Esther in Medieval Garb

"There is nothing like this for the Book of Esther, and little like it for any body of medieval Jewish exegesis. The author's research enables the reader to see specific connections between individual exegetes and the medieval settings in which they lived. One gets a wonderful picture of various medieval Jewish (and gentile) communities from this book." — Edward L. Greenstein, Jewish Theological Seminary of America"This work is an invaluable bibliographic resource, the most comprehensive account of Jewish medieval interpretation of any biblical book. Going beyond mere survey, Walfish offers insightful (and, in some cases, ground-breaking) discussions of three aspects of the commentaries under consideration: their value for biblical exegesis; their place in Jewish and general intellectual history; and their contribution to the study of the societies out of which they emerged." — Alan Cooper, Hebrew Union College

• AcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsIntroduction PART I. THE WORK OF THE EXEGETE 1. Jewish Sources for Exegesis 2. Non-Jewish Sources for Exegesis 3. Literary Concerns 4. Theological Issues PART II. THE WORLD OF THE EXEGETE 5. Persia through European Eyes: Geography, Architecture, Customs, and Institutions 6. Jewish-Gentile Relations and Jewish Attitudes to Gentiles as Reflected in the Commentaries 7. The State of the Jewish People in the Diaspora: Perceptions of Antisemitism 8. The Royal Court 9. The Jews and the Monarchy: The Role of Ahasuerus in the Book of Esther Concluding Remarks Appendix I. The Exegetes of the Book of Esther: A Bio-bibliographical Survey with Textual Excursuses Appendix II. Immanuel of Rome and Dante on the Differentiation of Languages and the Dating of Immanuel's Commentary on the Book of Esther Notes BibliographyMedieval Commentaries on the Book of Esther in Print and in Manuscript Other Primary Sources Secondary Sources Author and Title Index Subject Index Index of Scripture Citations Index of Manuscripts by Depository Libraries