Aaron of Jerusalem, also known as Abū al-Faraj Hārūn ibn al-Faraj (

Judeo-Arabic Judeo-Arabic (; ; ) sometimes referred as Sharh, are a group of different ethnolects within the branches of the Arabic language used by jewish communities. Although Jewish use of Arabic, which predates Islam, has been in some ways distinct ...

), was a Karaite Jewish scholar of the eleventh century who resided in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

Grammarian

Little was known of Aaron until

Adolf Neubauer Adolf Neubauer (11 March 1831 – 6 April 1907) was a Hungarian-born at the Bodleian Library and reader (academic rank), reader in Rabbinic Hebrew at Oxford University. Biography He was born in Bittse (Nagybiccse), Upper Hungary (now Bytča ...

discovered, among the manuscript collection of Abraham Firkovich in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, important fragments in Arabic of the ''Mushtamil'' "The Comprehensive", a Hebrew grammar consisting of eight books. Bacher, while studying these fragments, succeeded in rediscovering the unknown grammarian. Samuel Abraham Poznański published some valuable specimens of Aaron's work; and, following a suggestion of Abraham Harkavy, he threw new light on the author and some other works of his: namely, the ''Kitab al-Kafi'', a commentary on the

Torah 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 () ...

, often quoted by Karaite writers, and a lexicographical work bearing the title ''Sharḥ al-Alfaẓ'', a part of which is extant in the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

. He was acknowledged by the Rabbanites as one of the principal representatives of Karaitic learning and as a great authority on grammar and

exegesis Exegesis ( ; from the Ancient Greek, Greek , from , "to lead out") is a critical explanation or interpretation (philosophy), interpretation of a text. The term is traditionally applied to the interpretation of Bible, Biblical works. In modern us ...

. He is quoted by

Abraham ibn Ezra Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra (, often abbreviated as ; ''Ibrāhim al-Mājid ibn Ezra''; also known as Abenezra or simply ibn Ezra, 1089 / 1092 – 27 January 1164 / 23 January 1167)''Jewish Encyclopedia''online; '' Chambers Biographical Dictionar ...

in the preface to his ''Moznayim'' as "the sage of Jerusalem, not known to me by name, who wrote eight books on grammar, as precious as sapphire." Moses ibn Ezra refers to him as "the sage of Jerusalem who wrote the ''Mushtamil'', and also quotes him as "Sheik Abu al-Faraj of Jerusalem, who is no adherent of our religious community." Judah ibn Balaam likewise mentions "the grammarian of the Holy City"; and

Jonah ibn Janah Jonah ibn Janah () or Abū al-Walīd Marwān ibn Janāḥ (), (), was a Jewish rabbi, physician and Hebrew grammarian active in al-Andalus (Muslim-ruled Spain). Born in Córdoba, ibn Janah was mentored there by Isaac ibn Gikatilla and Isaac ibn ...

in his ''Riqmah'' relates that Jacob de Leon brought him from Jerusalem "the copy of a book by an author who lived there, but whose name he refrains from mentioning," because, as Bacher surmises, he was a Karaite. Abu al-Faraj occasionally cites from the Hebrew-Arabic dictionary compiled by David ben Abraham al-Fasi.

References

* Fürst, Gesch. d. Karäert. i. 99, 100; * Bacher, in Rev. Ét. Juives, xxx. 232-256; * Poznanski, ibid., 1896, xxxiii. 24-39, 197-218; * Pinsker, Liḳḳuṭe Ḳadmoniot, pp. 109 et seq. * Khan, Geoffrey, The Tiberian Pronunciation Tradition of Biblical Hebrew, Volume II, Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, doi:10.11647/OBP.0194, 2020 https://books.openbookpublishers.com/10.11647/obp.0194.pdf

External links

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{{authority control Karaite rabbis 11th-century rabbis in Jerusalem Scientists from Jerusalem Medieval Hebraists Jewish grammarians Linguists of Hebrew Grammarians of Hebrew