Polemical and Exegetical Polarities in Medieval Jewish Cultures Studia Judaica Forschungen zur Wissenschaft des Judentums Begründet von Ernst Ludwig Ehrlich Herausgegeben von Günter Stemberger, Charlotte Fonrobert, Elisabeth Hollender, Alexander Samely und Irene Zwiep Band 113 Polemical and Exegetical Polarities in Medieval Jewish Cultures Studies in Honour of Daniel J. Lasker Edited by Ehud Krinis, Nabih Bashir, Sara Offenberg, and Shalom Sadik ISBN 978-3-11-070062-6 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-070226-2 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-070232-3 ISSN 0585-5306 Library of Congress Control Number: 2021938818 Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; Detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Typesetting: Integra Software Services Pvt. Ltd. Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck www.degruyter.com Acknowledgement We would like to express our gratitude to our benefactors from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev for their valuable assistance in financing the publication of this volume: the University’s Rector, the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Center for the Study of Conversion and Inter- Religious Encounters (CSoC). Our thanks go to Katharine Handel for her meticulous and overall excellent editing work and to Yoav Meyrav for generously taking upon himself the task of reviewing the Hebrew and Arabic transliterations. We thank Asher Binyamin and The Goldstein-Goren International Center for Jewish Thought for providing helpful administrative assistance. Finally, we are truly and deeply grateful to each and every contributor for willingly accepting our invitation to participate in this volume. Ehud Krinis, Nabih Bashir, Sara Offenberg and Shalom Sadik https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110702262-202 Contents Acknowledgement   VII I On Daniel J. Lasker and his Scholarship Howard Kreisel Prof. Daniel J. Lasker – Scholar, Teacher, and Friend   3 Shalom Sadik Daniel J. Lasker and His Treatment of Jewish Polemics   9 Daniel J. Lasker List of Publications   19 II Jewish Polemics and Exegesis in the Islamicate World Sarah Stroumsa Polemical Logic: Al-Muqammaṣ’s Refutation of Christianity   37 Barry Dov Walfish and Meira Polliack The Role of Gog in Daniel al-Qūmisī’s Eschatology   59 Haggai Ben-Shammai Theological Consideration of the Gift of the Land and the Radical Treatment of the “Seven Nations” in Medieval Judeo-Arabic Exegesis   77 David Sklare Epistemology in the Service of Polemic: Yūsuf al-Baṣīr’s Kitāb al-Istiʿānah: Text and Translation   97 Matanel Bareli and Menachem Kellner Maimonides on the Status of Judaism   135 Mordechai Akiva Friedman Abraham Maimonides on Reclaiming Judaism’s Lost “Perfection” from the “Imperfection” of Islam   165 X   Contents III Jewish and Anti-Jewish Polemic and Exegesis in the Christian World Ehud Krinis Abraham bar Ḥiyya (d. ca. 1136) on “The Pure Soul”   201 Martin Lockshin Asmakhtaʾ and Abraham ibn Ezra’s Exegesis   229 Miriam Goldstein The Finding of the “True Cross” in Judah Hadassi’s Eškol ha-Kofer and the Polemical Parody Toledot Yešu   251 Ryan Szpiech The Book of Nestor the Priest and the Toledot Yešu in the Polemics of Abner of Burgos/Alfonso of Valladolid   269 David Berger Rashi on Isaiah 53: Exegetical Judgment or Response to the Crusade?   301 Eric Lawee “The Best of Snakes. . .”: A Polemical Midrash in the Rashi Supercommentary Tradition   317 Warren Zev Harvey The Discussion of the Messiah in Crescas’s Refutation   347 Yosi Yisraeli Joshua Ha-Lorki on the Meaning of Emunah: Between Religion and Faith   363 Shalom Sadik Jewish Anti-Semites: The Case of Medieval Apostates   383 Sara Offenberg Daniel in the Lions’ Den: Jewish-Christian Polemics in Medieval Text and Image   413