The Cultural History of the Jews of the Islamic World in the Middle Ages (9th-13th Centuries)
Project Director: Prof. Meira Polliack
Email: meirap@post.tau.ac.il
Tel: 03-6406057
Project Team: Prof. Yoram Erder, Dr. Marzena Zawanowska, Dr. Ilana Sasson, Roni Cohen
Anthology of Karaite Works Produced in the Islamic Domain
Editors: Prof. Meira Polliack and Prof. Yoram Erder
Research Assistant: Mr. Roni Cohen
The purpose of this anthology is to present the Israeli reader – for the first time – with a corpus of Karaite literature reflecting its great richness. The Karaites made a considerable contribution to Jewish literature with their biblical commentaries and translations, the Masoretic Text, theology, Hebrew grammar and more. This prolific range of materials is not currently accessible to most people, even those in the field. The majority of these sources are manuscripts, most of which are written in Judaeo-Arabic. Therefore, this book will be of great significance in bringing Karaite literature into Israeli discourse.
Critical Editions, Translation and Studies of Yefet ben Eli’s Bible Commentaries
Project Team: Dr. Marzena Zawanowska and Dr. Ilana Sasson Z"L
One of the most preeminent and prolific Bible exegetes of the Karaite “Golden Age” (10th-11th centuries) was Yefet ben ʿEli ha-Levi. Dr. Sasson and Dr. Zawanowska are currently completing their work on Yefet ben ʿEli’s commentaries and translations of the Books of Proverbs and Genesis. They have prepared two volumes for publication: 1) The Arabic Translation and Commentary of Yefet ben ʿEli on the Book of Proverbs, prepared by Dr. Sasson, which was published in May 2016 by Brill; and 2) an English translation by Dr. Zawanowska of Yefet ben ʿEli’s commentary on the stories of Abraham found in Genesis, to be published in 2017.