Description
Book SynopsisIn a book with a bold new view of medieval Jewish history, written in a style accessible to nonspecialists and students as well as to scholars in the field, Marina Rustow changes our understanding of the origins and nature of heresy itself. Scholars have long believed that the Rabbanites and Qaraites, the two major Jewish groups under Islamic rule, split decisively in the tenth century and from that time forward the minority Qaraites were deemed a heretical sect. Qaraites affirmed a right to decide matters of Jewish law free from centuries of rabbinic interpretation; the Rabbanites, in turn, claimed an unbroken chain of scholarly tradition.
Rustow draws heavily on the Cairo Geniza, a repository of papers found in a Rabbanite synagogue, to show that despite the often fierce arguments between the groups, they depended on each other for political and financial support and cooperated in both public and private life. This evidence of remarkable interchange leads Rustow to the concl
Trade Review
Rustow's book provides us fascinating new insights into the history of Jewish Eastern communities of Egypt, Syria, and Palestine during the crucial and politically unstable period of the rule of the Fatimid caliphs.... Her focus on documentary and epistolary sources and on the caliphal administration allows Rustow to present a picture of Rabbanite-Karaite relations which differs from the more standard views of modern scholarship... that present Karaism as a separatist 'sect' and a threat to Judaism.... On the contrary, Rustow shows, the Karaites constituted one among other Jewish groups of the period and were fully engaged in Jewish community life as a whole.
* Journal of Jewish Studies *
The Cairo Geniza documents have been at the center of Jewish scholarship for over a century. Rustow has reviewed the medieval and modern models that emerged on the basis of the rich polemical literature and challenges them against the extant contemporary correspondence that describe the actual interactions.... This well-written and reader-friendly major contribution is accessible to neophyte and scholar alike, and will engender a new, nuanced view of the social relations among Jews and Muslims in the medieval Mediterranean. Highly recommended.
* Choice *
Table of ContentsIntroduction
AbbreviationsPart I: The Shape of the Jewish Community
1. The Tripartite Community
2. Jewish Book Culture in the Tenth Century
3. The Limits of Communal AutonomyPart II: Rabbanites, Qaraites, and the Politics of Leadership
4. Qaraites and the Politics of Powerlessness
5. "Nothing but Kindness, Benefi t, and Loyalty": Qaraites and the Ge'onim of Baghdad
6. "Under the Authority of God and All Israel": Qaraites and the Ge’onim of Jerusalem
7. "Glory of the Two Parties": Petitions to Qaraite Courtiers
8. The Affair of the Ban of Excommunication in 1029Part III: Scholastic Loyalty and Its Limits
9. Rabbanite-Qaraite Marriages
10. In the Courts: Legal ReciprocityPart IV: The Origins of Territorial Governance
11. Avignon in Ramla: The Schism of 1038–42
12. The Tripartite Community and the First CrusadeEpilogue: Toward a History of Jewish HeresyGlossary
Guide to Places and People
Manuscript Sources
Bibliography
Index
