Marzena Zawanowska | University of Warsaw (original) (raw)
Papers by Marzena Zawanowska
Journal of Semitic Studies, 2025
The article examines the concept and status of the Hebrew language among medieval Karaites explor... more The article examines the concept and status of the Hebrew language among medieval Karaites exploring whether they embraced linguistic relativism (the idea of ‘the holy tongue’), which was characteristic of rabbinic Judaism. It goes on to delve into the complex issue of why medieval Karaites, after initially (in the 9th century) advocating for a return to Hebrew, eventually (in the 11th century) abandoned this idea in favour of Arabic. Through terminological, genealogical, and functional analyses of source texts (dating primarily from the 10th century, when the ‘language breakthrough’ occurred), it demonstrates that the Karaites did not desacralize Hebrew but rather perceived it as a special language of divine origin and sacred significance while at the same time considered it a conventional language, adapted to human needs and cognitive capacities. The paper argues that these central beliefs—regarding Hebrew as both holy and conventional—motivated the Karaites’ efforts to revive it, and contemplates why they eventually discarded this attempt. It postulates that this change occurred due to intellectual/cultural, pragmatic/linguistic and eschatological considerations.
Strangers in the Land: Traveling Texts, Imagined Others, and Captured Souls in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Traditions in Late Antique and Mediaeval Times [Studies in the Childrn of Abraham, vol. 11] , 2024
Kwartalnik Historii Żydów - Jewish History Quarterly, 2024
Journal of Jewish Languages, 2023
תור הזהב הקראי - אנתולוגיה של היצירה הקראית במאות התשיעית עד השתים־עשרה, 2022
Kwartalnik Historii Żydów - Jewish Quarterly Review, 2022
Lost and Bound: Reconstruction Techniques in Fragmentary Manuscripts of the Jewish and Christian Tradition [Arameo Arabica et Graeca, vol. 5], 2022
Medieval History Journal, 2022
Two main historiographic motifs invented in the Middle Ages have dominated all later Jewish histo... more Two main historiographic motifs invented in the Middle Ages have dominated all later Jewish historical reconstructions of the origins of Karaism. One connects it with the activity of 'Anan ben David, while the other associates the Karaites with the Sadducees. The aim of the article is to revisit the question of the origins of the Sadduceean motif and Halevi's role in its creation. Accordingly, its purpose is not to explore the actual relationship between the Karaites and the Sadducees, but the way in which medieval Jews imagined this relationship, especially in terms of the Karaites' past and the beginnings of their movement. It argues that against his explicit statements to the contrary, Halevi contributed to the establishment of a direct, historical link between the Karaites and the Sadducees. In addition, the article demonstrates that when creating his narrative on the emergence of Karaism, Halevi might have been inspired by Karaite sources such as Yūsuf al-Baṣīr's Book of Precepts. It offers an analysis of a relevant passage of this legal Code through an attempt to reconstruct a complex process of cross-sectoral interchanges and transfers of ideas behind the creation of the Sadduceean myth of the origins of Karaism.
This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC 4.0 license.
From Theodulf to Rashi and Beyond: Texts, Techniques, and Transfer in Western European Exegesis (800 - 1100), Leiden: Brill, 2022
History of Religions, 2022
At least as far as the medieval reemergence of their movement is concerned, as according to some ... more At least as far as the medieval reemergence of their movement is concerned, as according to some medieval Karaite authors, Karaism was the original form of Judaism, from which the Rabbanites departed. On the Karaites reconstructions of their own past and the development of historical consciousness,
Journal of Jewish Languages, 2023
The Story of Job as a Model of the Fate of the Children of Israel A Medieval Karaite Interpretati... more The Story of Job as a Model of the Fate of the Children of Israel A Medieval Karaite Interpretation of The Book of Job as an Edifying Example and Message of Hope for the Exiled
The Character of David in Judaism, Christianity and Islam Warrior, Poet, Prophet and King [Themes in Biblical Narrative, vol. 29]], 2021
This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC 4.0 license. chapter 6... more This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC 4.0 license. chapter 6 David in Medieval Jewish Thought Judah Halevi's Book of the Kuzari as a Reconciliation Project Marzena Zawanowska
Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception (Berlin - New York: DE GRUYTER, 2021), 2021
1. (z Michaelem Wechslerem) , [w:] Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception, DE GRUYTER, Berli... more 1. (z Michaelem Wechslerem) , [w:] Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception, DE GRUYTER, Berlin, New York 2021, s. 1106–1111.
Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception (Berlin-New York, DE GRUYTER, 2015), 2015
Jewish Quarterly Review, 2021
Traditional Jewish interpretations of the story of the tower of Babel, as preserved in various mi... more Traditional Jewish interpretations of the story of the tower of Babel, as preserved in various midrashic collections, concentrated on sins committed by the builders on account of which they deserved divine punishment. The main purpose of such an approach was to draw from the scriptural account a moral lesson, regardless of the historicity of the narrated events, their dating, chronology, etc. In contrast, medieval Karaites living in the lands of medieval Islam shifted the main focus of their exegetical interest in this text to history, including the history of the text. Exploring historicizing tendencies in medieval Karaite commentaries on this biblical narrative, this essay ponders the seemingly simple question of what made the Karaite exegetes of the time discover history and read biblical stories as true histories. It demonstrates how the exegetes' novel approach to Scripture may have resulted from their engagement with the surrounding Muslim culture, which was concerned with establishing the historical context of the qur'anic revelation and investigating the reasons and circumstances of revelation (asbāb al-nuzūl). Tracing specific Islamic influences on the Karaites' reading of the story of the tower of Babel, the essay argues that they can be detected not in direct borrowings of specific interpretations, but on a meta level, owing to differences between Muslim and Jewish conceptualizations of revelation, which engendered diverging exegetical responses to Scripture in the two religions. Finally, the essay addresses the question of the Karaites' contribution to the history of Jewish exegesis of this chapter.
AJS Review, 2021
On the basis of a letter preserved in the Cairo Geniza, Judah Halevi is assumed to have originall... more On the basis of a letter preserved in the Cairo Geniza, Judah Halevi is assumed to have originally composed his influential book of religious thought, the Kuzari, as a polemical response to a Karaite convert. However, he neither perceived nor described the Karaites as heretics. In fact, his depiction of the adherents of this alternative to Rabbanite Judaism and their origins so appealed to the Karaites that some of them believed that the author had been a (crypto-)Karaite himself, and his reconstructions of the movement's history became appropriated as the founding myth of Karaism. This paper attempts to discern Halevi's attitude toward the Karaites, and his perception of their main fault. It also addresses the fundamental question of his purpose in writing the Kuzari.
Judaism Die Religionen der Menschheit/Religions of Humanity, eds. Burton Visotzky, Michael Tilly (Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer Verlag, 2020), 2020
Israel in Egypt. The Land of Egypt as Concept and Reality for Jews in Antiquity and the Early Medieval Period, eds. Alison Salvesen, Sarah Pearce, Miriam Frenkel (Leiden: Brill), 2020
Kwartalnik Historii Żydów, 2020
Journal of Semitic Studies, 2025
The article examines the concept and status of the Hebrew language among medieval Karaites explor... more The article examines the concept and status of the Hebrew language among medieval Karaites exploring whether they embraced linguistic relativism (the idea of ‘the holy tongue’), which was characteristic of rabbinic Judaism. It goes on to delve into the complex issue of why medieval Karaites, after initially (in the 9th century) advocating for a return to Hebrew, eventually (in the 11th century) abandoned this idea in favour of Arabic. Through terminological, genealogical, and functional analyses of source texts (dating primarily from the 10th century, when the ‘language breakthrough’ occurred), it demonstrates that the Karaites did not desacralize Hebrew but rather perceived it as a special language of divine origin and sacred significance while at the same time considered it a conventional language, adapted to human needs and cognitive capacities. The paper argues that these central beliefs—regarding Hebrew as both holy and conventional—motivated the Karaites’ efforts to revive it, and contemplates why they eventually discarded this attempt. It postulates that this change occurred due to intellectual/cultural, pragmatic/linguistic and eschatological considerations.
Strangers in the Land: Traveling Texts, Imagined Others, and Captured Souls in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Traditions in Late Antique and Mediaeval Times [Studies in the Childrn of Abraham, vol. 11] , 2024
Kwartalnik Historii Żydów - Jewish History Quarterly, 2024
Journal of Jewish Languages, 2023
תור הזהב הקראי - אנתולוגיה של היצירה הקראית במאות התשיעית עד השתים־עשרה, 2022
Kwartalnik Historii Żydów - Jewish Quarterly Review, 2022
Lost and Bound: Reconstruction Techniques in Fragmentary Manuscripts of the Jewish and Christian Tradition [Arameo Arabica et Graeca, vol. 5], 2022
Medieval History Journal, 2022
Two main historiographic motifs invented in the Middle Ages have dominated all later Jewish histo... more Two main historiographic motifs invented in the Middle Ages have dominated all later Jewish historical reconstructions of the origins of Karaism. One connects it with the activity of 'Anan ben David, while the other associates the Karaites with the Sadducees. The aim of the article is to revisit the question of the origins of the Sadduceean motif and Halevi's role in its creation. Accordingly, its purpose is not to explore the actual relationship between the Karaites and the Sadducees, but the way in which medieval Jews imagined this relationship, especially in terms of the Karaites' past and the beginnings of their movement. It argues that against his explicit statements to the contrary, Halevi contributed to the establishment of a direct, historical link between the Karaites and the Sadducees. In addition, the article demonstrates that when creating his narrative on the emergence of Karaism, Halevi might have been inspired by Karaite sources such as Yūsuf al-Baṣīr's Book of Precepts. It offers an analysis of a relevant passage of this legal Code through an attempt to reconstruct a complex process of cross-sectoral interchanges and transfers of ideas behind the creation of the Sadduceean myth of the origins of Karaism.
This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC 4.0 license.
From Theodulf to Rashi and Beyond: Texts, Techniques, and Transfer in Western European Exegesis (800 - 1100), Leiden: Brill, 2022
History of Religions, 2022
At least as far as the medieval reemergence of their movement is concerned, as according to some ... more At least as far as the medieval reemergence of their movement is concerned, as according to some medieval Karaite authors, Karaism was the original form of Judaism, from which the Rabbanites departed. On the Karaites reconstructions of their own past and the development of historical consciousness,
Journal of Jewish Languages, 2023
The Story of Job as a Model of the Fate of the Children of Israel A Medieval Karaite Interpretati... more The Story of Job as a Model of the Fate of the Children of Israel A Medieval Karaite Interpretation of The Book of Job as an Edifying Example and Message of Hope for the Exiled
The Character of David in Judaism, Christianity and Islam Warrior, Poet, Prophet and King [Themes in Biblical Narrative, vol. 29]], 2021
This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC 4.0 license. chapter 6... more This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC 4.0 license. chapter 6 David in Medieval Jewish Thought Judah Halevi's Book of the Kuzari as a Reconciliation Project Marzena Zawanowska
Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception (Berlin - New York: DE GRUYTER, 2021), 2021
1. (z Michaelem Wechslerem) , [w:] Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception, DE GRUYTER, Berli... more 1. (z Michaelem Wechslerem) , [w:] Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception, DE GRUYTER, Berlin, New York 2021, s. 1106–1111.
Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception (Berlin-New York, DE GRUYTER, 2015), 2015
Jewish Quarterly Review, 2021
Traditional Jewish interpretations of the story of the tower of Babel, as preserved in various mi... more Traditional Jewish interpretations of the story of the tower of Babel, as preserved in various midrashic collections, concentrated on sins committed by the builders on account of which they deserved divine punishment. The main purpose of such an approach was to draw from the scriptural account a moral lesson, regardless of the historicity of the narrated events, their dating, chronology, etc. In contrast, medieval Karaites living in the lands of medieval Islam shifted the main focus of their exegetical interest in this text to history, including the history of the text. Exploring historicizing tendencies in medieval Karaite commentaries on this biblical narrative, this essay ponders the seemingly simple question of what made the Karaite exegetes of the time discover history and read biblical stories as true histories. It demonstrates how the exegetes' novel approach to Scripture may have resulted from their engagement with the surrounding Muslim culture, which was concerned with establishing the historical context of the qur'anic revelation and investigating the reasons and circumstances of revelation (asbāb al-nuzūl). Tracing specific Islamic influences on the Karaites' reading of the story of the tower of Babel, the essay argues that they can be detected not in direct borrowings of specific interpretations, but on a meta level, owing to differences between Muslim and Jewish conceptualizations of revelation, which engendered diverging exegetical responses to Scripture in the two religions. Finally, the essay addresses the question of the Karaites' contribution to the history of Jewish exegesis of this chapter.
AJS Review, 2021
On the basis of a letter preserved in the Cairo Geniza, Judah Halevi is assumed to have originall... more On the basis of a letter preserved in the Cairo Geniza, Judah Halevi is assumed to have originally composed his influential book of religious thought, the Kuzari, as a polemical response to a Karaite convert. However, he neither perceived nor described the Karaites as heretics. In fact, his depiction of the adherents of this alternative to Rabbanite Judaism and their origins so appealed to the Karaites that some of them believed that the author had been a (crypto-)Karaite himself, and his reconstructions of the movement's history became appropriated as the founding myth of Karaism. This paper attempts to discern Halevi's attitude toward the Karaites, and his perception of their main fault. It also addresses the fundamental question of his purpose in writing the Kuzari.
Judaism Die Religionen der Menschheit/Religions of Humanity, eds. Burton Visotzky, Michael Tilly (Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer Verlag, 2020), 2020
Israel in Egypt. The Land of Egypt as Concept and Reality for Jews in Antiquity and the Early Medieval Period, eds. Alison Salvesen, Sarah Pearce, Miriam Frenkel (Leiden: Brill), 2020
Kwartalnik Historii Żydów, 2020
One of the most complex and ambivalent characters in the Bible is King David. Traditionally consi... more One of the most complex and ambivalent characters in the Bible is King David. Traditionally considered to be the pious author of the book of Psalms, a brave warrior and a perfect ruler, he was also a vassal of the Philistine king and a sinner whose morally dubious behaviour is criticized in the Bible itself. Little wonder, therefore, that his image underwent significant interpretative changes in perception and reception in different monotheistic traditions. So far, scholarly research has mostly focused on the ways he was appropriated by some of these traditions in isolation from others. The proposed conference will question this dominant exclusive approach and attempt to scrutinize perceptions and receptions of King David and his book in different monotheistic traditions from late antiquity until the early modern period in a more inclusive fashion. Its aim is to take a new, critical look at the process of biblical creation and subsequent exegetical transformation of this figure, with particular emphasis put on the multilateral fertilization and cross-cultural interchanges among Jews, Christians and Muslims in different genres of their respective religious literatures and arts.
