A Jewish Doctor in Medieval Spain and His Demon

Date: Jul 25, 2022

Time: 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm

Sponsor: Online Learning

Location: Online

Category: Livestream Public Lectures & Events

A Jewish Doctor in Medieval Spain and His Demon: The Book of Delight by Joseph Ibn Zabara

Part of our summer learning series: Stories and Storytelling

Monday, July 25, 2022, 1:00-2:30 p.m. ET
Online

With Dr. Raymond Scheindlin, Professor Emeritus of Medieval Hebrew Literature 

Joseph, the protagonist of this proto-novel, at the urging of a mysterious companion, undertakes a journey that takes him to the land of the demons. We will read and discuss some of the stories that the travelers tell each other along the way and will attempt to unravel who the mysterious companion actually is.

Please register for the Stories and Storytelling series in order to receive the Zoom link for this series. Once you register for the Stories and Storytelling series, your registration admits you to all sessions in this series, and you may attend as many sessions as you’d like. 

About Dr. Raymond Scheindlin

Dr. Raymond Scheindlin is professor emeritus of Medieval Hebrew Literature at JTS. He specializes in medieval Hebrew poetry, with a special interest in Spain and other regions of Arabic culture. He is also active as a literary translator of medieval and other Hebrew texts. 

Dr. Scheindlin’s books on medieval Hebrew poetry are Wine, Women, and Death: Medieval Hebrew Poems on the Good Life (1986); The Gazelle: Medieval Hebrew Poems on God, Israel, and the Soul (1991); The Song of the Distant Dove: Judah Halevi’s Pilgrimage (2007); and Vulture in a Cage: Poems by Solomon Ibn Gabirol(2016). He has published a verse translation, with introduction and notes, of the book of Job (1998). As an Arabist, he published Form and Structure in the Poetry of al-Mu’tamid Ibn Abbad (1975) and 501 Arabic Verbs (2007; second ed., 2017), and was coeditor of a volume of the Cambridge History of Arabic Literature titled The Literature of Al-Andalus (2000). Other translations of his include a Yiddish novella by Mendele Mocher Seforim, and Ismar Elbogen’s monumental history of Jewish liturgy. He has also written A Short History of the Jewish People (1998).   

Recipient of the Cultural Achievement Award of the National Foundation for Jewish Culture (2004), Dr. Scheindlin was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1988, a Cullman Fellow at the New York Public Library (2005–2006), and a visiting professor at Harvard University (spring 2007). He is a fellow of the American Academy of Jewish Research and is on the editorial boards of several academic journals.   

ABOUT THE SERIES 

Stories and Storytelling 

Join JTS scholars to explore a selection of stories drawn from ancient, rabbinic, medieval, and modern Jewish literature. We will consider the power of shared stories and how they transmit values, norms, culture, and information, bringing Jews together across time and space.