Wednesday, November 20, 2024
1:00 p.m–2:15 p.m. ET
Live at JTS and Livestream
Room K-610, 3080 Broadway (at 122nd Street)
New York City  

With Prof. Miriam Goldstein, Department of Arabic Language and Literature, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Jacob al-Qirqisānī, a prominent tenth-century Karaite scholar from Baghdad, was instrumental in shaping early Jewish intellectual culture in the Islamic world. Writing exclusively in Judeo-Arabic, his major works, The Book of Lights and Watchtowers and The Book of Gardens and Parks, showcase his profound engagement with Rabbanite and Karaite sources, as well as his interaction with Islamicate philosophy, science, and theology. Highlighting al-Qirqisānī’s pioneering contributions to biblical interpretation during the Geonic period, Prof. Goldstein will present readings from his Genesis commentary, drawn from her forthcoming edition and English translation.

Following the talk, Prof. Goldstein will lead a manuscript session in The JTS Library, focusing on her current research project, Parodies on the Life of Jesus in Yemen: Towards the Origins and Development of the Toledot Yeshu Literature (Israel Science Foundation 2063/22, 2022–2026).

Miriam Goldstein was trained at Harvard, Cambridge and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and is professor in the Department of Arabic Language and Literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. A specialist in medieval Judeo-Arabic texts, Goldstein focuses on interreligious relations in the medieval Arabic-speaking world as well as Judeo-Arabic Bible exegesis.