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R. Isaac Troki (c. 1533–c. 1594), Karaite scholar was born in Troki. Troki's learning earned him the respect and deference of his fellow Karaites, and his knowledge of Latin and Polish enabled him to hold conversations on theological subjects with Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Orthodox clergymen, as well as with Socinian and other sectarian adherents. The result of these discussions was his famous apology of Judaism entitled Hizzuk Emunah. Troki himself did not live to complete the work and his pupil Joseph b. Mordecai Malinovski (Troki) supplied it with preface and index.
Troki's reasoned defense of Judaism and his penetrating examination of the vulnerable points of Christian tradition and dogma caused his work to achieve immediate popularity. The work was widely distributed among Rabbanites and translated to several languages. A manuscript copy, apparently amended by a Rabbanite copyist, fell into the hands of Johann Christoph Wagenseil, who published it with a Latin translation and an extensive refutation in his Tela ignea Satanae ("The Fiery Darts of Satan"; Altdorf, 1681). The Latin version made Troki's work accessible to wider Christian circles, and some of his arguments were later taken over by the 18th-century anticlerical writers; Voltaire mentions the Hizzuk Emunah as a masterpiece of its kind. Troki would probably have been dismayed at this notoriety; he no doubt intended to have his work circulate among Jewish scholars only. |
