Meshovah niz∙ ah∙ at: Jewish- Christian Polemics in Kaf naki by Rabbi Khalifa Ben-Malka of Agadir

• Published in: Jewish social studies Vol. 29; no. 1; pp. 32 - 58
• Main Author: Ohana, Michal
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bloomington Indiana University Press 01.01.2024
• Subjects: 16th century; 17th century; 18th century; Christian Islamic relations; Christianity; Christians; Clergy; Debates; Early modern period; History of ideas; Jewish people; Judaism; Middle Ages; Scientific discoveries; Sermons; Theology; Writing; Morocco; Portugal
• ISSN: 0021-6704; 1527-2028
• DOI: 10.2979/jss.00002

The fifth part of Rabbi Khalifa Ben-Malka's Kaf naki (Clean Hand), Meshovah niẓaḥat (Triumphant Response) portrays a series of interreligious disputations that he conducted with Christian colleagues in Agadir during the first half of the eighteenth century. A study of Meshovah niẓaḥat reveals that, while these debates represent a direct continuation of medieval interreligious polemic, occasionally the traditional arguments took on a new garb-for example, those proofs relying on the era's geographic or scientific discoveries. Ben-Malka was well-versed in the intricacies of theological debate and was familiar with the most sophisticated tools the medieval polemical tradition had to offer, as well as with post-medieval Jewish anti-Christian literature. His writing opens a window onto eighteenth-century Jewish-Moroccan intellectual history while simultaneously raising a number of questions. Further study will be necessary to paint a fuller and more diverse picture.