessary.
 \n\nJoin the Zoom!
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CATEGORIES:Featured
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