Prof. Shlomo Sela

Telephone

shelomo.sela@gmail.com

Office

Jacobovitz Bilding floor 4 room 401a

Fields of Interest

The reception of Greco-Arabic science by medieval Jewish society; Jewish attitudes toward the sciences in the Middle Ages; Jewish astrology and astronomy in the Middle Ages; Abraham Ibn Ezra’s scientific corpus, with special interest in his astrological and astronomical oeuvre; scientific ideas in Abraham Ibn Ezra’s and Gersonides’ biblical exegesis

Reception Hours

By Appointment

Education:

B.A. (History) Tel Aviv University, 1975.

M.A. (School of History, summa cum laude) Tel Aviv University, 1992.

Ph.D (School of History, summa cum laude) Tel Aviv University, 1998. Dissertation Title: Scientific Data in the Exegetical-theological Work of Abraham Ibn Ezra - Historical Time and Geographical Space Conception (Hebrew).

History of Academic Appointments:

1998-2009: Department of Bible, Bar-Ilan University, Senior Lecturer.

2003-2011: Department of Jewish Philosophy, Bar-Ilan University, Senior Lecturer.

2011-2012: Department of Jewish Philosophy, Bar-Ilan University, Associate Professor.

2012-present: Department of Jewish Thought, Bar-Ilan University, Full Professor.

Areas of Competence:

Jewish Medieval Science; Jewish Medieval Astrology; Abraham Ibn Ezra’s scientific, philosophical and exegetical work; Computerized applications for academic research in Humanities.

Scholarships

Skirball Fellowship in the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, 2004–2005.

Mairie de Paris/DDEEES, Bureau de la recherche et du soutien universitaire, Scholarship : September-October, 2011.

University Paris Diderot Paris 7, unit SPHERE (CNRS/Univ. Paris 7), Professeur invité: February 2013.

Institut d’études avancées de Paris, February–July 2016

Editorial Boards:

Aleph, Historical Studies in Science & Judaism, Jerusalem.

Sefarad, Revista de Estudios Hebraicos, Sefardíes y de Oriente Próximo, Madrid.

Estudios Bíblicos, Hebraicos y Judios, Colección del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid.

Mahshavot, A Series for Studies in Jewish Thought: Bar-Ilan University Press.

Cooperation on Research Projects Abroad

On-Line Vocabulary of Premodern Philosophico-Scientific Hebrew Terminology (Vppsht), directed by Gad Freudenthal (CNRS, Paris), Resianne Fontaine (University of Amsterdam), Giuseppe Veltri (University of Halle-Wittenberg).

Grupo de Investigación “Cultura Judía Medieval,” directed by Mariano Gomez Aranda (Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales del CSIC, Madrid).

Publications

Books as author

Abraham Ibn Ezra’s Introductions to Astrology, A Parallel Hebrew-English Critical Edition of the Book of the Beginning of Wisdom and the Book of the Judgments of the Zodiacal Signs, ed., trans., and annot. Shlomo Sela (Leiden: Brill, forthcoming)

Abraham Ibn Ezra on Nativities and Continuous Horoscopy, A Parallel Hebrew English Critical Edition of the Book of Nativities and the Book of Revolution, Edited, Translated and Annotated, by Shlomo Sela (Leiden-Boston: Brill Academic Publishers, 2013).

Abraham Ibn Ezra on Elections, Interrogations and Medical Astrology, A Parallel Hebrew English Critical Edition of the Book of Elections (3 Versions), the Book of Interrogations (3 versions) and the Book of the Luminaries, Edited, Translated and Annotated, by Shlomo Sela (Leiden-Boston: Brill Academic Publishers, 2011).

Abraham Ibn Ezra: The Book of the World, A Parallel Hebrew-English Critical Edition of the Two Versions of the Text, Edited, translated, and annotated by Shlomo Sela (Leiden-Boston: Brill Academic Publishers, 2010).

Abraham Ibn Ezra: The Book of Reasons, A Parallel Hebrew-English Critical Edition of the Two Versions of the Text, Edited, translated, and annotated by Shlomo Sela (Leiden-Boston: Brill Academic Publishers, 2007).

Abraham Ibn Ezra and the Rise of Medieval Hebrew Science (Leiden-Boston: Brill Academic Publishers, 2003).

Astrology and Biblical Exegesis in the Thought of Abraham Ibn Ezra (Hebrew) (Ramat Gan: Bar-Ilan University Press, 1999).

Articles

“Al-Farghānī on the 48 Ptolemaic Constellations: A Newly Discovered Text in Hebrew Translation,” Aleph 16.1 (2016): 249–365.

“O corpus científico de Abraão ibn Ezra”, in: Pereira, Rosalie Helena de Souza (Ed.). Na Senda Da Razão. Filosofia e Ciência no Medievo Judaico (São Paulo: Perspectiva, 2016), pp. 219-278, notes pp. 262-278.

“Nationality, Religious Belief, Geographical Identity, and Sociopolitical Awareness in Abraham Ibn Ezra's Astrological Thought,” in: Rebecca Futo Kennedy and Molly Jones-Lewis (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Identity and the Environment in the Classical and Medieval Worlds (London and New York: Routledge, 2016), 266–280.

“Biblical Stars in Medieval Jewish Thought (Tenth-Twelfth Centuries),” Journal of Jewish Studies 66.2 (2015): 317–340.

“Abraham Ibn Ezra’s Interpretation of Astrology according to the Two Versions of the Book of Reasons,” in: Ch. Burnett and D. Geenbaum, (eds.) From Masha’allah to Kepler: Theory and Practice of Astrology in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (Lampeter: Sophia Centre Press, 2015), 471.

“The Astrological-Astronomical Encyclopedia in MS Paris 1058,” 14(1) Aleph, (2014):189–241.

“Abraham Ibn Ezra.” Oxford Bibliographies in "Jewish Studies". Ed. David Viale. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com.

“A Newly Identified Essay on Anniversary Horoscopy Embedded in Abraham Bar Ḥiyya’s Astronomical Tables: Hebrew Edition, Translation and Commentary,” 13(1) Aleph, (2013): 27-76.

“Maimonides and MāshāÞallāh on the Ninth Orb of the Signs and Astrology,” 12(1) Aleph, (2012):101–134.

“Astrology in Medieval Jewish Thought” in: G. Freudenthal, (ed.) Science in Medieval Jewish Cultures, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), pp. 292–300.

“Abraham Ibn Ezra’s Astrological Corpus,” IV Iberia Judaica (2012): 151–169.

“La obra astrológica de Abraham ibn Ezra en dos códices castellanos,” (with A. Alba, C. Sainz de la Maza) Sefarad (2010): 375–398.

“A Fragment From an Unknown Redaction of Reshit Hokmah by Abraham Ibn Ezra,” Aleph 10.1 (2010): 43–66.

“Sefer ha-Tequfah: An Unknown Treatise on Anniversary Horoscopy by Abraham Ibn Ezra,” Aleph 9.2 (2009): 241–254.

“Two Hebrew Fragments from Unknown Redactions of Abraham Ibn Ezra’s Sefer ha-Mivharim and Sefer ha-She’elot,” (with Renate Smithuis) Aleph 9.2 (2009): 225–240.

“Dos textos astrológicos conservados en el comentario al Sefer Yesiráh de Yehudáh ben Barzilay al Bargeloni,” Sefarad 68 (2008): 2-34.

“The Creation of the Superlunary World According to a Comparative Study of Abraham Ibn Ezra’s Two Commentaries on Genesis 1:14 (Hebrew),” Bet Miqr’a 52.2 (2007): 130–163.

“Abraham Ibn Ezra’s Scholarly Writings: A Chronological Listing,” (with Gad Freudenthal), Aleph 6 (2006): 13–55.

“Abraham Bar Hiyya’s Astrological Work and Thought,” Jewish Studies Quarterly 12 (2005): 1-31.

“Queries on Astrology Sent from Southern France to Maimonides, Critical Edition of the Hebrew Text, Translation and Commentary,” Aleph 4 (2004): 89-190.

“Abraham Ibn Ezra’s Appropriation of Saturn,” Kabbalah 10 (2004): 21-53.

“Sociography of a Mediterranean Society, (Hebrew)” in: I. Shavit, (ed.) A Mediterranean Anthology, Tel Aviv, 2004, pp. 246–260.

“La creación del mundo supralunar según Abraham Ibn Ezra: un estudio comparativo de sus dos comentarios a Génesis,” Sefarad 63 (2003):147-182.

“Abraham Ibn Ezra’s Special Strategy in the Creation of a Hebrew Scientific Terminology,” Micrologus, Nature, Sciences and Medieval Societies 9 (2001): 65-87.

“Abraham Ibn Ezra’s Astrological-Cosmological Exegesis, (Hebrew)” Da’at 17 (2001): 5–34.

“Abraham Ibn Ezra Special Approach to the Creation of a Hebrew Scientific Terminology, (Hebrew)” Zemanim 73 (2001): 10–18.

“Abraham Ibn Ezra's Scientific Corpus - Basic Constituents and General Characterization,” Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 10 (2001): 91-149.

“The Fuzzy Borders between Astronomy and Astrology as Reflected in the Thought and Work of Three Twelfth-Century Jewish Intellectuals,” Aleph 1 (2001): 59-100.

“Encyclopedic Aspects of Abraham Ibn Ezra’s Scientific Corpus,” in S. Harvey (ed.), The Medieval Hebrew Encyclopedias of Science and Philosophy (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000), pp. 154-170.

“Abraham Ibn Ezra and the Linguistic Metamorphosis of the term Mishpeṭei ha-Mazzalot, (Hebrew)”, in: Studies in Bible and Exegesis, Presented to U. Simon, 5, 2000, pp. 271–294.

“El papel de Abraham Ibn Ezra en la divulgación de los ‘juicios’ de la astrología en la lengua hebrea y latina,” Sefarad 59 (1999): 159-194.

“Abraham Ibn Ezra and the Book on the Reasons Behind Astronomical Tables in its Latin and Hebrew Versions, (Hebrew)” Asufot 11 (1998): 9–50.

“Puntos de contacto entre contenidos del Libro de las Tablas astronómicas en su versión latina y las obras literarias hebreas de Abraham Ibn Ezra,” Miscelanea de Estudios Arabes y Hebraicos 46 (1997): 37-56.

“Contactos científicos entre judíos y cristianos en el siglo XII: El caso del Libro de las Tablas astronómicas de Abraham Ibn Ezra en su versión latina y hebrea,” Miscelanea de Estudios Arabes y Hebraicos 45 (1996): 185‑222.

Accepted for Publication

“Abraham Ibn Ezra’s Role in the Creation and Diffusion of the Trutina Hermetis,” in C. Dopfel and A. Focati (eds.) Pregnancy and Childbirth from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance, Brepols forthcoming.

“Gersonides’ Astrology and Abraham Ibn Ezra,” Aleph, forthcoming.

Articles in Encyclopedias

“Hebrew Science in Medieval Ages,” in: Houari Touati (ed.) Encyclopedia of Mediterranean Humanism: http://www.encyclopedie-humanisme.com/?Hebrew-Science-in-Medieval-Ages

“Astronomical-astrological Terminology in Medieval Texts,” in: Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics, Leiden – Boston: Brill, 2013, pp. 226–228.

“Abraham Bar Hiyya” in: Judith R. Baskin, (ed.) Judaism & Jewish Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), p. 2.

“Astrology” in: Judith R. Baskin, (ed.) Judaism & Jewish Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 2011, pp. 44–45.

"Abraham Ibn Ezra” in: Thomas F. Glick, (ed.) Medieval Science, Technology and Medicine: An Encyclopedia (Routledge Encyclopedias of the Middle Ages) (New York: Routledge, 2005), pp. 247–250.

“Abraham Bar Hiyya” in: Thomas F. Glick, (ed.) Medieval Science, Technology and Medicine: An Encyclopedia (Routledge Encyclopedias of the Middle Ages) (New York: Routledge), 2005, pp. 2–4.

Last Updated Date : 22/12/2022