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Only edition of this major Karaite work on Karaite law by the noted scholar, Aaron ben Elijah of Nicomedia. Gan Eden is the halakhic part of Aaron’s monumental trilogy of Karaite learning, which also includes Ez Ḥayyim (Tree of Life), dealing with philosophy of religion, composed in 1346 and Keter Torah (Crown of the Law), a commentary on the Pentateuch, written in 1362. Gan Eden (Garden of Eden), which deals with Karaite law, was composed in 1354. It is an explanation of the intent of the mitzvot in the Torah. This edition is based on several manuscripts and has been carefully edited. There is an introduction from the editor, Judah ben Isaac Sovitskan, who also brought the book to press. The trilogy displays fully his great learning in both Karaite and Rabbanite literature. Aaron quotes of course the Karaite authorities, notably the 10th and 11th centuries Jerusalem scholars (his access to their Arabic writings was probably through Hebrew translations and abridgements). But he frequently quotes also the Talmud, Saadia, Rashi, Abraham Ibn Ezra, David Kimhi, Maimonides, Nahmanides, the earlier grammarians Judah ibn Quraysh , Judah Ḥayyuj, Jonah ibn Janah, and others. His Hebrew style, though tinted with arabisms, is clear and fluent.
Aaron ben Elijah (1328?–1369) was Karaite scholar, philosopher, and jurist. He resided in Nicomedia (near present-day Izmir, in Turkish Asia Minor), and was called Aaron the Younger to distinguish him from Aaron ben Joseph, or Aaron the Elder, who lived a century earlier. Aaron died in an epidemic, apparently in Constantinople. Aaron wrote Eẓ Ḥayyim when he was 18 years old. This would place his birth in 1328, but it was probably earlier. As a jurist, Aaron followed mainly in the footsteps of his Karaite predecessors. He generally opposed any relaxation of the letter of scriptural law, even when it involved great exertion and hardship, except in cases of clear and evident danger to life. Yet on the other hand he accepted Jeshuah ben Judah 's reform of the Karaite law of incest, and rejected the excessive restrictions advocated by Karaite ascetics, such as the prohibition of eating meat in the Diaspora.
As a biblical commentator, Aaron followed the general Karaite policy of preferring the literal meaning of the biblical text, except where this meaning seemed to lead to conclusions that were blasphemous or illogical. However, this did not prevent him from indulging his philosophical bent by introducing allegorical and metaphorical interpretations where they seemed to him to be more suitable or advisable. His commentary on the Pentateuch has become the standard reference in all Karaite communities.
Aaron's Eẓ Ḥayyim was undoubtedly undertaken by him with the aim of creating a Karaite counterpart to Maimonides ' Guide of the Perplexed. Unlike Maimonides, Aaron did not venture to cut a new Aristotelian path for Karaite theological-philosophical thought. Instead, he remained attached to the Muʿtazilite philosophy which dominated his Karaite predecessors, as well as a number of pre-Maimonidean Rabbanite philosophers. Aaron is more orderly, clear, and logical than his Karaite forerunners, but he to a large extent rephrases what the latter had already said. Occasionally he avoids taking a definite stand on some points, and does not refrain from adopting some Aristotelian terminology and argumentation. Accordingly, and under the influence of Aaron b. Joseph, he attempted to forge some sort of reconciliation between traditional Karaite Kalamic positions, regarding it as his duty to stand by the tradition of his predecessors, and more Modern positions. Aaron also composed a number of poems and hymns, some of which were included in the official Karaite liturgy. Gan Eden was published in Eupatoria, 1864 and 1866; Ramle 1972. Eẓ Ḥayyim was edited by Franz Delitzsch (Leipzig, 1841), and was re-edited, with an extensive commentary, by the Karaite scholar Simḥah Isaac Lutzky (Eupatoria, 1847). Extracts from these two works, in English translation, are found in L. Nemoy (ed.), Karaite Anthology (New Haven, 1952), 172–95, and most chapters of the latter in two Ph.D. dissertations mentioned below; Keter Torah was published in 1867 in Eupatoria; Ramle 1972. |
