CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

KARAITE EXEGETICAL AND HALAKHIC LITERATURE IN BYZANTIUM AND TURKEY*

Daniel Frank

Jewish law derives its authority from the Torah, but in rabbinic Judaism, Scripture early lost its direct legislative force. The revela­ tion at Sinai provides the Law's basic principle or norm, but the actual sources of rabbinic halakhah are tradition, interpretation, leg­ islation, custom, incident, and legal reasoning. Originally, many laws were derived exegetically from Scripture, a process known as midrash halakhah. Biblical verses were cited either to create new legislation or to integrate existing practices within the framework of Jewish Law. But the development of an extensive literature and ultimately, the codification of the precluded the need for biblical interpre­ tation in a legal context. As Menachem Elon has put it: "[I]n halakhic literature after the completion of the Talmud, and especially after the middle of the geonic period, neither creative nor integrative bib­ lical exegesis was employed to any significant extent."1 As a source for non-legal thought and expression, on the other hand, the Bible has remained preeminent-the foundation for rabbinic homiletics, ethics, mysticism and speculative writing. In Karaite Judaism, by contrast, the Bible functions not only as the basic legal norm but also as the primary legal source, alongside reason, consensus, and tradition. Consequently, Karaite halakhic works are exegetical, if not in form, then in content. Legal positions are always grounded in Scripture, and dissenting views scrutinized as to their exegetical validity. Conversely, Bible commentaries regu­ larly contain extended discussions of halakhic issues, especially at those loci which may serve as a basis for legislation. There are also important legal and exegetical aspects to Karaite speculative writing.

* I should like to thank Professor Daniel J. Lasker for his helpful comments and suggestions. 1 Elon, Jewish Law, I, pp. 228-239, 283-290, 391. For the citation, see p. 399. 530 DANIEL FRANK

The Karaites, like the Muslim Mutazilites, insist that a rationally grounded theology is necessary for the proper observance of the Law.2 Theological tracts and creeds, therefore, facilitate the fulfillment of the commandments. Karaite theological treatises also address cer­ tain exegetical issues, such as the Account of Creation and biblical anthropomorphisms, which are apparendy at odds with their reli­ gious philosophy. Predictably, Bible commentaries also include numer­ ous philosophical explanations and digressions on subjects such as divine knowledge and justice. The present chapter surveys Karaite exegetical and legal writing in Byzantium and Turkey during the eleventh-sixteenth centuries. During this period, the Judea-Arabic scholarship of Karaism's Golden Age was successfully transplanted, translated, and ultimately trans­ formed to meet the changing needs of northern and western com­ munities. Over the next three centuries, sectarians in Europe, Turkey, and the Crimea would continue to produce new works; for the most part, these were grounded in the sources discussed below, which con­ stitute a Karaite library of Hebrew classics. 3

I. 77ze Formative Period (II th-I2th Centuries)

Born and nurtured in the Islamic East, the Karaite movement reached the lands of Christendom by the first decades of the eleventh century. 4 In this formative period, the Byzantine community was heavily influenced by the teachings of the Mourners for Zion and their acad­ emy in . The first important scholar produced by the Byzantine Karaite community was Tobiah ben Moses, who studied in Jerusalem during the second quarter of the eleventh century. A

2 See Sklare, "Yusuf al-Ba~fr", pp. 252-255. 3 For a different perspective on some of the material examined in this essay see further -+ Lasker, Byzantine Karaite Thought. For a detailed discussion of aspects of Karaite halakhah in the formative period -+ Schlanger, Legal Documents; Family Law. For an overview of Karaite exegesis with special attention to the earlier peri­ ods, see Frank, "Karaite exegesis"; Frank, Search Scripture Well; -+ Polliack, Exegesis. For a survey of recent scholarship see Frank, "The study". 4 The earliest evidence for a Karaite setdement in Asia Minor-Attaleia on the southern coast-is a Genizah document published by Cowley, "Bodleian Geniza"; see the discussion in Mann, The in Egypt, I, pp. 88-90 and Ankori, Karaites in Byzantium, pp. 46-49. Both Ankori, ibid., p. 167 and Sharf, Byzantine Jewry, pp. 111-112 suggest that the persecutions of the Fatimid Caliph al-J:Iakim (996-1 021) encouraged the migration of Jews from Islamic lands to Byzantium.