Jeshua ben Judah
Encyclopedia
Jeshua ben Judah was a Karaite scholar, exegete
and philosopher, who lived in eleventh-century Iraq
(or Persia, according to some sources) or at Jerusalem.
He was pupil of Joseph ben Abraham
ha-Ro'eh. Jeshua was considered one of the highest authorities among the Karaites, by whom he is called "the great teacher" ("al-mu'allim").
Like all the Karaite leaders, he was a very active propagandist
; and his public lectures on Karaism attracted many inquirers. Among these was a Castilian
Rabbi
nite named al-Taras, who, after having accepted the Karaite teachings, returned to his native country, where he organized a powerful propaganda by circulating Jeshua's writings. The greatest service, however, rendered by Jeshua to Karaism was his accomplishment of the reform of the laws concerning incest
, a reform which had been advocated by his teacher.
As Biblical
Jeshua's activity in the domain of Bible exegesis was very extensive. He translated the Pentateuch into Arabic, and wrote thereon an exhaustive commentary, of which he made, in 1054, an abridged version. In this commentary, Jeshua made use of all the exegetical works of his Karaite predecessors and of that of Saadia Gaon
, often attacking the latter most vigorously. Several passages of Jeshua's commentary are quoted by Abraham ibn Ezra
. Fragments of the Pentateuch translation and of the exhaustive commentary on a part of Leviticus
, with almost the whole of the abridged version, are extant in manuscript in the British Museum
(MSS. Or. 2491; 2494, ii; 2544-46). Both commentaries were early translated into Hebrew
; and parts of them are in the Firkovich collection
at St. Petersburg. Jeshua wrote two other Biblical works, an Arabic commentary on the Decalogue
(which he reproduced in an abridged form); and a philosophical midrash entitled "Bereshit Rabbah," in which he discusses, in the spirit of the Mutazilite
"kalam," creation, the existence and unity of God
, the divine attributes, etc. A fragment of a Hebrew translation of the abridged commentary on the Decalogue, made by Tobiah ben Moses under the title "Pitron 'Aseret ha-Debarim," is still extant in manuscript ("Cat. Leyden," Nos. 5 and 41, 2). The "Bereshit Rabbah" is no longer in existence; but passages from it are frequently quoted by Aaron of Nicomedia in his "'Etz Hayyim," and by Abraham ibn Daud
, who in his "Sefer ha-Qabbalah
" (end) calls it a blasphemous work.
and al-Qirqisani, on the subject, and produces the views of the Rabbinites Saadia and Simon Kahira (author of the "Halakot Gedolot"). Another treatise by Jeshua on the same subject was the "Teshubat ha-'Iḳḳar," published at Eupatoria
in 1834 under the title "Iggeret ha-Teshubah."
Jeshua was also the author of the following philosophical treatises, probably translated from the Arabic: "Marpe la-'Etzem," in twenty-five short chapters, containing proofs of the creation of the world, of the existence of God, and of His unity, omniscience
, and providence
(MS. Paris No. 670; MS. St. Petersburg No. 686); "Meshibot Nefesh," on revelation, prophecy, and the veracity of the Law; and three supplementary chapters to Joseph ben Abraham ha-Ro'eh's "Sefer Ne'imot" ("Cat. Leyden," No. 172), in which Jeshua treats of reward and punishment and of penitence. The Arabic original manuscript of the last of these three chapters is in the British Museum. It bears the title "Mas'alah Mufarridah," and the author shows therein that the repetition of a prohibition must necessarily have a bearing on the punishment in case of transgression.
Exegesis
Exegesis is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially a religious text. Traditionally the term was used primarily for exegesis of the Bible; however, in contemporary usage it has broadened to mean a critical explanation of any text, and the term "Biblical exegesis" is used...
and philosopher, who lived in eleventh-century Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
(or Persia, according to some sources) or at Jerusalem.
He was pupil of Joseph ben Abraham
Joseph ben Abraham
Joseph ben Abraham was a Karaite philosopher and theologian who flourished in Babylonia or Persia in the first half of the eleventh century. He was the teacher of, among others, Jeshua ben Judah...
ha-Ro'eh. Jeshua was considered one of the highest authorities among the Karaites, by whom he is called "the great teacher" ("al-mu'allim").
Like all the Karaite leaders, he was a very active propagandist
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
; and his public lectures on Karaism attracted many inquirers. Among these was a Castilian
Castile (historical region)
A former kingdom, Castile gradually merged with its neighbours to become the Crown of Castile and later the Kingdom of Spain when united with the Crown of Aragon and the Kingdom of Navarre...
Rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
nite named al-Taras, who, after having accepted the Karaite teachings, returned to his native country, where he organized a powerful propaganda by circulating Jeshua's writings. The greatest service, however, rendered by Jeshua to Karaism was his accomplishment of the reform of the laws concerning incest
Incest
Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...
, a reform which had been advocated by his teacher.
As BiblicalBibleThe Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
exegete
Jeshua's activity in the domain of Bible exegesis was very extensive. He translated the Pentateuch into Arabic, and wrote thereon an exhaustive commentary, of which he made, in 1054, an abridged version. In this commentary, Jeshua made use of all the exegetical works of his Karaite predecessors and of that of Saadia GaonSaadia Gaon
Saʻadiah ben Yosef Gaon was a prominent rabbi, Jewish philosopher, and exegete of the Geonic period.The first important rabbinic figure to write extensively in Arabic, he is considered the founder of Judeo-Arabic literature...
, often attacking the latter most vigorously. Several passages of Jeshua's commentary are quoted by Abraham ibn Ezra
Abraham ibn Ezra
Rabbi Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra was born at Tudela, Navarre in 1089, and died c. 1167, apparently in Calahorra....
. Fragments of the Pentateuch translation and of the exhaustive commentary on a part of Leviticus
Leviticus
The Book of Leviticus is the third book of the Hebrew Bible, and the third of five books of the Torah ....
, with almost the whole of the abridged version, are extant in manuscript in the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
(MSS. Or. 2491; 2494, ii; 2544-46). Both commentaries were early translated into Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
; and parts of them are in the Firkovich collection
Abraham Firkovich
Abraham ben Samuel Firkovich was a famous leader of the Qarays . He was born in Lutsk, Volhynia, then lived in Lithuania, and finally settled in Çufut Qale, Crimea. Firkovich was a communal leader and hakham...
at St. Petersburg. Jeshua wrote two other Biblical works, an Arabic commentary on the Decalogue
Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue , are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and most forms of Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the Sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry,...
(which he reproduced in an abridged form); and a philosophical midrash entitled "Bereshit Rabbah," in which he discusses, in the spirit of the Mutazilite
Mu'tazili
' is an Islamic school of speculative theology that flourished in the cities of Basra and Baghdad, both in present-day Iraq, during the 8th–10th centuries. The adherents of the Mu'tazili school are best known for their having asserted that, because of the perfect unity and eternal nature of God,...
"kalam," creation, the existence and unity of God
Monotheism
Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one and only one god. Monotheism is characteristic of the Baha'i Faith, Christianity, Druzism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Samaritanism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism.While they profess the existence of only one deity, monotheistic religions may still...
, the divine attributes, etc. A fragment of a Hebrew translation of the abridged commentary on the Decalogue, made by Tobiah ben Moses under the title "Pitron 'Aseret ha-Debarim," is still extant in manuscript ("Cat. Leyden," Nos. 5 and 41, 2). The "Bereshit Rabbah" is no longer in existence; but passages from it are frequently quoted by Aaron of Nicomedia in his "'Etz Hayyim," and by Abraham ibn Daud
Abraham ibn Daud
Abraham ibn Daud was a Spanish-Jewish astronomer, historian, and philosopher; born at Toledo, Spain about 1110; died, according to common report, a martyr about 1180. He is sometimes known by the abbreviation Rabad I or Ravad I. His mother belonged to a family famed for its learning...
, who in his "Sefer ha-Qabbalah
Sefer ha-Qabbalah
Sefer ha-Qabbalah was a book authored by Abraham ibn Daud around 1161. A chronicle of the Jewish people, it contains valuable historical and philosophical information...
" (end) calls it a blasphemous work.
Rules of Relationship
Jeshua was also the author of a work on the precepts, entitled "Sefer ha-Yashar," which has not been preserved. From it was probably extracted his treatise on the degrees of relationship within which marriage is forbidden, quoted by him under the title "Al-Jawabat wal-Masa'il fi al-'Arayot," and known in the Hebrew translation made by Jacob ben Simon under the title "Sefer ha-'Arayot." Fragments of both the Arabic text and the Hebrew translation still exist in manuscript, the former in the British Museum (H. Or. No. 2497, iii.), and the latter in the libraries of Leyden ("Cat. Leyden," Nos. 25, 1; 41, 16) and St. Petersburg (MS. No. 1614). In this treatise Jeshua discusses the hermeneutic rules which are to be used in the interpretation of these laws, gives a critical view of the principles upon which the various prohibitions are based, quotes Karaite authorities, such as Anan ben DavidAnan ben David
Anan Ben David is widely considered to be a major founder of the Karaite movement of Judaism. His followers were called Ananites and, like modern Karaites, do not believe the Rabbinic Jewish oral law to be divinely inspired...
and al-Qirqisani, on the subject, and produces the views of the Rabbinites Saadia and Simon Kahira (author of the "Halakot Gedolot"). Another treatise by Jeshua on the same subject was the "Teshubat ha-'Iḳḳar," published at Eupatoria
Eupatoria
Yevpatoria or Eupatoria is a city in Crimea, Ukraine.-History:The first recorded settlement in the area, called Kerkinitis , was built by Greek colonists around 500 BC...
in 1834 under the title "Iggeret ha-Teshubah."
Jeshua was also the author of the following philosophical treatises, probably translated from the Arabic: "Marpe la-'Etzem," in twenty-five short chapters, containing proofs of the creation of the world, of the existence of God, and of His unity, omniscience
Omniscience
Omniscience omniscient point-of-view in writing) is the capacity to know everything infinitely, or at least everything that can be known about a character including thoughts, feelings, life and the universe, etc. In Latin, omnis means "all" and sciens means "knowing"...
, and providence
Divine Providence
In Christian theology, divine providence, or simply providence, is God's activity in the world. " Providence" is also used as a title of God exercising His providence, and then the word are usually capitalized...
(MS. Paris No. 670; MS. St. Petersburg No. 686); "Meshibot Nefesh," on revelation, prophecy, and the veracity of the Law; and three supplementary chapters to Joseph ben Abraham ha-Ro'eh's "Sefer Ne'imot" ("Cat. Leyden," No. 172), in which Jeshua treats of reward and punishment and of penitence. The Arabic original manuscript of the last of these three chapters is in the British Museum. It bears the title "Mas'alah Mufarridah," and the author shows therein that the repetition of a prohibition must necessarily have a bearing on the punishment in case of transgression.
Resources
It contains the following bibliography:- Pinsker, Liḳḳuṭe Ḳadmoniyyot, p. 71 and Index;
- Fürst, Gesch. des Karäert. ii. 162 et seq.;
- Gottlober, Biḳkoret le-Toledot ha-Ḳera'im, p. 195;
- G. Margoliouth, in J. Q. R. xi. 187 et seq.;
- Steinschneider, Hebr. Uebers. pp. 459, 942;
- idem, Die Arabische Literatur der Juden, § 51;
- Schreiner, in Bericht der Lehranstalt, 1900;
- Neubauer, Aus der Petersburger Bibliothek, pp. 19 et seq.