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A Delightful Compendium of Consolation: A Fabulous Tale of Romance, Adventure and Faith in the Medieval Mediterranean
Karimah, a charming, headstrong Jewish teenager in 11th Century Egypt, follows her heart to live a life of adventure; as a brigand targeting desert caravans and as a pirate on the high seas. Rabbi Nissim, writing from North Africa, comforts Karimah's father with tales from classical rabbinic literature. The book is presented as a series of ?found? Cairo Genizah (old book depository) documents. Writing home to her brother, Karimah quotes not only from traditional Jewish texts, but also from the Arabian Nights. Although unpredictable, Karimah is nevertheless guided by her own steadfast ideas of honor and tradition. A DELIGHTFUL COMPENDIUM OF CONSOLATION is historically accurate. With this book, Rabbi Visotzky, professor of midrash, proves to be not only a master teacher, but a master storyteller, as well.
328 pages, Paperback
First published March 15, 2008
23 people want to read
About the author
Burton L. Visotzky
18 books18 followersRABBI BURTON L. VISOTZKY serves as Appleman Professor of Midrash and Interreligious Studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he joined the faculty upon his ordination as rabbi in 1977. Visotzky was a dean of the Graduate School and founding Rabbi of the egalitarian worship service of the Seminary Synagogue. He now serves as the Louis Stein Director of the Finkelstein Institute for Religious and Social Studies at JTS, charged with programs on public policy. Visotzky also directs the Milstein Center for Interreligious Dialogue at JTS.
Prof. Visotzky has been visiting faculty at Oxford; Cambridge; and Princeton Universities; the Russian State University of the Humanities in Moscow; and served as the Master Visiting Professor of Jewish Studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome (where he met Pope Benedict in 2007). He recently served as Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome, where he met Pope Francis.
Prof. Visotzky's writing is published in America, Europe, and Israel. He is the author of ten books and over one-hundred-twenty articles and reviews. His eleventh book, APHRODITE AND THE RABBIS: How the Jews adapted Roman Culture to create Judaism as we know it, will be published in September, 2016.
Rabbi Visotzky participates in interreligious engagement internationally, in capitals as diverse as Washington; Warsaw; Rome; Cairo; Doha, Qatar; Madrid; Muskat, Oman and most recently Marrakech, Morocco. He was the winner of the 2012 Goldziher Prize, awarded biennially by Merrimack College for work in Jewish-Muslim relations. Visotzky is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Professor Visotzky is active as a lecturer and scholar-in-residence throughout North America, Europe, and Israel. He has been featured on radio, television, and in print. Rabbi Burt Visotzky has been named to "The Forward 50" and repeatedly to the Newsweek/Daily Beast list of "The 50 Most Influential Jews in America."
Prof. Visotzky has been visiting faculty at Oxford; Cambridge; and Princeton Universities; the Russian State University of the Humanities in Moscow; and served as the Master Visiting Professor of Jewish Studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome (where he met Pope Benedict in 2007). He recently served as Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome, where he met Pope Francis.
Prof. Visotzky's writing is published in America, Europe, and Israel. He is the author of ten books and over one-hundred-twenty articles and reviews. His eleventh book, APHRODITE AND THE RABBIS: How the Jews adapted Roman Culture to create Judaism as we know it, will be published in September, 2016.
Rabbi Visotzky participates in interreligious engagement internationally, in capitals as diverse as Washington; Warsaw; Rome; Cairo; Doha, Qatar; Madrid; Muskat, Oman and most recently Marrakech, Morocco. He was the winner of the 2012 Goldziher Prize, awarded biennially by Merrimack College for work in Jewish-Muslim relations. Visotzky is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Professor Visotzky is active as a lecturer and scholar-in-residence throughout North America, Europe, and Israel. He has been featured on radio, television, and in print. Rabbi Burt Visotzky has been named to "The Forward 50" and repeatedly to the Newsweek/Daily Beast list of "The 50 Most Influential Jews in America."
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 21, 2023
A fascinating and delightful epistolary tale of Karimah, an "obstinate, headstrong girl" who runs off from the Karaite community of Egypt and begins a life of adventure, romance, and swashbuckling (yes, there are pirates!)
The Karaites split into a separate branch of Judaism before the Common Era. This is the first novel I've read focusing on their communities and practices, and their interactions with Rabbinic Jewish communities, the type of Judaism now normative in most of the world. Karimah is cut off as "dead" by her father, but she continues to write secret letters to her younger brother.
Rabbi Visotzky has lovingly crafted a deeply researched story that brings alive the world of the Middle Ages in North Africa, Israel, and the Mediterranean coast. There's a nod to the Arabian Nights, and moments of laughter and sorrow interspersed throughout. A reader's guide in the back of the book explains the concepts, language and many of the historical characters woven through the fictional Karimah's story.
One word of caution--this is not a genre romance, and readers shouldn't pick it up expecting the conventions of romance novels. But what it is is the kind of historical fiction that makes one fall in love with far off lands, wonderful characters, and the intricacies of navigating life as a minority people victimized by both massacres and acts of daily prejudice. It is indeed, a "delightful compendium."
The Karaites split into a separate branch of Judaism before the Common Era. This is the first novel I've read focusing on their communities and practices, and their interactions with Rabbinic Jewish communities, the type of Judaism now normative in most of the world. Karimah is cut off as "dead" by her father, but she continues to write secret letters to her younger brother.
Rabbi Visotzky has lovingly crafted a deeply researched story that brings alive the world of the Middle Ages in North Africa, Israel, and the Mediterranean coast. There's a nod to the Arabian Nights, and moments of laughter and sorrow interspersed throughout. A reader's guide in the back of the book explains the concepts, language and many of the historical characters woven through the fictional Karimah's story.
One word of caution--this is not a genre romance, and readers shouldn't pick it up expecting the conventions of romance novels. But what it is is the kind of historical fiction that makes one fall in love with far off lands, wonderful characters, and the intricacies of navigating life as a minority people victimized by both massacres and acts of daily prejudice. It is indeed, a "delightful compendium."
April 30, 2008
Delightful indeed.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews