The Arabic Translation and Commentary of Yefet ben ‘Eli on the Book of Proverbs by Ilana Sasson

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Reviewed by: The Arabic Translation and Commentary of Yefet ben ‘Eli on the Book of Proverbs by Ilana Sasson Marzena Zawanowska Ilana Sasson. The Arabic Translation and Commentary of Yefet ben ‘Eli on the Book of Proverbs. Volume 1. Edition and Introduction. Karaite Texts and Studies, volume 8 (Études sur le judaïsme médiéval 67). Leiden: Brill, 2016. xviii + 528 pp. One of the most acclaimed Karaite exegetes of the so-called Golden Age of Karaism (mid-tenth to early eleventh century) was Yefet ben ʻEli (Abū ‘Alī al-Ḥasan b. ‘Alī al-Laˉwī al-Baṣrī). He was also one of the most prominent and prolific Bible commentators who ever lived. His Arabic relational suffix (nisba) suggests that he, or his family, originally came from Basra in Iraq, but from the middle of the tenth until his death in the early eleventh century he resided in Jerusalem, where he was active in the famous Karaite “academy of [biblical] studies” (dār li-ʼl-‘ilm), opened there by Yūsuf ibn Nūḥ Yefet’s work is a singular example in the history of Jewish Bible exegesis of a running translation and commentary of all twenty-four books of Scripture. His interpretations are often highly innovative and original. Little wonder, then, that they so impacted later generations of Bible commentators, Karaite and Rabbanite alike, most famously Abraham ibn Ezra. Still, over time Yefet and his significant contribution to the history of scriptural exegesis gradually sank into oblivion. He was prone to generalizing and impressionable views and those who did venture to study his works denied him originality and labeled him a “mere compiler.” Only in the latter part of the twentieth century did [End Page 233] scholars begin to show specific interest in his unparalleled exegetical achievements, and reappraise his texts on the basis of in-depth, comparative analysis. Ilana Sasson’s The Arabic Translation and Commentary of Yefet ben ‘Eli on the Book of Proverbs is part of this trend. By shedding further light on this exceptional exegete and his amazingly diverse, rich, and comprehensive commentaries, this book enhances our understanding and appreciation of the originality of his interpretations. Based on Sasson’s doctoral dissertation (“Methods and Approach in Yefet ben ʻElī al-Baṣrīʼs Translation and Commentary on the Book of Proverbs” [Jewish Theological Seminary, 2010]), and subsequently significantly adapted, this volume consists of two parts, the second of which is entirely new and includes a critical edition of Yefet’s translation and commentary on the whole book of Proverbs (183–528). Reconstructing the oldest existing and most reliable version of the Judeo-Arabic text from numerous manuscripts and making it available to a wider scholarly public through a meticulous and rigorous, noneclectic edition is a great scholarly achievement, a major contribution to the study of Bible exegesis, and to the history of development and reception of medieval Karaite exegesis in particular. The only weakness of the book is that it does not include an English translation of the edited text; this is, however, being currently prepared and expected to be published as a second volume within the same series.1 Although at first glance the content of the first part of the book may seem similar to the dissertation, it was significantly reworked and expanded, the arguments were developed, and the state of the art updated. It includes an introduction, which consists of six chapters, the first five of which are analytical and offer an informative and interesting study of diverse aspects of Yefet’s hermeneutics. The first chapter surveys the exegete’s life and works, as well as previous (fragmentary) scholarly editions of his commentary on Proverbs. It also discusses the relationship between his commentary on this book and those of Saʿadiah Gaon, Jacob b. Reuben, and Abraham ibn Ezra. The section presents Yefet’s work as an invaluable, so far underestimated link in the history of Jewish interpretation of Proverbs (3–22). The second chapter focuses on Yefet’s unique style of Bible commentary, in comparison with the Arabic model of his time, with particular stress on the literary convention of prefacing works with introductions (muaqaddima), the rhetorical form of disputation...