Jewish Diversity in Medieval Jewish Babylonia: Beyond Rabbanites and Karaites

A virtual event presentation by Eliyahu Freedman

About the Event: 

In this session, we will discover the plurality of Jewish groups that lived in Babylonia during the 8th to 10th centuries. Meet important personalities such as Anan Ben David, Mīshawayh al-ʿUkbarī, Saadya Gaon, and Jacob al-Qirqisani. Independent scholar Eliyahu Freeman, gets to the heart of the main issues that concerned Medieval Jews, leading to heated disagreement and conflict between them.

About the Speaker: 

Eliyahu Freedman is an independent scholar and former Ph.D. student at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He studied Judeo-Arabic and is currently a freelance correspondent for Al Jazeera English and the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, he has lived in Jaffa, Israel for four years since making Aliyah. While not working on research or writing research, Eliyahu is an avid practitioner of mindfulness meditation and enjoys playing guitar and watching the sunset at the beach.