Title: 'The Secret Light': Islamic Influence on Jewish Spirituality.
Venue: Marian Oppenheim Hall, Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation, 4 Salisbury Road, Edinburgh.
Time: 8pm.
Event Description: The three Abrahamic religions are all unique but at the same time organically interrelated. In one sense, Christianity grew out of Judaism, and Islam drew on both Christian and Jewish inspiration. Perhaps less well known is the extent to which Judaism was influenced by its contact with Islamic culture and thought. Arab developments in areas such as law, grammar, scriptural interpretation and poetry had a profound influence on Jewish scholars and writers from the tenth century onwards, and led to some of the glories of mediaeval Jewish culture. This talk will focus on the equally important Islamic influence on Jewish philosophy and mysticism. Muslim rationalistic philosophers such as Alfarabi and Avicenna both transmitted and reshaped the ideas of classical Greece in a way that permanently altered the character of Jewish, and later Christian thought, and the most famous Jewish philosopher, Maimonides, openly acknowledged his intellectual debt to his Muslim predecessors. At the same time, the pattern of Sufi devotion left an elusive but indelible mark on Jewish ethical and mystical writings, which this talk will explore.

Rabbi Mark L Solomon is minister at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in St John’s Wood, London, and foster-rabbi of Edinburgh’s Liberal Jewish community. He was born and educated in Australia and ordained as an Orthodox Rabbi at Jews’ College in London. He subsequently joined Liberal Judaism and is a lecturer in Talmud and Jewish philosophy at Leo Baeck College, London. He gained an MA with a study of the Jewish philosopher Crescas and is working on a PhD in Talmud. He is deeply involved in interfaith dialogue through joint Biblical and Koranic study and as co-chair of the London Society of Jews and Christians.
Cost: £3/£2 (Concessions).
Contact: Steve Engleman, steve.engleman@blueyonder.co.uk, 0131 447 0911.