Defining Neighbors. Religion, Race, and the Early Zionist-Arab Encounter - Jonathan Marc Gribetz

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It was permitted earlier for each Israelite [man] to take [the num-

ber of] wives permitted by the qurʾan to Muslims, until some

leaders [ayimma] put an end^111 to this. [But] not all of the na-

tion follows it [the restriction]. there are, even now, a number

of places where it is still permitted for any Israelite who wishes

to marry two, three, or four women. But what is meant by this

maxim [about wives and witchcraft] is clear and does not require

elucidation.^112

although we might be curious to know what Moyal intends in this
final line (is it “clear” to Moyal that polygyny leads to witchcraft
or is it simply “clear” that hillel thought so?), our concern here is
rather with the first part of this passage. Moyal plainly identifies
and equates the Jewish laws concerning polygyny with those of the
qurʾan’s limit of four wives.^113 It must be noted that Moyal somewhat
overstates the similarity. the talmud does record “sound advice”
that recommends that men limit the number of their wives to four,^114
but other rabbinic opinions permit as many wives as a man can afford
to sustain.^115 Moyal’s exaggeration of the correspondence between
Islam and Judaism in this regard, I would argue, is another aspect of
the apologetic nature of at- Talmūd. In his attempt to make Judaism
feel more familiar and less threatening to his non- Jewish readers, in
this case Muslims, Moyal not only describes Judaism in Islamic terms
but even simplifies (or distorts) his presentation to conform to his
argument of similarity.

the challenge of two target audiences

as a work of religious apologetics, Moyal’s at- Talmūd is particularly
intriguing in that, in a single text, it simultaneously addresses both
Christians and Muslims. thus far we have analyzed aspects of the text
that appear to be concerned with only one or the other of the reli-
gious traditions. In addition, there are instances in which Moyal re-
fers to both religions at once, highlighting the commonalities shared

(^111) the word ḥadd could also mean “restriction [of number].” either sense of the word
provides the same basic meaning here.
(^112) Mūyāl, at- Talmūd, 104.
(^113) qurʾan 4:3 reads: “if you fear that you cannot treat orphans with fairness, then
you may marry other women who seem good to you: two, three, or four of them.” For
ʿabduh’s and rida’s approach to polygyny, see Gätje, The Qurʾān and Its Exegesis, 248– 61.
(^114) b. Yevamot 44a records that “sound advice was given: only four [wives] but no
more, so that each may receive one marital visit a month.”
(^115) See b. Yevamot 65a.