Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania

Review: Maimonides' Epistle to Yemen

Author(s): Leon Nemoy
Review by: Leon Nemoy
Source: The Jewish Quarterly Review, Vol. 44, No. 2 (Oct., 1953), pp. 170-175
Published by: University of Pennsylvania Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1452871
Accessed: 28-01-2016 11:25 UTC

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/
info/about/policies/terms.jsp

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content
in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.
For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania and University of Pennsylvania Press are
collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Jewish Quarterly Review.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 84.88.136.149 on Thu, 28 Jan 2016 11:25:49 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 MAIMONIDES' EPISTLE TO YEMEN

IT SOUNDSlike a paradox to say that while the literature on Maimon-

ides' life and works is vast, there are extremely wide gaps in it. To cite
but one major example, the identification of Maimuini's legal sources
in the Mishneh Tordh and elsewhere is still the despair of students, and
it is only quite recently that the Yale Judaica Series has undertaken
for the first time to make the text of that incomparable code available
to non-Hebraists. In my own field, that of Karaite studies, Maimonides'
influence on Karaite jurists and philosophers has scarcely ever been
mentioned, let alone thoroughly investigated.
Dr. Halkin's de-luxe publication' now closes up another major gap
in Maimonidean literature, and it is a sobering thought to reflect that
only now is it possible for us to read for the first time the original Arabic
text of the Epistle to the Yemen. Moreover, not only does Dr. Halkin
give us the text of all the three Hebrew versions in a thoroughly critical
form, again for the first time, but one of them, made by Ibn Hisdai, the
author of the famous Ben ha-melek weha-ndztr, has never been printed
before.
Yet the Epistle is a work of absorbing interest, not only for its his-
torical and theological content, but also as a revelation of Maimfini's
personality. The voice we hear is not that of the patriarchal Maimon-
ides, serene with the patient wisdom and even disposition that come
with advanced age and universal veneration, and reconciled to the rueful
realization that mankind is what it is, and that one must temper one's
zeal for perfection with realistic compassion for the frailty of human
capabilities. The Maimonides who answered the anguished cry of the
Yemenite community sorely beset on the outside by Muslim persecutors
aided by overzealous Jewish renegades, and bewildered internally by
the fantastic claims of would-be Messiahs - this Maimonides was
comparatively a young man, barely past the middle of the traditional
threescore and ten, who heard the evil tidings from the Yemen with
indignation, and reacted with youthful vehemence. Although already
practical enough to advise the sufferers to wrap themselves up in the
sword-proof armor of their faith and outwait the storm as their ancestors
had outwaited many past storms, he minces no words in pouring out

I Moses Maimonides'Epistle to Yemen;The Arabic Original and the

Three Hebrew Versions. Edited from manuscripts, with introduction
and notes by Abraham S. Halkin, and an English translation by Boaz
Cohen. New York: The American Academy for Jewish Research, 1952.
(The Louis M. and Minnie Epstein Series. Volume 1), pp. xx, xxxvi,
111. Folio.
170

This content downloaded from 84.88.136.149 on Thu, 28 Jan 2016 11:25:49 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 MAIMONIDES' EPISTLE TO YEMEN-NEMOY 171

his scorn and contempt for their persecutorswho were not only abysmal-
ly ignorant of the nature of the faith they plotted to destroy, but were
too illiterate to know even the higher values of their own religions and
their close kinship with the teachings of the Old Testament. Even the
somewhat preceptorialtone is in contrast with the profoundhumility of
the older Maimonides,and the conciseand precisestyle which character-
izes, for example, the Moreh nebiukm and the Commentary on the
Mishnah, stands in marked contrast with the rambling and prolix
diction of the Yemenite Epistle, heavily spiced with colloquialconstruc-
tions and turns of phrase and obviously fitted to the intellectual level
of the adressees. The author even hints rather broadly at the low state
of learning in the Yemen, else the Yemenites themselves would have
seen through the spuriousnessof the false Messiahs and the baselessness
of Muslim polemics against Judaism.
In his extensive Hebrew introduction Dr. Halkin deals at great length
and with profuse bibliographicalannotations with the various aspects
of the Epistle, its historical background, its polemical method, the
nature of its opposition to the belief in astrology, its theory of the
Messiah and the significanceof Israel's trials in exile, and finally with
the several manuscripts and printed editions used in editing the Arabic
and Hebrew texts. Dr. Cohen's English version is both exact and
fluent; its only defect lies not in itself, but in the excessive brevity of
the English introduction (less than two pages) which makes it but a
pale shadow of its Hebrew counterpart. Since the English translation
was obviously meant to make the Epistle accessible to non-Hebraists
(as it certainly should be), the important elucidative material in the
Hebrew introduction should have been englished as well.
In establishing the Arabic text itself Dr. Halkin's task was by no
means easy. Although several mss. were available to him, they do not
seem to be particularly distinguished for accuracy, and some are frag-
mentary. Nevertheless, his text is quite good, and the only suggestion
I can offer is that Dr. Halkin might have been less reluctant to depart
from the manuscript evidence and make more extensive use of the
evidence supplied by the Hebrew versions. Some of the following notes
made in the course of reading the Arabic original will illustrate this
point:2

2
I have consulted the Hebrew versions only where the Arabic text
seemed to me to need improvement. Hence it is very probable that a
systematic collation of the Hebrew with the Arabic might suggest a

This content downloaded from 84.88.136.149 on Thu, 28 Jan 2016 11:25:49 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
172 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW

4:3 "Canaanites" for Berbers is a legitimate parallelism to the

Palestinian Canaanites, in the sense of "natives," the original
inhabitants overrun by the Arab invaders.
10:8 this can hardly be anything but a deliberate modification of
the sense by all the three translators, presumably in order to
avoid even the most remote suggestion that the din is sus-
ceptible to refutation.
12:14 wa-aghraa - read wa-gharida.
12:19 ka-md 'aththaraeither is a gloss (it is omitted in two of the
versions) or is to be read ka-md'aththarahu(as in Ibn Tibbon's
version).
14:2 wa-ma'a . . . narasahu (?) -read wa-md . . gharadahu.
dhdlikadarra should probably be reversed: (arra dhalika.
14:6 ma'a - read 'ald (so two of the versions).
20:16 the word is probablythe Hebrew rogez,rather than the Arabic
rajaz (again in 94:7).
20:17 'ala lisdn al-ummameans simply "making Israel the speaker;"
cf. 'ald lisdn al-milla, 32:2, 56:2, with same meaning.
24:15 wa-kadhdlika--the variant wa-bidhalikais to be preferred
(so two of the versions).
26:2 al-ayddi- the versions seem to call for ayddi al-a'dd', which
makes better sense.
26:3 kalimatin - two of the versions call for ummatind(or milla-
tind), which seems preferable; "the weakness of our word" is
rather a feeble figure, while Ibn H.isdai's translation "our
cause" is based upon an inadmissibleinterpretation of kalima
in the sense of the Hebrew ddabr(- Arabic sha'n), cf. 78:17.
26:8 wa-sajjalu- Ibn IJisdai (and perhaps the other two versions
also) seems to have read wa-shahidu,which is much better
(the two words are practically indistinguishablein hasty un-
dotted naskhi).
26:10 the footnote is patently wrong: the meaning is not "God's
assurance may be relied upon," but rather "God's assurance
is of the utmostreliability,"i. e., nothing can possibly prevent
the ultimate fulfilment of a promise made by God himself
30:14 I think Ibn IHisdai'sversion reproduces the correct original

number of additional textual emendations. In this case the general

reliability of the versions is beyond doubt, since all three were made
by highly competent translatorswho lived near Maimonides'own time.

This content downloaded from 84.88.136.149 on Thu, 28 Jan 2016 11:25:49 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 MAIMONIDES' EPISTLE TO YEMEN-NEMOY 173

reading, and wa-'ald imdnikum mugirrin is probably simply

a faulty duplicate of the immediately following clause which
the copyist meant but forgot to cross off.
34:6 shiddatihi- read shiddatihd(so the versions).
36:7 note Ibn IHisdai'ssurprising mistranslation rob ha-Tordh (he
misreadjail for ghall);the note should be correctedaccordingly.
38:6 not only Ibn Tibbon, but all three translators rendered yum-
akhri2un inexactly; "babble, or prattle, malicious nonsense"
is perhaps the nearest to what the word signifies here; cf. the
same word in 44:6, 74:13.
38:8 the footnote is misleading;the meaning is not that the "male-
factors" are endeavoring to prove the sincerity of their con-
version to Islam, but rather that they are trying to show to
their new co-religionists, the Muslims, that they have dis-
covered alleged Biblical proofs of the truth of the Koranic
claim that Mubammad'sadvent was foretold in the Bible.
46:17 it is the two other mss. and all the versions which are correct
here, and not the ms. reading preferred by Dr. Halkin. The
whole clause wa-an .. . dyatin is probably a misspelled gloss
quoted by a reader from 52:15 or 54:4.
54:5 naz'um-read yaz'um (so two versions); why Ibn Tibbon
and Nahum mistranslate "to think" for "to assert, to claim,"
I do not know.
74:5 the emendation proposed in the apparatus is unnecessary-
al-'alamin ("creatures")is correct, cf. 6:19.
74:14 qalmahum does not seem to fit the context; probably read
qitatahum,which is presumablywhat the translatorshad read.
"Insolence" in the sense of violation or denial of generally
accepted religiousaxioms is a common usage with other Judeo-
Arabic authors; cf. also wuqama'12:17.
76:5 note that all the three versions have turned the correct an'dm,
"sheep" (parallel to bahd'im, "cattle") into the awkward
na'dm, "ostriches."
78:17 kalimatand-read ummatandor millatana (so the versions,
cf. above to 26:3).
'aransis probably a reader's gloss, and Ibn Ifisdai is right in
disregardingit; it is our exiles who will be gathered, not "our
shame." The glossator presumably associated the Arabic
kalima with the Hebrew kelimmdh.
86:9 bi-mithli- the versions call for a-bi-mithli, which sounds
better.

This content downloaded from 84.88.136.149 on Thu, 28 Jan 2016 11:25:49 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
174 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW

90:9 here al-kalimais correct ("wordof the advent of the Messiah"),

and Ibn Hisdai so translates it. The footnote is inaccurate:
only two of the versions have mistranslatedthe word, and the
memrdquoted hardly had anything to do with it. Note also
the implication of the existence of Jewish settlements in
(Northern) India.
92:15 surely the two footnotes are redundant! The text could not
possibly be interpreted in any other way.
92:16 the versions seem to imply that tamajnana ("to become a
majnun") is the preferable variant; cf. al-junin further on
94:5. It is madness which seized him, not melancholy.
100:7 read Dar'a.
100:11 there is nothing missing in the text as it stands; the only
emendationnecessaryhere is to change bal ba'dunintofal-ba'du
-"a few followed my father, while the crowd, in fact (prac-
tically) everybody, followed Moses al-Dar'i."
102:17 read 'asharati;the statistics, as the footnote rightly points out,
are exaggerated, but the identity of Lyons seems to me quite
certain.

One additional complaint I might register is the absence of a glossary,

which would have taken only two or three additional pages and might
have registered a number of interesting usages, for eventual incorpora-
tion into an urgently needed and long overdue dictionary of the Judeo-
Arabic language. For example:3

qata'aal-khabarzuhurand(4:4) "the bad news was as painful as if our

backs were broken."
wa-hiaqqland wa-hddhihi(4:5) "these are forsooth evil tidings."
al-'alamin (6:19, 74:5) "creatures '
qala'aild al-md' (10:8-9) "to demolish utterly."
al-.Haqq(10:10) "God" (one of the asmd'Allah al-lusnd).
khawarij(12:17) "apostates, schismatics."
al-wujud (18:19) "historical experience, events which are known to
have actually occurred."
madrasa(24:1) "somethingto tread upon."
ya'lu (24:2) "to outlast"; the versions translate unanimously "to rise
above" which while literal hardly fits the context.

3 I did not check them in Friedlaender'svocabularyof Maimonidean

usage. Even if some of them are already listed there, their occurrence
in the Yemenite Epistle needs to be recorded.

This content downloaded from 84.88.136.149 on Thu, 28 Jan 2016 11:25:49 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 MAIMONIDES' EPISTLE TO YEMEN-NEMOY 175

wa-'ald an (24:12, 56:12) "even though, notwithstanding that."

yatasayyab(36:6, 76:4) "to give one's self free rein."
sa'imat (38:2) "to become loathsome" (the usual meaning is transitive,
"to loathe").
wa-ld yuqalu fihd . . . bal (38:3) "not only is it an extremely feeble
argument- it is downright ridiculous."
ukhrijat(38:16) "to translate."
yata'allaq bi-khuyut al-'ankabut(40:8) "to grasp at the threads of a
spider'sweb," i. e., to take refuge in exceedingly feeble arguments.
nakala (56:8, 90:16) used in the sense of 'ajaza, "to be unable or power-
less to do something" (the usual meaning is "to abstain").
ma (or la) . . . ghayra (94:15) used in the sense of la - illa ("he did
not implore God's help for relief from any oppressor, except from
the King of Ishmael").

The typography of the volume is excellent and the proofreading

careful; the only fault I noticed was the frequent omission of the dia-
critical dots over the feminine singular suffix; in two cases (al-din,
4:3, 6:4) a dot appears where none should be. One might list here also
the inconsistent use of both dotted teth and dotted zade for the Arabic
letter z; both forms are of course equally legitimate in Judeo-Arabic
usage, but in a standard edition like this uniformity would seem both
desirable and permissible.
But all these notes are only minutiae which merely enhance the great
debt owed to Dr. Halkin and Dr. Cohen for their capital edition of a
remarkablemedieval classic. It should be a matter of further satisfac-
tion that the volume appears as a memorialnot only to the late Dr. L.
Epstein, a gentleman and a scholar of the finest type, but indirectly
also to Israel Friedlaender, who first planned this edition and whose
tragic and untimely death left a vacancy in the field of Judeo-Arabic
studies which will take a very long time to fill.

LEON NEMOY

Yale University.

This content downloaded from 84.88.136.149 on Thu, 28 Jan 2016 11:25:49 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions