Mr. Yair Zoran completed his B.A. degree (Biblical Studies; Arabic language and literature) and M.A. degree (Arabic language and literature) at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His M.A thesis (supervised by Dr. Miriam Goldstein) was on Yefet ben Eli’s translation and commentary on the book of Obadiah. His critical edition of the text appeared as an article in Ginzei Qedem.
Within the Biblia Arabica project Yair is engaged in preparing a critical edition of Yefet’s commentaries on the books of Ezra, Nehemiah and Chronicles (with the help of Prof. Meira Polliack). Being blind from early childhood Yair is assisted by Mr. Shammai Fishman, a colleague and Judeo-Arabist himself, who reads the manuscripts out loud to Yair. Upon hearing the texts, Yair types them into a computer, which is connected to a braille monitor and a Braille vocal program. These enable Yair to see the texts and to translate them into Hebrew.
Of late, Yair has published an article called “The Great Name and its Merits in Islam and their Parallels in Jewish Literature” (Hebrew) in Bein Ever le-Arav 9 edited by Prof. Joseph Yuval Tobi. This is only a first part of his research on this topic, the second part of which will hopefully appear in the next volume of the periodical. On the 22 May 2017 at 18:15 he will be lecturing at the Hebrew University’s Kister-Banet forum, in connection to his work on the Yefet editions.
