ESHKOL HA-KOFER: LEHA-RAV ... YEHUDAH HADASI BEN ... ELIHU HADASI ... HOVER BE-SHANAT ARBA'AT ELEFAYIM VE-TESHA MA'OT VE-TESHA SHENIM LE-BERIYAH KE-MOVA BE-ELEFA BE-YETA 33 ME-ZEH HA-SEFER VE-TA'ARIKH RUMI MI-SHNAT ELEF U-ME'AH VE-ARBA'IM U-SHEMONAH SHANIM; 'IM MOREH MAKOM HA-NIKRA NAHAL ESHKOL
Gozleve [Gozeleve, Yevpatoriya, Ukraine], Printing Press of Merchant Mordechai Tirishken, son of Yitzchak HaZaken Kefli, 1836. Item #41374
, 1836 Hardback1st edition. 19th Century quarter-leather and boards, 4to (large), [2] 155 leaves, 33 cm. “Explaining the commandments… written in the Torah… as far as the human intellect is capable of comprehending…” Treatise regarding the tenets of the Karaite faith, arranged according to the Ten Commandments and in alphabetical order, written in poetic Hebrew. Lays out the the fundamentals of the Karaite faith and includes a harsh attack against rabbinic Judaism and its rabbis.Yehudah Hadassi, son of Eliyahu Hadassi, nicknamed "Ha-Avel," lived in Constantinople in the 12th century. This is his primary work. "This work was printed at Eupatoria (1836), with an introduction by Caleb Afendopolo entitled 'Nahal Eshkol.' Alphabets 99-100 and part of 98 were excluded from this edition by the censor, but have been published by Bacher in 'J. Q. R.' (viii. 431 et seq.). Hadassi mentions a previously written work of his entitled 'Sefer Teren bi-Teren,' a collection of homonyms which, he says, was an addition to the eighty pairs of Ben Asher (alphabets 163, 168, 173). There exists also a fragment which Firkovich (Cat. No. 619, St. Petersburg) entitled 'Sefer ha-Yalkut' and attributed to Hadassi, while Pinsker regarded it as an extract from Tobiah's 'Sefer ha-Mizwot.' P. F. Frankl, however, agreed with Firkovich in regarding it as a part of the 'Eshkol ha-Kofer,' which Hadassi had previously written in prose. In the Karaite Siddur there are four piyyutim by Hadassi" (Kaufmann Kolher & M. Seligsohn in EJ). A number of Karaite works were printed in Gozleve and they are all rare. A damaged copy sold at auction in 2015 for $900 with commissions. SUBJECT(S): Karaites. Karaitic literature. Ten commandments. OCLC: 37960603. Library marks on spine and blank endpapers, stamps on reverse of title page, otherwise clean. Generous wide margins. Early 19th Century paper has held up very well, a very nice copy, better than usually found. About Very Good Condition. (RAB-66-22-BFL-'x).
Price: $600.00