Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- A Note on Translations and Transliterations -- List of Abbreviations -- Introduction -- Chapter 1. Medieval Jewish Travelers and Their Writings -- Chapter 2. Travel Motivations: Pilgrimage and Trade -- Chapter 3. Levantine Journeys: Choices and Challenges -- Chapter 4. Facing a Gentile Land of Israel -- Chapter 5. Medieval Mingling at Holy Tombs -- Chapter 6. Marvels of Muslim Metropolises -- Chapter 7. Ishmaelites and Edomites: Muslims and Christians -- Chapter 8. Near Eastern Jews: Brothers or Strangers? -- Chapter 9. Karaites, Samaritans, and Lost Tribes -- Chapter 10. Assassins, Blacks, and Veiled Women -- Conclusion -- Chronology of Travelers and Works -- Glossary -- Notes -- Selected Bibliography -- Index -- Acknowledgments
Summary
The first comprehensive investigation of premodern Jewish travel writing about the Islamic world, Reorienting the East examines Hebrew and Judeo-Arabic travel accounts from the mid-twelfth to the early sixteenth centuries that subvert, or reorient a decidedly Christian vision of the region and reflect changing Jewish self-perceptions
