Moshe Taube - Böcker

A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press's Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more.This book uncovers cultural traces of the ancient Jewry of Eastern Europe from the 10th to 15th centuries. These traces take the form of translations from Hebrew into East Slavic, ranging from accounts of Old Testament prophets and other historical figures of interest to both Jews and Christians, such as Alexander the Great, to scientific and philosophical texts on everything from astronomy to physiognomy to metaphysics. Moshe Taube's fine-grained analysis teases out a robust picture of this massive cultural enterprise: the translators, their erudition, their biases, and their collaborative method of translation with neighboring Christians. Summarizing over thirty years of philological and linguistic research, this book offers a substantial original contribution to the cultural history of Jews in Eastern Europe and their interaction with, and influence on, Slavic culture in the Middle Ages and Early Modern period.

The Old Testament Book of Esther in Slavonic translation is known from East Slavic manuscripts of the late 14th to the late 16th centuries. Working from the Masoretic Hebrew texts and Greek translations, Horace Lunt and Moshe Taube examine textological clues to the circumstances of Esther’s translation, sources, and redactions. This study creates a solid basis from which scholars can now discuss the particulars of this important translation, the nature of East Slavic biblical translating activity, and the relationship of old East Slavic bookmen to Hebrew and Greek.