Abraham Kirimi (; born 1358 in

Solhat Staryi Krym (; ; ; in all four languages) is a small historical city and former bishopric in Kirovske (Isliam-Terek) Raion of Crimea, Ukraine. It has been occupied by Russia since 2014 (see Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation). It ...

) was a 14th-century

Crimean Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrai ...

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

Biography

According to Firkovich ("''C. I. H.''" No. 50), Kirimi was a

proselyte The biblical term "proselyte" is an anglicization of , as used in the Septuagint for "stranger", i.e. a "newcomer to Israel"; a "sojourner in the land", and in the Novum Testamentum Graece for a first-century convert to Judaism. It is a transla ...

and a

student A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution, or more generally, a person who takes a special interest in a subject. In the United Kingdom and most The Commonwealth, commonwealth countries, a "student" attends ...

of Aaron ben Joseph the Karaite. He derived his name from his native town of Qırım or Solhat (today's

Stary Krym Staryi Krym (; ; ; in all four languages) is a small historical city and former bishopric in Kirovske (Isliam-Terek) Raion of Crimea, Ukraine. It has been occupied by Russia since 2014 (see Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation). It ...

), in Crimea. Kirimi was the author of ''Sefat Emet'' (not to be confused with the book of the same name by Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter (1847-1905) of Gora Kalwaria,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

), a commentary on the

Pentateuch The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () o ...

, in which he tries to refute the interpretations of the Karaites when they are in contradiction to those of the Rabbinites. Kirimi says in the preface that he wrote the work at the request of many notable Jews and especially of his Karaite pupil Hezekiah b. Elhanan ha-Nasi, whom he held in high esteem. A part of the

preface __NOTOC__ A preface () or proem () is an introduction to a book or other literature, literary work written by the work's author. An introductory essay written by a different person is a ''foreword'' and precedes an author's preface. The preface o ...

is in verse, the last two lines of which may be translated:

Moritz Steinschneider Moritz Steinschneider (; 30 March 1816 – 24 January 1907) was a Moravian bibliographer and Orientalist, and an important figure in Jewish studies and Jewish history. He is credited as having invented the term ''antisemitism.'' Education Mo ...

and

Samuel Joseph Fuenn Samuel Joseph Fuenn (; 15 October 1818 – 11 January 1891), also known as Rashi Fuenn () and Rashif (), was a Lithuanian Hebrew writer, scholar, printer, and editor. He was a leading figure of the eastern European Haskalah, and an early member of ...

consider this date to be that of the composition of the work; but it seems rather to be that of the author's birth.

Bibliography of the Jewish Encyclopedia

* 15th-century converts to Judaism Karaite rabbis Medieval Crimea 1358 births 15th-century deaths Crimean Karaites {{Europe-rabbi-stub