Meshal Haqadmoni Fables from the Distant Past

2004 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Deep Understanding ◽  
Jewish Law ◽  
Hebrew Literature ◽  
Physical Sciences ◽  
Political Compromise ◽  
First Time ◽  
Speculative Thought ◽  
Medieval Hebrew

The wondrous fables of Ibn Sahula in Meshal haqadmoni, presented here in English for the first time, provide a most unusual introduction to the intellectual and social universe of the Sephardi Jewish world of thirteenth-century Spain. Ibn Sahula wrote his fables in rhymed prose, here rendered into English as rhymed couplets. They comprise a series of satirical debates between a cynic and a moralist, put into the mouths of animals; the moralist always triumphs. The debates, which touch on such subjects as time, the soul, the physical sciences and medicine, astronomy, and astrology, amply reflect human foibles, political compromise, and court intrigue. They are suffused throughout with traditional Jewish law and lore, a flavour reinforced by the profusion of biblical quotations reapplied. With parallel Hebrew and English texts, explanatory notes, indication of textual variants, and references for all the biblical and other allusions, this edition has much to offer to scholars in many areas: medieval Hebrew literature, medieval intellectual history, Sephardi studies, and the literature and folklore of Spain. Both the translation and the scholarly annotations reflect a deep understanding of Ibn Sahula's world, including the interrelationship of Hebrew, Greek, and Arabic speculative thought and the interplay between those languages.

Islamic and Jewish Religious Feminists Tackle Islamic and Jewish Oral Law: Maintenance and Rebellion of Wives

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-63
Author(s):  
Ruth Roded
Keyword(s):  
State Policy ◽  
Political System ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Jewish Law ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Parallel Case ◽  
First Time

Beginning in the early 1970s, Jewish and Muslim feminists, tackled “oral law”—Mishna and Talmud, in Judaism, and the parallel Hadith and Fiqh in Islam, and several analogous methodologies were devised. A parallel case study of maintenance and rebellion of wives —mezonoteha, moredet al ba?ala; nafaqa al-mar?a and nush?z—in classical Jewish and Islamic oral law demonstrates similarities in content and discourse. Differences between the two, however, were found in the application of oral law to daily life, as reflected in “responsa”—piskei halacha and fatwas. In modern times, as the state became more involved in regulating maintenance and disobedience, and Jewish law was backed for the first time in history by a state, state policy and implementation were influenced by the political system and socioeconomic circumstances of the country. Despite their similar origin in oral law, maintenance and rebellion have divergent relevance to modern Jews and Muslims.

scholarly journals Śaivism after the Śaiva Age: Continuities in the Scriptural Corpus of the Vīramāheśvaras

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 222
Author(s):  
Elaine M. Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Common Assumption ◽  
Academic Practice ◽  
The Common ◽  
Popular Work ◽  
First Time

This article makes the case that Vīraśaivism emerged in direct textual continuity with the tantric traditions of the Śaiva Age. In academic practice up through the present day, the study of Śaivism, through Sanskrit sources, and bhakti Hinduism, through the vernacular, are generally treated as distinct disciplines and objects of study. As a result, Vīraśaivism has yet to be systematically approached through a philological analysis of its precursors from earlier Śaiva traditions. With this aim in mind, I begin by documenting for the first time that a thirteenth-century Sanskrit work of what I have called the Vīramāheśvara textual corpus, the Somanāthabhāṣya or Vīramāheśvarācārasāroddhārabhāṣya, was most likely authored by Pālkurikĕ Somanātha, best known for his vernacular Telugu Vīraśaiva literature. Second, I outline the indebtedness of the early Sanskrit and Telugu Vīramāheśvara corpus to a popular work of early lay Śaivism, the Śivadharmaśāstra, with particular attention to the concepts of the jaṅgama and the iṣṭaliṅga. That the Vīramāheśvaras borrowed many of their formative concepts and practices directly from the Śivadharmaśāstra and other works of the Śaiva Age, I argue, belies the common assumption that Vīraśaivism originated as a social and religious revolution.

The Establishment of the Mathematical Bookshelf of the Medieval Hebrew Scholar: Translations and Translators

1997 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 431-451 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony LÉvy
Keyword(s):  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Major Part ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Mathematical Activity ◽  
Jewish Communities ◽  
Original Works ◽  
Wide Readership ◽  
Medieval Hebrew

The ArgumentThe major part of the mathematical “classics” in Hebrew were translated from Arabic between the second third of the thirteenth century and the first third of the fourteenth century, within the northern littoral of the western Mediterranean. This movement occurred after the original works by Abraham bar Hiyya and Abraham ibn Ezra became available to a wide readership. The translations were intended for a restricted audience — the scholarly readership involved in and dealing with the theoretical sciences. In some cases the translators themselves were professional scientists (e.g., Jacob ben Makhir); in other cases they were, so to speak, professional translators, dealing as well with philosophy, medicine, and other works in Arabic.In aketshing this portrait of the beginning of Herbrew scholarly mathematics, my aim has been to contribute to a better understanding of mathematical activity as such among Jewish communities during this period.

Locke's review of the Principia

1965 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 152-161 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
John Locke ◽  
Periodical Press ◽  
Physical Sciences ◽  
Political Exile ◽  
French Speaking ◽  
History Of ◽  
Independent Account

The publication in July 1687 of Newton’s Principia mathematica gave rise to only four reviews in the European periodical press. The first was Edmond Halley’s pre-publication notice in the Philosophical Transactions (1). Then a year elapsed before the Bibliothèque Universelle (2), the Acta Eruditorum (3), and the Journal des Sçavans (4), approached the book. Of these reviews that which appeared in Jean Leclerc’s widely read Bibliothèque Universelle has received least attention from historians. This is unfortunate because, of several merits, two in particular are important for the intellectual history of the period: it was written specifically for the large and growing intellectual class (5) of western Europe who for the most part were interested in the new physical sciences, but were untrained in the mathematics necessary to understand many of the newest advances in them. And the author of this review, which was the first independent account of Newton’s book to reach this Continental (largely French-speaking) audience, was John Locke, then a voluntary political exile in Holland (6).

A Thirteenth-Century Ismā ‘īlī Ḥammām at Qal‘at al-Kahf

1983 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Water Supply ◽  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Planning And Design ◽  
Public Baths ◽  
Two Phases ◽  
Public Bath ◽  
First Time

SummaryThe aim of this paper is to record for the first time the architectural remains of a thirteenth-century public bath (ḥammām) located at the Assassin castle of al-Kahf in the Syrian Jabal Anṣariya. After describing the site, the paper examines the design and layout of the ḥammām and attempts to reconstruct those parts of it which have disappeared either because of structural decay or because of subsequent modifications to the plan. Building materials and decorative techniques are among the topics discussed, and there is an account of the ḥammām's heating apparatus and of the arrangements made to store and articulate its water supply. Two phases of construction are identified in the ḥammām, the second being necessitated, apparently, by a need to restore the building after it had fallen into disrepair at some later stage in its history. Finally, the ḥammām is compared and contrasted with a number of other Islamic public baths in order to establish the extent to which it followed earlier traditions of planning and design.

Education as Arikara Spiritual Renewal and Cultural Evolution

2014 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
KuuNUx TeeRIt Kroupa
Keyword(s):  
Deep Understanding ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Old People ◽  
New Beginning ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Creation ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Universe

In May 2009, the Arikara returned to the land of their ancestors along the Missouri River in South Dakota. For the first time in more than a half century, a Medicine Lodge was built for ceremony. The lodge has returned from its dormant state to regain its permanent place in Arikara culture. This event will be remembered as a significant moment in the history of the Arikara because it symbolizes a new beginning and hope for the people. Following this historic event, Arikara spiritual leader Jasper Young Bear offered to share his experience and deep insight into Arikara thought: You have to know that the universe is the Creator's dream, the Creator's mind, everything from the stars all the way to the deepest part of the ocean, to the most microscopic particle of the creation, to the creation itself, on a macro level, on a micro level. You have to understand all of those aspects to understand what the lodge represents. The lodge is a fractal, a symbolic representation of the universe itself. How do we as human beings try to make sense of that? That understanding, of how the power in the universe flows, was gifted to us through millennia of prayer and cultural development… It is important for us to internalize our stories, internalize the star knowledge, internalize those things and make that your way, make that your belief, because we're going to play it out inside the lodge. It only lives by us guys interacting with it and praying with it and bringing it to life… We're going to play out the wise sayings of the old people… So you see that it's an Arikara worldview. A learning process of how the universe functions is what you're actually experiencing [inside the Medicine Lodge]. What the old people were describing was the functioning of how we believed the universe behaves. And we had a deep, deep understanding of what that meant and how it was for us. So that's what you're actually seeing in the Medicine Lodge.

Uncertainty as a Poetic Principle: A Reading of the Opening Scene in Joseph Ben Zabara’s The Book of Delight

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-168
Author(s):  
Idit Einat-Nov
Keyword(s):  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Hebrew Literature ◽  
Opening Scene ◽  
The Uncanny ◽  
Medieval Hebrew ◽  
The Grotesque

Abstract This article proposes a new reading of the opening scene of Joseph Ben Meir Ibn Zabara’s twelfth century (at the latest: 1209) The Book of Delight. This reading derives from the hypothesis that this art of storytelling is based on a poetic principle of uncertainty, and is therefore associated with the various forms of the ambiguous and the ambivalent (the grotesque, the uncanny, the ironic, etc.). As I have argued elsewhere about other rhymed Hebrew stories, this approach is appropriate, in my view, to the character of some of the most fascinating rhymed stories produced in medieval Hebrew literature. In the present study I suggest yet another demonstration of the poetic benefit that can accrue from the adoption of this approach.

Karaite Synagogue Poets

1997 ◽  
pp. 408-432
Author(s):  
Leon J. Weinberger
Keyword(s):  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Eighth Century ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Jewish Law ◽  
Prayer Book ◽  
Verse Forms

This chapter examines the Karaite synagogue poets. The Karaites, a Jewish sect originating in the first half of the eighth century, are distinctive mainly because of their refusal to accept the authority of the talmudic-rabbinic tradition. Although the Karaites were at odds with their Rabbanite brethren in matters relating to Jewish law, they readily adopted the latters’ models in hymnography. The Karaite liturgy, which in the early years of the sect consisted of recitation from the Psalms and other scriptural readings, soon developed into rich and varied genres for fasts and feasts. The new hymnography was preserved in the thirteenth-century Karaite prayer-book edited by the scholar-poet Aaron b. Joseph the Elder from Crimea and Constantinople. Like their Rabbanite counterparts, Karaite hymnists served a didactic function, instructing the laity in their religious obligations. Karaite poets also used the liturgy as a means of instructing their congregations in current philosophical issues, particularly those relating to Jewish Neoplatonism and the nature of the soul. In their aesthetic function, Karaite hymnists resembled the Rabbanite Hispanics, favouring Arabic quantitative metres and verse forms. Caleb Afendopolo (d. 1525) of Kramariya (near Constantinople) was the master of this poetic art, as seen in his liturgical (and secular) writings.

St. Cyprian and Moissac: A Thirteenth-Century Sequence

Traditio ◽  
1963 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 147-166
Author(s):  
Maurice Bévenot
Keyword(s):  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Full Length ◽  
The Poor ◽  
First Time ◽  
Special Notice ◽  
The Way

The discovery of an ancient sequence might not at first sight seem to deserve any special notice. No doubt its absence in the monumental collections of A. M. Dreves and C. Blume, and in U. J. Chevalier's Repertorium hymnologicum, may surprise us, but the poor quality of so many of the sequences there collected may justify an initial indifference to the unearthing of yet another. How was it missed by those indefatigable collectors? Perhaps the reason is that they confined themselves mainly to liturgical books whereas the sequence here presented for the first time is found in one single manuscript which is not a liturgical book but a collection of works by St. Cyprian. These had been transcribed round about the year 1100, and the sequence, words and music, was added to the beginning of the codex in the first part of the thirteenth century. That it was missed is, then, no surprise, but a full-length treatment seems to be called for, because of the light it throws on the history, both factual and literary, behind it, as also possibly on the music of the time and the way that a sequence was then constructed. At least some of its more interesting features can here be gathered together.

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