Notes on R. Saadya Gaon's Translation of the Torah, Part I - Genesis

The Tafsir - the translation of the Torah into Arabic by Saadya Gaon, the dominant figure in shaping Judaeo-Arabic culture in the Middle Ages - is one of the most important works to have been produced by that glorious culture. Saadya's translation is a freer one than any other with which we are familiar. He diverges quite frequently from a literal rendering of the text, expressing a great many innovative and original hermeneutic notions. The present studies by Prof. Joshua Blau deal with Saadya's distinctive ideas, as expressed (among other things) in his numerous divergences from the literal meaning of the Hebrew original and in the connections he draws between different passages. Saadya's translation refers often to the sequence of the text and points to conceptual relationships between the verses, sometimes widely separated ones in different sections of the text. Joshua Blau is one of the most distinguished scholars of Judaeo-Arabic in general and of Saadya's translation in particular. The publication of the first volume of his studies of the Tafsir, on the Book of Genesis, marks his 100th birthday.