Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 1.pdf/55

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Aaron of Canterbury Aaron ben Elijah

THE JEWISH ENX'YCLOPEDIA rabbi of Austria, who kept up a rtfiular corrfspondliim, referred to liiiii with great respect, He appears to lie idenrailing him "my teacher." tical with that |{. Aaron of whom it is said in "Or

ence with

Zani'a " (p. 10:W), "Now everything depends on H. Aaron, the only man who (f^nbiues scholarship, ripe t'.xperiencc, and antliority in one; he is called upon to tight for God anil His law, and we are ready to follow him." BlBLIOORAPiiY: MIehael, f)r ?Ki-Hn);|/ii», Nos. Kfhkut (Hi-t)rew Eniychipedlio. I. Vyt.

Iln-

10,

h. O.

AABON BEN ELIEZER hor ]K)et.

livid

in

was the author of

a

Saggi NeA lil uri;ie;il

"'I'ln' Blind "l: Salid froni the year

tor

eiipheiiiisiii

who

(railed

i

l.-)4."i.

lie

ollectioii of iioenisiind iirayers

printed at .Mantua in l.")(il. entitled " Sefer ha-^liz His booklet treats nefct" (The Hook of the .Miter). chietly of the glories of Palestine, for love of which land lie had left his home; and it includes a niunber of poems upon the thirteen articles of the Jewish This Aaron is probably the same as the one creed. honorably mentioned bv a writer of l.")llll-;!.") given in LwiCY.. "Jcru.salem Yearbook." iii. iJS, 104, lie

brew

part.

BiiiLionRArilv In (jrient,



lHU.

Michael,

Or ha-Hamiinu

No. 306, and Dukes

p. 453.

L. G.

AARON BEN ELIEZEK LIPMAN

Rabbi



Ziinpi-Uiurg. Wi-i I'russia, fornierly includiil in Ihe kingdom of Poland; tlourished toward the middle of the seventeenth century. He wasan intimate friend of Shalil)ilhai Hurwitz. rabbi of Prairue. His work. " Korban .liaron (The Offering of Aaron), waslirst pulilishrd at .Vmslerdani. It in I<!4li. and has gone llimugli several editions. summarizes in alphabetical order he decisions which

of Ihr town

i'{

'

I

K. Moses

Is.serles (1{.M.)

has laid

down

in his ritual

work, "Torat Aaron is also known as the author of an acrostic meditation (lehinnnln. beginning "Elohai dalfah "cni " (.My eye droi)petli I.Iatat "

istic

tears.

O my God

Bini.iiiiiUAfHv: - hiieliler. (<((.

I).

Henjarob. (t^r ha-Scfarim. ItiKll. No. 4:i>».

p.

636;8teln-

P. n.

AARON BEN ELIJAH, THE YOUNGER, of

Nicomedia



Kmi^iIii- Ihrdlniri.ni. licnii

in

(aim

To UiOO; died in t'onslanliiiople in i:ili!». dislinguish him from .aron lien Joseph, the elder Karaile theologian of Conslanlinople. he w.is called Aaron the Younger, or the l.alir. Aaron ben Elijah lived for a long lime in Nicomedia. Asia Minor (hence hisagnonien. "Niconiedi"l. but spent the do sing years of his life in Constantinople, at that lime Of his eliaracter the center of Karaite learning. The Kaiailes ilaiiii for him a rank little is known. eipial to Hint of Maimonides in rabbinical Judaism. In point of fact, he seems to have made it the am liilion of bis life to rival the famous Habbi Moses of Cairo, defending at Ihe same time he doctrines of his own seel against Maimonides' attacks. For this pur pose he sludied carefully the eiilire pliilosophieal literature of Ihe .Moslems and Jews, familiarizing himself with Ihe rabbinical writings as well as with Thus all the works of his Kaniile predecessors. prepared, he took as a model Maimonides' "Moreli Nebuklni." and. imitating il both in plan and style belmying also at times an almost slavish depenilenee upon il in malters ofdetail he wrol<' his plillosoph ical work "'Ez ha H".'''.V'"> " (The Tree of Life), which he linishi'il in the year i:!4l. while in iiboul

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Conslanlinople. he compos<'d his work "(ian Eden"

(The Garden of Eden), on the Biblical commandincuts, andtiually, in the jear I'iG'i, he wrote "Keter Torah " (The Crown of the Law), a comprehensive commentary on the Pentateuch. Aaron was not of the same profound and independent cast of mind as Maimonides. for whom lie entertained great esteem even when ojiposing him, but was a versatile compiler and eclectic philo.so])her rather than an original thinker. Still he was eminently successful in his masterly efforts to restore to Ihe Karaites some of the prestige and self-respect wliieli bad shown signs of decline ever since Saadia of Fayoum bad begun his sy.stematic warfare against them. He. like his predecessor, Aaron the Elder, elTected a healtliy regeneration of Karaite theology, fact which the partiality of Giiltz, the historian, a failed to ap|ireciate (see "Gescli. d. Juden." vi. ISTo. Nor. in fact, can an impartial judgment deny him the merit of having often criticized ^Maimonides quite justly, and of having advanced sounder, because less rationalistic, theological views. Like Maimonides and all oilier Judivo- Arabic students of philo.sopliy, Aaron stands under the dominating intluence of Aristotelianisin. There is. however, a flistinction between Aaron and >hiimonides. The latter, in his "Moreli Nebukim.'' i. 71. disiigrees with Ihe Jlolazililes. or liberal MosAaron's 1cm theologians, regarding their sj-stini of the K.i..M theology, because, Philosophy. in order to harmonize revelation with philosophy es])ecially on the (lucstion of creation the Jlotazililes combine atomism with the llieories of Aristotle, while Maimonides defends the dogma of the creation against Ihe Slagiiile, himself making use of that ]ibilosopher's own argumi'nts. Aaron is opposed to Aristotelianism, and, like the rest of the Karaite theologians, adheres to the liberal sysli'in of Ihe Molazililes; herein ilifTering from Aaron ben .Tosepli, who frequently sides with the rabbinisis against the Karaile traditions. Aieonlingly, at the very beginning of his book, " 'Ez ha-Hayyim," he declares that the theology of the Kalam is the natural religion arrived at by
 * i7li).

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Abraham throuLdi meditation and systemalized by Ihe Mosaic Law; while Greek philosophy, adojiled by Christianity because of its hostility to Judaism, is a helerogeneous foreign product and obno.xioiis to the development of the Torah in its purity. He further declares the restoration and clearer presentation of the Kalam to be the object of his work. Of the one hundred and fourteen chapters which the book contains the tirsl Hftcen are devoteil to the doctrine conceniing God's existence. His incorporeality, and the cnalion of Ihe world, the heavenly spheres being considered, as in the "Moreh." as ruled by separate inlelligenees or angels. All these doctrines are shown to be logical deductions and Ihircfori' prior to his " 'Ez ha-Hayyim" revelation, which is only the contirmation of truth otherwise known. In the

succeeding forly-seven chapters. Ihe Bib-

expressions (see AsTllItoi'oMoitfiiisM) are explained as tigunilive expres.sions of Ihe divine energies and activities, the words of Abiimoiiides being at limes literally reileraled or epitomized, though .Varon claims that Maimonides lical aiilliroiioniorpliic

merely followed Judali Hadassi, whose work. "Ha Eshkol." appeared Iweiilynine years liefore ihe To iiini also, as to Maimon"Vail ha I.Iazakah." ides. Ihe Itiblical Iheophany of Ezekiel ("Merka ball") has a ]>hysical meaning, and so lias the Tabernacle with its symbolism. In deinonslraling the unity of God in the following chapters Ihe nullior opposes Maimonides and Iladassi, who reject