Contact Us

Department Chair:
Dr. Joseph Witztum
ywitztum@gmail.com

B.A. Advisor:
Dr. Daniel Behar
daniel.behar@mail.huji.ac.il

M.A. Advisor:
Dr. Iyas Nasser
iyas.nasser@mail.huji.ac.il

Department Secretary:
Sara Parnassa
sarap@savion.huji.ac.il
Room 4507, Humanities Building
Tel.: 02-5883965

Table of Contents

Research

Six Early Arab Poets: New Edition and Concordance

Pre-Islamic Arabic poetry is one of the greatest cultural achievements of the Arabs in the early period of their history. For several centuries it was considered the only model of poetic perfection. It is the earliest literary corpus in classical Arabic and a major part of Arab cultural heritage.

Work on the Concordance started a few years after the Hebrew University was established in 1925. More than 2,000,000 cards were prepared before the project was computerized in the eighties. The project was completed under the direction of Prof. (emeritus) Albert Arazi, who was aided by Dr. Salman Masalha. Read more about the Concordance here

Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam

Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam (JSAI) is a world-renowned venue for the publication of first-rate studies of Arabic and Islamic language and literature. The publication was founded by Prof. Meir J. Kister, and has been under the directorship of Prof. Yohanan Friedmann since 1991.

The Max Schloessinger Memorial Foundation was established in 1972 from the bequest of Prof. Max Schloessinger (1877-1944), Vice-Chancellor of the Hebrew University, and his wife, Dr. Miriam Schaar Schloessinger (1880-1972), to facilitate the publication of Arabic texts as well as studies devoted to Islam, Arabic language and literature, and Middle Eastern history. The Foundation publishes the annual Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam (JSAI) as well as the Max Schloessinger Memorial Series: First Editions of Classical Arabic TextsMonographs in Islamic History and Civilization and Collected Studies in Arabic and Islam. Read more about JSAI here

Al-Jabarti: Marvelous Chronicles: Biographies and Events

ʿAbd al-Raḥman al-Jabartī (1753–1825) is the most important historian of late Ottoman Egypt. His Marvelous Chronicles: Biographies and Events (ʿAjāʾib al-Āthār fī ʼl-Tarājim wa-ʼl-Akhbār) covers the history of Egypt from 1688 to 1821, a period which includes Napoleon’s invasion and the French occupation of the country (1798–1801). The historical narrative is combined with numerous biographies, and throughout the entire work the author demonstrates his wide knowledge of both Islamic learning (al-ʿulūm al-naqliyya) and of the new secular sciences (al-ʿulūm al-ʿaqliyya). 

The present edition, prepared by Shmuel Moreh of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is the first to offer a critical text. It is based on the autograph manuscript preserved in the Cambridge University Library. Moreh collated the autograph with the MSS of al-Jabartī’s two short histories of the French occupation of Egypt, Muddat al-Faransīs bi-Miṣr and Maẓhar al-taqdīs bi-dhahāb dawlat al-Faransīs. He also collated it with a number of other manuscripts of the ʿAjāʾib, paying particular attention to the MSS which had been copied under al-Jabartī’s own supervision. Read more about the edition here

Hebrew in Algeria from 1750 to 1962

Prof. Ofra Tirosh-Becker’s research project, funded by the Israel Science Foundation. Read More (PDF)

Linguistic Analysis of Algerian Judeo-Arabic Corpora Assisted by Machine Learning

Prof. Ofra Tirosh-Becker’s project, funded by the Israel Science Foundation. Read. In this project I develop New Methodologies for Judeo-Arabic:

  • Corpus linguistics - creating the TAJA and NAJA corpora for written Algerian Judeo-Arabic
  • Deep Learning - Developing Parts of Speech (POS) and Morphology taggers for written Algerian Judeo-Arabic using Natural Language Processing (NPL) algorithms (in collaboration with Dr. Yonatan Belinkov, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology).

Judeo-Arabic Biblical Exegesis in the Tenth Century

Prof. Miriam Goldstein’s research project, funded by the Israel Science Foundation. Read More

Christian-Arab Communities in Israel: Between Language, Culture and Religion

Prof. Ori Shachmon’s research project, funded by the Israel Science Foundation. Read More