Afendopolo, Caleb Ben Elijah. [Asarab a'Amarot]

[Hebrew Text:]Ten Essays or Sermons: Asarah Ma'Amarot.

      Late 18th c? manuscript. 4to. 8 1/4 x 53/4". 205 x 145mm [text 150 x 85mm.] [4 modern notes], [2 original blank] ,173 leaves. Early 20th c. morocco, cross-hatch design on covers, some rubbing; occ. contemp. ink marginalia in Hebrew and some later pencil notes in French. Some minor soiling and smudging, some occ. minor repairs, colophon leaf with marginal reinforcement repairing paper loss at top corner (no text loss), else very good in a handsome hand. Circa 24 lines per page with catch-mark with wide margins on good thick watermarked paper; the hand is semi-cursive without vowel marks. T.p. in decorative surround in pen. Fair copy manuscript of a series of 10 sermons by Afendopolo (1464?-1525), a Karitite scholar. He was hakam the karaite congregtions in Constantinople and of Judah Bali. Afendopolo attained great proficiency in science... The Karaites are the sect of Jews who believe in the existence of a single written Torah (law), the Torah that was given by God to Moses in the year 2448 (=1313 B.C.E.) on Mount Sinai, after the exodus of Israel to freedom from the Egyptian bondage. (The Rabbabites believe in the addition of oral law given by God to Moses, the Kabbalah.) The present manuscript includes the addition of 3 preliminary pages of a later date, in French and Hebrew, giving the title as 'Livre des dix sermons,' providing much information about the manuscript.The 'Asarah mamarot' [Ten Discouses] containing homilies on the Passover lesson [Exodus xii,14] "on custom, on the seven Sabbaths between Passover and Pentacost; and on the Pentacost lesson dealing with the Sinaitic revelation. The introductory chapter, much of which is reproduced by Mordecai ben Nissim in hid 'Dod Mordecai,' dwells on the origin of the Karaites and the Rabbinites. Afendopolo's view of Jesus given given therein is remarkable for its impartial tone. He places him, it is true, a century before the common era, but adds, 'He was, according to the opinion of the lovers of truth, a wise man, pious, righteous, God-fearing, and shunning evil. Neither did he teach any law of the practice contrary to the written law. Only after his death, a quarrel arose between his followers and those who had opposed him because of his wisdom, which was rooted in the law and not in their rabbinical additions; and many of these disciples of his, sent forth in his name, introduced practices and teachings altogether foreign to him, removing thereby the corner-stone of the Law, though winning the multitudes. Thus the New Testament originated, which separated the Christians from the Jews." [Jewish Encyclopedia]This manuscript is based on the manuscript in Leiden descibed by Steinschneider [Cat. des Manuscits de la Biblio. de Leyden, Leiden:1858,p128. It lacks the two introductory essays in that manuscript.; according to the French description that precedes this manuscript.