Reorienting the East : Jewish Travelers to the Medieval Muslim World.

Cover -- Half-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Maps -- A Note on Translations and Transliterations -- List of Abbreviations -- Introduction -- Methodological Considerations -- Postcolonial Middle Ages? -- The Jewishness of Jewish Travel Writing -- Book Outline -- Part I: Travels and Travel Narratives -- Chapter 1. Medieval Jewish Travelers and Their Writings -- Itineraries, Reference Books, and Lists of Holy Places -- Letters, Epistolary Travel Accounts, and Travel Diaries -- Imaginary Travel -- Travel Poems -- A Final Note on the Language -- Chapter 2. Travel Motivations: Pilgrimage and Trade -- Travel and Trade -- Pilgrimage -- Chapter 3. Levantine Journeys: Choices and Challenges -- Travel Routes and Transport Services -- Perils and Privations of Travel -- Illness -- Border Hopping -- Immigration and Customs Procedures -- Guides and Guards -- "Jewish" Travel -- Part II: Territory and Place -- Chapter 4. Facing a Gentile Land of Israel -- Non-JewishJerusalem: A Desolate City -- A Jewish Crusader City -- Dome of the Rock: An Islamic Shrine Brimming with Jewish Memories -- Mount Zion: Who Owns King David? -- Subterranean Hebron: Religious Access Rights -- Chapter 5. Medieval Mingling at Holy Tombs -- Sacred Shrines in Palestine -- Changing Rhetoric -- Sacred Shrines in Iraq and Iran -- Chapter 6. Marvels of Muslim Metropolises -- Baghdad as a Caliphal Capital -- Baghdad as a Jewish Capital -- Damascus -- Alexandria -- Part III: Encountering the Other -- Chapter 7. Ishmaelites and Edomites: Muslims and Christians -- Muslims: Benevolent Rulers or Uncivilized "Orientals"? -- Christians: Idolaters or Countrymen? -- Chapter 8. Near Eastern Jews: Brothers or Strangers? -- The Status of Jews Under Muslim Rule -- Jewish-Muslim Encounters -- Levantine Jews: The Otherness of the Self -- Chapter 9. Karaites, Samaritans, and Lost Tribes.

Legends of Independent Jewish Tribes -- Chapter 10. Assassins, Blacks, and Veiled Women -- "Assassins" -- Druze -- Infidel Turks -- Black Africans -- The Male Gaze: Women and Gender -- Conclusion -- Chronology of Travelers and Works -- Glossary -- Notes -- Selected Bibliography -- Index -- Acknowledgments.

The first comprehensive investigation of premodern Jewish travel writing about the Islamic world, Reorienting the East examines Hebrew and Judeo-Arabic travel accounts from the mid-twelfth to the early sixteenth centuries that subvert, or reorient a decidedly Christian vision of the region and reflect changing Jewish self-perceptions.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.