The Arabic Translation and Commentary of Yefet Ben Eli the Karaite on the Abraham Narratives (Genesis 11:10-25:18)

This volume contains a critical edition of the work (in Hebrew) as well as contextual scholarship in English. Zawanowski (Hebrew studies, U. of Warsaw, Poland) offers a comprehensive study of Yefet (10th-11th c. C.E.)--his life, times, views, and approach in comparison with that of other medieval commentators. Discussion includes Yefet's view on the authorship of the Pentateuch, his hermeneutic concepts, polemical overtones in his commentary on Genesis, aspects of his exegesis of Genesis, and his approach to Bible translation. The introduction to the critical edition includes description of manuscripts in Russian, European, and Firkovitch collections. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Marzena Zawanowska, Ph.D. (2007) in Oriental Studies, University of Warsaw, and post-doc research fellow in the Diaspora Research Center (Tel Aviv University, 2008/9), is assistant professor in the Department of Hebrew Studies, Faculty of Oriental Studies, at the University of Warsaw, and in the Center for Jewish Studies at Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin. She has published mainly on medieval Karaite Bible exegesis, and contributed entries to the Encyclopaedia of Jews in the Islamic World (Brill, 2010). Currently, she is also head of a major project in publishing Ch. N. Bialik’s (Hebrew and Yiddish) poetry into Polish, as a recipient of a grant sponsored by Foundation for Polish Science.