Solomon ben Jeroham
Solomon ben Jeroham, in Arabic Sulaym ibn Ruhaym, was a Karaite exegete and controversialist who flourished at Jerusalem between 940 and 960. He was considered one of the greatest authorities among the Karaites, by whom he is called "the Wise" ("HaHakham"), and who mention him after Benjamin Nahawendi in their prayers for their dead great teachers (Karaite Siddur, i. 137b). His principal work, one of several treatises entitled Milhamoth Adonai, was an attack on Saadia Gaon.[1]
Response to Saadia
In a work entitled Milḥamot Adonai, (not to be confused with books of the same title by Gersonides and Avraham son of Rambam) of which he produced also an Arabic version that is no longer in existence, Solomon attempts to counter the Classic Judaism (Rabbinites), especially Saadia. It is written in verse and is divided into 19 chapters, each of which contains 22 four-lined strophes. After having endeavored in the first two chapters to demonstrate the groundlessness of the oral tradition, he attempts to refute the seven arguments advanced in its behalf by Saadia in the introduction to his commentary on the Pentateuch. Then he criticizes Saadia's views on the Hebrew calendar, the laws concerning incest, the celebration of the second days of the feasts, etc., and accuses him of terms of having, in his polemics against the Karaites, used arguments which are in direct opposition to the teachings of the Mishnah and the Talmud, and which consequently he must have known to be false. Most of the book is ad hominem attacks against Saadia. The Milḥamot Adonai is extant in manuscript in various European libraries; parts of it have been published by Pinsker, Geiger, and Kirchheim.
References
- ↑ Nemoy, Leon (1969). Karaite anthology, excerpts from the early literature. Yale University Press.
Salmon ben Jeroham (Arabic Sulayman, or Sulaym, ibn Ruhaym) was born in Palestine (?) or in Iraq (?) probably some time between the years 910 and 915. As a young man, presumably about his twentieth year, he appears to have gone to Egypt to pursue his studies. For some years afterward he seems to have lived in Jerusalem; in any case, he exhibits in his writings a familiarity with the topography of Jerusalem and the geography of the Holy Land that can only have been acquired from personal experience and observation.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "article name needed". Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company.