The "Shir Hadash" of Saadiah ben Eliyahu Chouraqui: A rabbinic commentary on Psalm 119 with a glimpse into the intellectual history of the Jewish Maghreb.
Item
-
Title
-
The "Shir Hadash" of Saadiah ben Eliyahu Chouraqui: A rabbinic commentary on Psalm 119 with a glimpse into the intellectual history of the Jewish Maghreb.
-
Identifier
-
AAI9707131
-
identifier
-
9707131
-
Creator
-
Nagar, Marie (Alderman).
-
Contributor
-
Adviser: Howard L. Adelson
-
Date
-
1996
-
Language
-
English
-
Publisher
-
City University of New York.
-
Subject
-
History, Medieval | Religion, Biblical Studies | Religion, General
-
Abstract
-
Investigation into the history of Jewish North Africa is still a fledgling field. The lack of available published sources has especially hampered scholarly investigation of the intellectual legacy of the region in the early modern period. The present study attends to this deficiency and the consequent need to bring more sources to light, with the transcription of a heretofore unpublished manuscript by a scion of a prominent family from a significant Maghrebi community.;The Shir Hadash of Saadiah ben Eliyahu Chouraqui is an elaborate ethical exposition on Psalm 119, penned by a rabbinic scholar from Tlemcen in 1706. The content and method of the commentary bore many characteristics of classic Sephardic education. The dissertation specifically offers contextualization for the piece, therefore, via a survey of Sephardic cultural continuity as manifest in the intellectual traditions of Jewish North Africa.;The survey particularly highlights the Maghrebi model of rabbinic leadership as forged by the renowned Spanish refugees of 1391, Isaac b. Sheshet Barfat (RIBaSH), Simeon b. Zemah Duran (RaSHBaZ) and Simeon's son, Solomon (RaSHBaSH). These men inspired a cultural revival in the Jewish Maghreb, and pioneered a cohesive Jewish communal and educational system in Algeria which would remain intact until the French occupation. Chouraqui's composition is presented as an especially reflective product of that ongoing cultural stride.;The review includes a portrait of Jewish life in Turkish Algeria as gleaned from the responsa literature. The appraisal details a precarious political and social backdrop, but adequate avenues of economic opportunity to allow for the fiscal support of a solid internal communal organization. The spiritual support of that organization was protected by the Algerian rabbinic leadership which continually acknowledged its allegiance to the practical halakhic posture, the systematic educational outreach, and the high moral standard prescribed by the earlier Sephardic luminaries. This pastoral posture of the Sephardic hakham is emphasized throughout the thesis, with illustrations of how Chouraqui's lifework remained true to that ideal.;The study concludes with a thematic summary of the Shir Hadash, together with an overview of its plethora of sources, poetic envelopment, and unique pedagogic technique.
-
Type
-
dissertation
-
Source
-
PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
-
degree
-
Ph.D.
