This volume consists of a critical edition, English translation, and extensive introductory discussion of the Judaeo-Arabic commentaries on Ruth and Esther from the exegetical digest (Kitāb al-bayān) of Tanḥum ben Joseph ha-Yerushalmi (d. 1291 CE), the last known exegete of the “rationalistic” school who wrote in Judaeo-Arabic. Although past scholarship has tended to regard Tanḥum's exegetical contribution as little more than that of a compiler-abridger, our own assessment, as explored in the introduction, is that his role was in fact much more significant. Not only does he display the critical acumen and intellectual independence of a true exegete in his own right, but he also appears to have assimilated—and hence (like Abraham ibn Ezra) mediated into the continuum of Rabbanite exegesis—certain elements of Karaite exegesis, most notably, as developed by the tenth-century Karaite littérateur Yefet ben ‘Eli, the role of the mudawwin in the composition and

TANHUMS COMMENTARY ON RUTH 131 ) לגם שיל תשלו לה ( 2: 16 . The form is an infinitive from the category of geminate roots i. e., from שלל , analogous to the form סיב ( Deut. 2: 3), from the root סבב , and גיל ( Ps. 22: 9, etc.), from the root 93 . גלל As to תשלו this a future form, with the doubling due to the assimilation of the geminate letter, just as in ישמו ( Ps. 40: 16) and יסבו ( Job 16: 13), and the sense of the clause being, You shall gently remove94 and pull out some of what is collected and let it fall95 for her that she might not become embarrassed. It is also said, however, that שיל תשלו here shares the same root as שלו in ךי יאמר שלו , which shall say anything heedless ( Dan. 3: 29), the senseof our verse therefore being, Take no heedof her and leave her to gleaneven from the sheaves and do not reproach her or embarrass her. 596 To be sure, this sense fits quite well except for the fact that the 93 These latter two forms ( i. e., סיב and גיל ) if indeed citations are imperatives and not infinitives, though this hardly affects the efficacyof Tanhums analogy concerning geminate derivation. 94 You shall gently remove Ar. tasullu, which rendering of ת^ זילו bVi by the Arabic cognate root sll is also adopted by Ibn Quraysh, Risala, p. 305 ( § 421): סל תסלו להא ; aiFasi, jamf, 11, p. 671.20211 תשלו Vft של נעליך סל נעליך. ומתלה לה (^ VvrViff [ Exod. 3: 5] means gently remove your sandals, and like it is שיל P1V iVtftn) ; Yefet, Ruth, p. xxix( tarjama): / jlLjiL ; ibid., p. xxx ( comment): g^ j JjIi U^ uj 2LjLJl jLacVl Ji . y jjAj וגם של תשלו לה מן הצבתים . tljjj UyAxjj UjL j q\\ ^ j^ l jLacVI jjj ( y* Ig^ jjj ( By the statement ת^ ילו לה bft מןהצבתים Boaz is referring to the stacked sheaves ( ofbarley) and any ears that may be protruding from them, which ( ears) he thus orders them to gently remove and give to her) ; and Harun, Kitab, p. 695 ( § 11.10.5). 95 and let it fall Ar. watatrahii, representing, as part of this paraphrastic expansion, the action immediately consequent to that properly denoted by V87 iVtftn. Saadia, on the other hand, appears to define the expression/ verbal root itself in the sense of letting fall/ drop, seeing that he renders it by the single lexeme tudallu ( synonymous with tatrahu). In this latter vein see also Tg. Ruth: מיתר תתירון ( Let [ some] fail) ;and Leq. job, p. 29: , וגם של תשלו לה מן הצבתים וגם שיל תשילו לה) כלומר הפילו לה מן הצבתים שבידכם כדי שתמצ ללקט i. e., Let some portionofthe bundles in your hands drop down in order that she might find something to glean). 96 Immediately following this in the MS is the second partof the verse (... ועזבתם בה ), which we have omitted so as to avoid tautology in our translation. On this construal of 1V87FI bVi in the sense of take no heed or forget ( aghfalu) cf.