Phillip I Lieberman | Vanderbilt University (original) (raw)

Books by Phillip I Lieberman

The Guide to the Perplexed: A New Translation, 2024

The Fate of the Jews of the Early Islamic Near East, 2022

In this book, I revisit one of the foundational narratives of medieval Jewish history--that the r... more In this book, I revisit one of the foundational narratives of medieval Jewish history--that the rise of Islam led the Jews of Babylonia, the largest Jewish community prior to the rise of Islam, to abandon a livelihood based on agriculture and move into urban crafts and long-distance trade.

Cambridge History of Judaism, 2021

Volume 5 examines the history of Judaism in the Islamic world from the rise of Islam in the early... more Volume 5 examines the history of Judaism in the Islamic world from the rise of Islam in the early sixth century to the expulsion of Jews from Spain at the end of the fifteenth. This period witnessed radical transformations both within the Jewish community itself and in the broader contexts in which the Jews found themselves. The rise of Islam had a decisive influence on Jews and Judaism as the conditions of daily life and elite culture shifted throughout the Islamicate world. Islamic conquest and expansion affected the shape of the Jewish community as the center of gravity shifted west to the North African communities, and long-distance trading opportunities led to the establishment of trading diasporas and flourishing communities as far east as India. By the end of our period, many of the communities on the "other" side of the Mediterranean had come into their ownwhile many of the Jewish communities in the Islamicate world had retreated from their highwater mark.

Articles by Phillip I Lieberman

Quaderni di Studi Arabi, 2021

The Jews of the medieval Islamicate world were avid consumers and producers of history. In this a... more The Jews of the medieval Islamicate world were avid consumers and producers of history. In this article, I discuss the major modes of historical writing among the Jews of the period and introduce the question of how that historical writing was used by those Jews. In considering the Sitz im Leben of historical writing, I explore the role of internal communal apologetic, anti-sectarian polemic, inter-religious attack, political support and challenge, entertainment, the contextualizing of philosophy, consolation after adversity, and preparation for eschatological redemption. I pay particular attention to the rewriting of Others' histories-Christian, Islamic, and Jewish sectarian-and the role these often-popular rewritten histories played in medieval Jewish society. This panoply of historical writing challenges an important scholarly view that Jewish consumption of history was minimal and served a limited range of "religious" needs within the medieval Jewish community.

Jewish Quarterly Review, 2021

Jewish Law Association Studies, 2019

Using evidence from the Cairo Geniza, I revisit the oft-cited view of Jewish marriage as the "pur... more Using evidence from the Cairo Geniza, I revisit the oft-cited view of Jewish marriage as the "purchase" of a bride. Relying on the work of those who connect "partnership" and "marriage", I argue that the term "qinyan"--often translated as "acquisition"--should be understood as effecting a change in legal status between individuals that denotes them as marital partners rather than as acquirer and acquired.

Daimon, Quaderni di diritto e politica ecclesiastica, 2019

Jewish History, 2018

Goitein's Mediterranean Society is remarkable and paved the way for a generation-indeed, generati... more Goitein's Mediterranean Society is remarkable and paved the way for a generation-indeed, generations-of scholars. In this brief note, I discuss some of the fundamental questions Goitein left unanswered.

Jewish History , 2018

As the densest single corpus of documents pertaining to everyday life in the medieval Middle East... more As the densest single corpus of documents pertaining to everyday life in the medieval Middle East and Islamic world before the 1250s, the Cairo Geniza material has been mined to investigate not only the economic roles of Jews in the Islamicate world they inhabited but also the relationship between merchants and the state, the structure of business ties, the nature, market share, and circulation of specific commodities, monetization, and geographies of trade connecting the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. Building on more than half a century of Geniza scholarship on the medieval economy, recent work has highlighted the role of legal institutions in economic transactions, has elaborated on the question of the typicality of Jewish economic actors in the Islamicate marketplace, and has deepened the inquiry into regional and transregional economies.

In this essay, some of the central issues concerning the legal phraseology of commercial contract... more In this essay, some of the central issues concerning the legal phraseology of commercial contracts in the Geniza are discussed. These issues include not only questions about the text of these contracts themselves and the relationship of commercial contracts to Jewish and Islamic law but also what insights commercial contracts in the Geniza might offer social and economic historians into how both court practice and business were actually conducted in the medieval Islamic Mediterranean. Following this brief discussion are a transcription and a translation of an actual thirteenth-century business agreement.

Jewish law has long faced the problem of individual litigants seeking multiple answers to a singl... more Jewish law has long faced the problem of individual litigants seeking multiple answers to a single halakhic question in order to select what they found to be the most favorable ruling. In this article, I examine the role that forum shopping for legal opinions played in the Jewish community of the medieval Islamic world. Individuals often made recourse to multiple juristic authorities, whether those authorities were leaders serving the geonic academies of Babylonia and the land of Israel or local jurists. I discuss some of the strategies the geonim and local jurists used to reduce competition between judicial rulings and how local judges utilized the various responsa composed on their behalf by these authorities or presented to them by litigants to bolster their case before the Jewish court. In so doing, I aim to refine our understanding of the social and legal role of rabbinic responsa in the medieval Islamic world by suggesting that this literature served as expert testimony to support one side or the other in a particular case rather than as the definitive record of the court's ruling in that case.

Do formal Arabic legal terms which have been appropriated into Judeo-Arabic maintain their Arabic... more Do formal Arabic legal terms which have been appropriated into Judeo-Arabic maintain their Arabic meanings and serve as loanwords, or do they take on a specific Jewish valence and serve as loan shifts? In this paper, I examine a number of such terms and their usage in the documentary sources of the Cairo Geniza and conclude the latter.

Conventional wisdom holds that judges ought to be emotionless. Occasional counterclaims, however,... more Conventional wisdom holds that judges ought to be emotionless. Occasional counterclaims, however, have posited compassion as an essential element of judicial wisdom.
When compassion is thus privileged, it is understood as uniquely parental. We use as our lens two examples, one ancient and one modern: the disqualification, in the Babylonian Talmud, of childless men from judging capital cases on the ground that they are “devoid of paternal tenderness,” and Judge Julian Mack’s vision of the early 20th century juvenile court judge as a “wise and merciful father.” In both narratives
judges are asked to have the capacity for empathy, which is believed to spark compassion, which in turn is predicted to manifest in mercy. In neither narrative, however, is this empathic arc seen as critical for judging in the ordinary case. A contemporary study showing the jurisprudential impact of fathering daughters represents a modern iteration of the judge-as-caring-parent meme.


The Guide to the Perplexed: A New Translation, 2024

The Fate of the Jews of the Early Islamic Near East, 2022

In this book, I revisit one of the foundational narratives of medieval Jewish history--that the r... more In this book, I revisit one of the foundational narratives of medieval Jewish history--that the rise of Islam led the Jews of Babylonia, the largest Jewish community prior to the rise of Islam, to abandon a livelihood based on agriculture and move into urban crafts and long-distance trade.

Cambridge History of Judaism, 2021

Volume 5 examines the history of Judaism in the Islamic world from the rise of Islam in the early... more Volume 5 examines the history of Judaism in the Islamic world from the rise of Islam in the early sixth century to the expulsion of Jews from Spain at the end of the fifteenth. This period witnessed radical transformations both within the Jewish community itself and in the broader contexts in which the Jews found themselves. The rise of Islam had a decisive influence on Jews and Judaism as the conditions of daily life and elite culture shifted throughout the Islamicate world. Islamic conquest and expansion affected the shape of the Jewish community as the center of gravity shifted west to the North African communities, and long-distance trading opportunities led to the establishment of trading diasporas and flourishing communities as far east as India. By the end of our period, many of the communities on the "other" side of the Mediterranean had come into their ownwhile many of the Jewish communities in the Islamicate world had retreated from their highwater mark.

Quaderni di Studi Arabi, 2021

The Jews of the medieval Islamicate world were avid consumers and producers of history. In this a... more The Jews of the medieval Islamicate world were avid consumers and producers of history. In this article, I discuss the major modes of historical writing among the Jews of the period and introduce the question of how that historical writing was used by those Jews. In considering the Sitz im Leben of historical writing, I explore the role of internal communal apologetic, anti-sectarian polemic, inter-religious attack, political support and challenge, entertainment, the contextualizing of philosophy, consolation after adversity, and preparation for eschatological redemption. I pay particular attention to the rewriting of Others' histories-Christian, Islamic, and Jewish sectarian-and the role these often-popular rewritten histories played in medieval Jewish society. This panoply of historical writing challenges an important scholarly view that Jewish consumption of history was minimal and served a limited range of "religious" needs within the medieval Jewish community.

Jewish Quarterly Review, 2021

Jewish Law Association Studies, 2019

Using evidence from the Cairo Geniza, I revisit the oft-cited view of Jewish marriage as the "pur... more Using evidence from the Cairo Geniza, I revisit the oft-cited view of Jewish marriage as the "purchase" of a bride. Relying on the work of those who connect "partnership" and "marriage", I argue that the term "qinyan"--often translated as "acquisition"--should be understood as effecting a change in legal status between individuals that denotes them as marital partners rather than as acquirer and acquired.

Daimon, Quaderni di diritto e politica ecclesiastica, 2019

Jewish History, 2018

Goitein's Mediterranean Society is remarkable and paved the way for a generation-indeed, generati... more Goitein's Mediterranean Society is remarkable and paved the way for a generation-indeed, generations-of scholars. In this brief note, I discuss some of the fundamental questions Goitein left unanswered.

Jewish History , 2018

As the densest single corpus of documents pertaining to everyday life in the medieval Middle East... more As the densest single corpus of documents pertaining to everyday life in the medieval Middle East and Islamic world before the 1250s, the Cairo Geniza material has been mined to investigate not only the economic roles of Jews in the Islamicate world they inhabited but also the relationship between merchants and the state, the structure of business ties, the nature, market share, and circulation of specific commodities, monetization, and geographies of trade connecting the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. Building on more than half a century of Geniza scholarship on the medieval economy, recent work has highlighted the role of legal institutions in economic transactions, has elaborated on the question of the typicality of Jewish economic actors in the Islamicate marketplace, and has deepened the inquiry into regional and transregional economies.

In this essay, some of the central issues concerning the legal phraseology of commercial contract... more In this essay, some of the central issues concerning the legal phraseology of commercial contracts in the Geniza are discussed. These issues include not only questions about the text of these contracts themselves and the relationship of commercial contracts to Jewish and Islamic law but also what insights commercial contracts in the Geniza might offer social and economic historians into how both court practice and business were actually conducted in the medieval Islamic Mediterranean. Following this brief discussion are a transcription and a translation of an actual thirteenth-century business agreement.

Jewish law has long faced the problem of individual litigants seeking multiple answers to a singl... more Jewish law has long faced the problem of individual litigants seeking multiple answers to a single halakhic question in order to select what they found to be the most favorable ruling. In this article, I examine the role that forum shopping for legal opinions played in the Jewish community of the medieval Islamic world. Individuals often made recourse to multiple juristic authorities, whether those authorities were leaders serving the geonic academies of Babylonia and the land of Israel or local jurists. I discuss some of the strategies the geonim and local jurists used to reduce competition between judicial rulings and how local judges utilized the various responsa composed on their behalf by these authorities or presented to them by litigants to bolster their case before the Jewish court. In so doing, I aim to refine our understanding of the social and legal role of rabbinic responsa in the medieval Islamic world by suggesting that this literature served as expert testimony to support one side or the other in a particular case rather than as the definitive record of the court's ruling in that case.

Do formal Arabic legal terms which have been appropriated into Judeo-Arabic maintain their Arabic... more Do formal Arabic legal terms which have been appropriated into Judeo-Arabic maintain their Arabic meanings and serve as loanwords, or do they take on a specific Jewish valence and serve as loan shifts? In this paper, I examine a number of such terms and their usage in the documentary sources of the Cairo Geniza and conclude the latter.

Conventional wisdom holds that judges ought to be emotionless. Occasional counterclaims, however,... more Conventional wisdom holds that judges ought to be emotionless. Occasional counterclaims, however, have posited compassion as an essential element of judicial wisdom.
When compassion is thus privileged, it is understood as uniquely parental. We use as our lens two examples, one ancient and one modern: the disqualification, in the Babylonian Talmud, of childless men from judging capital cases on the ground that they are “devoid of paternal tenderness,” and Judge Julian Mack’s vision of the early 20th century juvenile court judge as a “wise and merciful father.” In both narratives
judges are asked to have the capacity for empathy, which is believed to spark compassion, which in turn is predicted to manifest in mercy. In neither narrative, however, is this empathic arc seen as critical for judging in the ordinary case. A contemporary study showing the jurisprudential impact of fathering daughters represents a modern iteration of the judge-as-caring-parent meme.


Were the principles of Islamic law recognized by ḏimmī courts? Were the boundaries between Muslim... more Were the principles of Islamic law recognized by ḏimmī courts? Were the boundaries between Muslim and ḏimmī courts permeable, or did ḏimmī leaders try to solidify their power over their communities by controlling ḏimmī access to Muslim courts? To what extent did the pressures of litigants' forum-shopping affect the decisions of ḏimmī courts? The Judeo-Arabic documents of the Cairo Geniza are an invaluable source for the study of legal history in medieval Egypt. The Geniza contains a plethora of court records -which occasionally allude to "Arabic documents" admitted into the Jewish court. What role did these documents play in the decisions of the Jewish court? In this paper, I survey the court records of the Geniza in order to explore legal pluralism in the Fāṭimid and Ayyūbid periods, revealing the court to have been a focal point of ḏimmī-Muslim relations in the 10th-13th centuries. As the longunderstood legal pluralism of the Fāṭimid period gave way to Ayyūbid support of Šāfiʿī jurists in the late 12th century, I will show Jewish courts which long recognized documents composed in Muslim courts and which even composed their own documents in a manner that might have allowed them to be read into evidence in Muslim courts to have attempted to limit ḏimmī use of Muslim courts and to arrogate to themselves alone the power to adjudicate matters of interest to the Jewish community. I bring evidence of forum-shopping and legal pluralism between Muslim and ḏimmī courts, and I trace the waxing and waning of this pluralism against the historical trajectory of the medieval period in Egypt, giving particular attention to the court of Abraham Maimonides, which (I will argue) responded to an environment of decreasing legal pluralism by arrogating to itself sole power to deal with certain legal issues. This response is particularly manifest in a resurgence of documents written in Hebrew instead of Judeo-Arabic.

It is the consensus of scholars that Jewish merchants in the medieval Islamic world structured th... more It is the consensus of scholars that Jewish merchants in the medieval Islamic world structured their economic relationships according to the norms of a broad, "Islamic" marketplace. Legal agreements found in the Cairo Geniza show that, on the contrary, these merchants adhered to the norms of Jewish law. I discuss the implications of this finding for the study of Jewish and Islamic social, economic, and legal history, for which the Geniza documents are an important direct witness.

In summarizing rabbinic views from the Ottoman period of a womans role as a marital partner, Minn... more In summarizing rabbinic views from the Ottoman period of a womans role as a marital partner, Minna Rozen writes that " [m]arriage was a social institution meant to ensure the continuation of the world, in the sense of the family line and the Jewish people. The role of the woman in that arrangement was to complete the man, helping him live a life of purity and keeping him away from sin." 1 Both male-centeredness and female subordination are suggested by this vision; in this vein, Ruth Lamdan explains that "[d]omineering women were considered a scourge." 2 On the other hand, social reality may have diverged from the rabbinic ideal: an unsigned and undated responsum in manuscript from the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary found within a collection of responsa from the Ottoman period reveals a powerful, even domineering, role for the women of a wealthy family in negotiating the choice of a marital partner for the male scion of the family. While Margaret Meriwethers analysis of the upper classes of the Islamic community in Aleppo in the later Ottoman period points out that "… the role of women in critical decisions about marriage was crucial. It was through womens networks that information about marriageable girls was available", 3 the unsigned responsum reveals a man deliberately circumventing that network, as well as the reaction of the women of his family as they emerge in force to overturn his actions. As expected, the responsum alludes to the importance of the womens role in information-gathering. However, the responsum also suggests an active role for these women in the decision-making process itself, as

Drugs in the Medieval Mediterranean, 2023

Do magical recipes work? I begin with a story. A number of years ago I gave a graduate seminar in... more Do magical recipes work? I begin with a story. A number of years ago I gave a graduate seminar in Islamic law at New York University. One of my students was earning her master's degree part time and worked the rest of the time as an editor for Glamour magazine, a publication whose articles provide advice in the areas of fashion and beauty. I proposed to her that I write an article for Glamour on magical recipes from the Cairo Genizah. Magic focuses on harnessing superhuman powers and transcending the laws of nature for one's own ends; since Glamour was devoted to harnessing extraordinary powers to find one's 'soulmate', I thought the perpetual nature of the magazine's concerns would be of interest to its readers. Gideon Bohak, scholar of ancient Jewish magic, identifies a number of domains in which Jewish magic has sought to intervene across the millennia-'to heal the sick, harm the healthy, make a woman love a man, make a newly wed man impotent or release him from such impotence, and perform other real changes in the world around them' 1and some of these very areas are regularly the subject of articles in Glamour. So I thought the magazine might like an article on medieval magical recipes for doing the same. Ultimately the editors at Glamour did not like my suggestion, perhaps because in the article I wished to focus on what happens when 'magical' remedies do not work. Magazines whose advertisers sell products designed to help 'make a woman love a man' or the reverse probably do not even want to consider the possibility that such products might not work. However, just because a product is ineffective in a particular instance does not mean that it 'does not work'. Humans and their relationships are extremely complex, and as the saying goes, 'your mileage may vary'.

Levant, Cradle of Abrahamic Religions, 2022

Precis of my book The Fate of the Jews in the Early Islamic Near East.

Judaism: Die Religionen der Menschheit, 2020

Surveys the daily life of the Jews of the medieval Islamic world from roughly the rise of Islam t... more Surveys the daily life of the Jews of the medieval Islamic world from roughly the rise of Islam to the turn of the millennium.

Judaism and the Economy, 2018

A Jew's Best Friend? The Image of the Dog throughout Jewish History, 2013

A Jew's Best Friend: The Image of the Dog throughout Jewish History, 2013

A History of Jewish-Muslim Relations : From the Origins to the Present Day, 2013

Despite many differences in detail, Judaism and Islam have much in common in their reliance on la... more Despite many differences in detail, Judaism and Islam have much in common in their reliance on law as an organizing framework. Both legal systems turn to canonical textual sources (both scriptural and nonscriptural), as well as the interpretation of these texts, for the foundations of practice. Questions of legal method animated much early debate within each tradition; in Islamic law, distinctive legal schools persist to this day, which maintain such debate. Over time, narrative codes emerged in each tradition that established communal norms; these codes negotiated and at times vindicated local customary practice. As Judaism and Islam encountered modernity, both legal systems were transformed by both progressive and reactionary reform movements.

The nineteenth-century Karaite chronicle The Story of Our Master Joseph, a midrashic retelling of... more The nineteenth-century Karaite chronicle The Story of Our Master Joseph, a midrashic retelling of the Biblical and Qurʾānic story of Joseph, 1 recounts the narratives from the Bible and Qurʾān and then adds an important wrinkle: cast by his brothers into a pit, Joseph is discovered by a travelling merchant who lets a pail down into the pit to draw water. 2 The brothers appear and agree to sell Joseph to the merchant for a trivial price. 3 Here the midrashic retelling expands on scripture: the merchant hesitates, expressing reservations with the transaction and saying,

Journal for the Study of Judaism, 2023

Review of Shana Strauch Schick's Intention in Talmudic Law

Medieval Encounters, 2021

This is a review of Hassan Khalilieh's Islamic Law of the sea

Journal of the American Oriental Society, 2020

Dans les chapitres suivants, qui constituent le troisième axe de cette démonstration, Warscheid s... more Dans les chapitres suivants, qui constituent le troisième axe de cette démonstration, Warscheid se pose la question à la fois de ce que fait le juge face aux cas devant lui (tranche-t-il selon les règles du fiqh ? Est-ce un simple médiateur social ?) et de ce que font les justiciables avec cette instance, construisant ainsi eux mêmes et dans l'interaction, une culture de fiqh largement diffusée. Dans une belle reconstitution d'un procès, il montre comment le juge applique et suit les règles de la procédure et finit par trancher entre les parties par une sentence décisoire. Si les solidarités lignagères se déploient, elles le font dans le cadre des normes tracées par ce droit, où les acteurs font preuve d'une maitrise plus ou moins avancée. L'écrit est largement répandu et utilisé dans les prétoires (en dépit de ses limites probatoires), donnant là aussi la preuve d'un travail profond d'appropriation. Beau chapitre donc où l'auteur laisse tomber cette vraie-fausse question-le juge juge-t-il ? est-ce un simple médiateur et notaire ?-qui dénote d'un anachronisme évident. Dans les sociétés d'ancien régime, la différence entre juger, certifier, décider, gérer les affaires publiques etc. (débattues par les juristes) ne sont pas aussi tranchées et le terme ḥukm (décision) est un terme générique qui recouvre à la fois ce que font au quotidien les autorités politiques ou judiciaires et n'empêche pas la distinction entre ces différents actes (voir par ex. L. ], notamment 226 et ss).

Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:

Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 2011

Mark's emphasis on the Suffering Servant theme and the cost of discipleship. L. contends that "Mo... more Mark's emphasis on the Suffering Servant theme and the cost of discipleship. L. contends that "Moses propaganda" (pp. 52 and elsewhere) lies at the heart of the transfiguration narrative, and this contention brings him to read 2 Corinthians 3 as an antecedent of the Marcan transfiguration story, extending the work of Joseph Fitzmyer and others on the midrashic elements in the passage, which connect the transformations of Moses and Christ. L.'s comparative reading of Paul and Mark on the transfiguration, though not entirely novel, is one of the book's strengths. Lee next examines how Matthew and Luke modify Mark's transfiguration story in order to explore their own ecclesiological, christological, and apologetic concerns, all of which signal ultimate interest in the condition of believers now and in the future. This examination then becomes a bridge to the subsequent development of the Peter tradition in 2 Peter, the Apocalypse of Peter, and the Acts of Peter. The study of these second-century texts in light of the Marcan and Pauline accounts of the transfiguration contributes significantly to understanding the dynamics involved in the growth of the Christian tradition and the emergence of noncanonical texts. For example, L.

Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 2011

Islamic Law and Society, 2009

Journal of The Economic and Social History of The Orient, 2009

Encyclopaedia of Islam 3, 2015

Banks-institutions whose primary concern was dealing in money-were not found in the mediaeval Isl... more Banks-institutions whose primary concern was dealing in money-were not found in the mediaeval Islamicate world, according to the economic historian Abraham L.

Muhammad in History, Thought and Culture, 2014

Encyclopaedia of Jews in the Islamic World, 2010

Encyclopaedia of Jews in the Islamic World, 2015

Cambridge Dictionary of Judaism, 2010

This podcast, hosted by Dr. Ari Barbalat, features *The Fate of the Jews in the Early Islamic Nea... more This podcast, hosted by Dr. Ari Barbalat, features *The Fate of the Jews in the Early Islamic Near East*

In this article, I discuss Passover celebrations in the White House and what these celebrations c... more In this article, I discuss Passover celebrations in the White House and what these celebrations can tell us about the relationship of the American Jewish community to the executive.

In this talk, I discuss Maimonides' approach to the law of war.

In this talk, I discuss Passover celebrations in the White House and what it can tell us about th... more In this talk, I discuss Passover celebrations in the White House and what it can tell us about the relationship between the executive and the American Jewish community.

Jewish Drinking Program, 2023

In this talk, on the Jewish Drinking Show, I discuss the production and consumption of wine and o... more In this talk, on the Jewish Drinking Show, I discuss the production and consumption of wine and other beverages in the Geonic period in Iraq.

myjewishlearning.com, 2023

Here's an introduction to Maimonides' life and the Guide to the Perplexed, part of a series at my... more Here's an introduction to Maimonides' life and the Guide to the Perplexed, part of a series at myjewishlearning.com

TheTorah.Com, 2021

The Torah’s prohibition against loaning money with interest addresses a culture of subsistence fa... more The Torah’s prohibition against loaning money with interest addresses a culture of subsistence farmers. Later Jews devised halakhic loopholes to enable them to make use of credit instruments such as the suftaja and to participate in market economies.

Call for papers for joint conference of the Jewish Law Association and Concordia University (Mont... more Call for papers for joint conference of the Jewish Law Association and Concordia University (Montreal) on the topic of Judaism and Gender, to be held Oct 30, 2019