[Andalusi Studies] 1. When did the Hebrew bible first come to al-Andalus?

[Ryan Wesley Szpiech]

Sounds like a trick question. 

Certainly the Torah came to al-Andalus before it was al-Andalus. We know that there were Jews in Iberia around the council of Elvira (4th century) and there is solid archeological evidence to support Jewish presence that that time (http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/news/hebrew-inscription-provides-oldest-archaeological-evidence-of-jews-in-iberia/)
and there may be a few headstones to prove earlier presence. We can guess that there were already Jews throughout the Roman Mediterranean. And one can assume that where there were Jews, there were copies of the Sefer Torah scroll, or set of five scrolls, in Hebrew. So certainly fourth century, possibly first century, but the oldest surviving copies of Iberian scrolls or Masoretic codices are much later.
But do you mean the oldest Hebrew Bible in Arabic? I think tenth century, as old as the translation itself. See Ronny Vollandt's writing on this.

cheers,
Ryan
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Ryan Szpiech
Editor, Medieval Encounters
Associate Professor, Romance Languages & Judaic Studies
University of Michigan
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On Apr 10, 2014, at 3:00 PM, andalusi_studies-request at lists.uoregon.edu wrote:

>   1. When did the Hebrew bible first come to	al-Andalus?

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