Aaron ben Elijah

Aaron ben Elijah, the Latter (אהרון בן אליהו האחרון; born 1328 or 1329 – 1369) is often considered to be the most prominent Karaite theologian. The Karaites were a branch of Judaism that rejected the so-called "Oral Law" promulgated by mainstream rabbis through the Talmud, insisting that only those laws specifically found in the Hebrew Bible itself are God-given.

Aaron did much to restore the intellectual confidence of the Karaite community, which had been declining as a result of the work of rabbinical sages such as Saadia Gaon and Maimonides. His most significant writing was Gan Eden ("The Garden of Eden"), considered the most comprehensive explication of Karaite philosophy, which has remained immensely influential among the Karaites throughout their history.

Aaron is referred to as "the Latter" of "the Younger" to distinguish him from another Aaron ben Elijah, also a theologian from Constantinople, which then the center of Karaite learning at the time. He is sometimes distinguished from the elder Aaron Ben Elijah by the title "of Nicomedia," his birthplace. (CHECK)

Background

While little is known about his personal life, Aaron ben Elijah is considered by Karaites to be the equivalent of his contemporary, Maimonides, the most distinguished Jewish scholar of the time, who was an outspoken critic of the Karaites. Aaron made saw Maimonides as his rival and devoted much energy to defending the Karaites from his attacks. To achieve this, Aaron studied the extensive religious literature of both rabbinical Judaism and Islam, as well as that of the Karaites themselves.

The result of his studies was Etz HaChayyim (Tree of Life; 1346), a philosophical work modeled after Maimonides' Guide to the Perplexed. One of the chief criticisms of the work is that it imitates Maimonides' Guide far too slavishly in terms of both structure and style. In 1354, while living in Constantinople, Aaron composed his second major work, Gan Eden (The Garden of Eden), about the commandments of the Bible and an attempt to defend the Karaite legal code. In 1362 he wrote Keter Torah (Crown of the Torah), a comprehensive commentary on the Pentateuch using a literal interpretation of the writings.

Aaron maintained great esteem for Maimonides even when opposing him. Nevertheless, he was a versatile compiler and and eclectic, if not always original, philosopher. He succeeded in restoring a degree of intellectual prestige to the Karaite community, which had been in decline since it the time of the great Talmudic philosopher and rhetorician Saadia Gaon. Indeed, some of Aaron's critiques of the Maimonidean worldview placed the Talmudists on the defensive for the first time in centuries.

Aaron's Philosophy

Like Maimonides and other Jewish philosophers active in the Islamic world, Aaron was heavily influenced by the works of Aristotle. Unlike Maimonides, however, Aaron accepted the Muslim Motazilite philosophical system of the Kalam, combining atomism with Aristotelean views to reconcile revelation with reason. In this, he differed not only from Maimonides but also from Aaron Ben Elijah the Elder, who sided with Maimonides in this debate. According to the younger Aaron, in the first chapters of Etz HaChayyim, the theology of the Kalam is the natural religion arrived at by Abraham through meditation and systematized by the Mosaic Law. Meanwhile, Greek philosophy, adopted by Christianity because of its hostility to Judaism, is a heterogeneous foreign product, harmful to the development of the Torah. Aaron declares that the object of his work is to restore the theology of the Kalam by presenting it in a clear manner.

Etz HaChayyim

The book Etz HaChayyim consists of 114 chapters:

• Chapters 1-15 discuss the doctrine of God's existence, God's incorporeality, and the creation of the world. Like Maimonides in his Guide, Aaron considers the heavenly spheres to be governed by separate intelligences, or angels. By showing that his conclusions are nothing more than logical deductions, Aaron argues that the ideas he expresses precede his own work, which he declares to be nothing more than the confirmation of established truths.
• Chapters 16-62 discuss biblical anthropomorphism, explaining it as the figurative expression of Divine energy and activity. In these chapters, he often cites Maimonides verbatim, but claims that Maimonides himself was simply following an even earlier work, Ha-Eshkol, by Judah Hadassi. Aaron follows Maimonides' example in stating that Ezekiel's theophany of the Divine Chariot, like the descriptions of the Tabernacle and its symbolism, has a physical meaning.
• Chapters 63-77 discuss the unity of God. Here Aaron opposes the approach of both Maimonides and Hadassi, who adopt the "via negativa," and hold that only God's negative attributes (God is not...) can be truly expressed in human terms in ways that honor God's unity. According to Aaron, power, knowledge, life, will, and existence are all positive attributes inseparable from the very essence of God and in no way infringing upon His unity. This leads him to an explanation of the usual names of God denoting God's activity, as distinguished from the Tetragrammaton itself, which denotes the essence of God as the author of all existence.
• Chapters 78-94 discuss the concept of Divine Providence. Special emphasis is placed on the fourfold nature of evil: physical, psychical, moral, and non-moral. This was a favorite topic of older Karaite philosophers such as Joseph al-Bazir (as well as Jewish sages such as Maimonides himself), that evil is only a defect inherent in matter, and therefore not to be ascribed to God, unless God makes it the means of man's moral improvement. While Maimonides assumes that God's providence extends only to rational human beings, Aaron extends Divine providence to all beings, since God's universal knowledge embraces all. Whereas Maimonides sees Divine action as guided by God's wisdom, according to Aaron, it is guided by God's justice.

Accentuating the superiority of moral over intellectual power, Aaron takes a higher view of the question of why the righteous suffer than either Maimonides or some of his own Karaite predecessors. He rejects the concept of temurah, or compensation for grief, postulating instead that all trials imposed on people are for their spiritual benefit (citing Abraham and Job as examples of this). Humanity, he says, is incapable of comprehending the purpose of Creation, being limited to conceiving of its own role in the world as God's servant.

• Chapters 95-114 discuss revelation, the Divine Law of the Torah, the perfection of the soul, and its immortality. The two trees in the Garden of Eden are seen as metaphors for the higher and the lower spheres of human existence. After the Fall, the commandments of the Torah become necessary means of restoring humanity to its true, twofold nature. This leads to a discussion of the nature of prophecy in general and its highest degree, as attained by Moses. Aaron explains the objectives of the Torah and its commandments as means of achieving the perfection of both the individual and of humanity as a whole.

According to an ancient tradition of both Karaite and Rabbinic Jews and cited by Aaron, the Torah was intended for and offered to all nations. It can never be changed or improved. Nor (in contrast to Rabbinic Judaism) augmented by an Oral Law. Essentially different from the attitude of Maimonides and other Aristotelian thinkers is Aaron's attitude toward immortality, which he bases chiefly upon moral grounds, citing the idea of that without life after death, God's justice would be compromised, as the righteous would not be rewarded, nor would sinners be punished. He concludes his work with a call to repentance.

Gan Eden

Gan Eden manuscript on paper, dating around the fourteenth or fifteenth century.

Aaron's work on the Commandments, entitled Gan Eden, consists of 25 sections and 194 chapters, as well as nine smaller juridical articles, which became of paramount importance to the Karaites. He follows a rational approach to the commandments, similar to the one espoused by Maimonides. He opens with the principle that instilling the belief in God's unity and His government of the world is the ultimate purpose of every commandment. It is thus the duty of humanity to seek the underlying objective of each commandment. For example, the goal of the Sabbath is inculcating a belief in the Divine creation and guidance of the world. Other festivals are intended to counteract the influences of paganism and fatalism.

In its entirety, Gan Eden is consider by many to be the best and most comprehensive exposition of the Karaite system of the law of the Torah, presenting the opinions of all Aaron's predecessors with impartial and frank criticism. It is mainly because of this work that Aaron wields such a great influence upon the Karaites to this day.

Keter Torah

This is a commentary on the Torah, styled after Abraham Ibn Ezra's earlier work. Like all of Aaron's earlier writings, it also contains a review of the philosophical and exegetical interpretations given by his predecessors, with critiques of their views where necessary. Particularly interesting is his "Preface," in which he states the main differences between the approach to biblical exegesis of Rabbinic and Karaite Judaism.

Editions of Aaron's works

Despite its influence, the full text Gan Eden exists in manuscript only, in Leiden and Leipzig. Portions of the latter have been published by Schuparth, Trigland, Danz, and Lanzhausen.The 'Etz ha-Ḥayyim, of which many manuscripts exist in Leiden, Munich, Vienna, and Leipzig, was first published, with a large commentary (Or ha-Ḥayyim) by Luzki, in Koslov, 1835. A critical edition, with valuable information and a summary of the one hundred and fourteen chapters in Hebrew by Caleb Afendopulo, and one in German by the editor, Franz Delitzsch, appeared in Leipzig, 1841. Of the Keter Torah there is extant a Eupatoria edition (1866), besides manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, in Vienna, and in Leipzig.

Notes

• Abraham ben Elijah the Younger, of Nicomedia. Jewish Encyclopedia. Funk and Wagnalls, 1901-1906, which contains the following bibliography:
• This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Astren, Fred. Karaite Judaism and Historical Understanding. Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press, 2004. ISBN 9781570035180
• Lichaa, Shawn, Nehemia Gordon, and Meir Rekhavi. As It Is Written: A Brief Case for Karaism. Bakersfield, Calif.: Hilkiyah Press, 2006. ISBN 9780976263715
• Polliack, Meira. Karaite Judaism: A Guide to Its History and Literary Sources. Handbuch der Orientalistik, 73. Leiden: Brill, 2003. ISBN 9789004122512
• Schur, Nathan. History of the Karaites. Beiträge zur Erforschung des Alten Testaments und des antiken Judentums, Bd. 29. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1992. ISBN 9783631444351

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