The Rabbi and the Sheikh: A Tale of an Inter-Faith Quest and a Human Relationship in 18th Century Damascus

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Professor Zvi Zohar

An amazing account, published in 1842 by a leading Sephardic rabbi of Jerusalem, paints a fascinating picture of a personal, intellectual and spiritual relationship between rabbi Moshe Galante (chief rabbi of Damascus in the late 18th century) and a contemporary Muslim Sufi Sheikh. The course of that relationship, culminating in a joint mystic-spiritual journey, provides insights relevant to Muslim-Jewish religious encounter and dialogue then – and now. We will read the original text (in Prof. Zohar’s English translation) and discuss its implications.

Zvi Zohar is a senior research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute. He is the Chauncey Stillman Professor of Sephardic Law and Ethics at Bar-Ilan University, where he teaches in the Faculties of Law and Jewish Studies and is editor in chief of the international Journal of Law, Religion and State. At Shalom Hartman Institute, he heads the Alan and Loraine Fischer Family Center for Halakha.

Professor Zohar’s main area of research is the history and development of halakha from the earliest times to present. He has a special interest in the halakhic writings of Sephardic and Mizrahi rabbis in modern times. Professor Zohar has published more than 100 books and scholarly articles in Hebrew, English, French, and German.

His most recent book in English, Rabbinic Creativity in the Modern Middle East, was published in 2013 by the Hartman Institute’s Kogod Library of Judaic Studies in conjunction with Bloomington Academic Press.

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