Yefet ben Ali () was perhaps the foremost Karaite commentator on the Bible, during the "Golden Age of Karaism". He lived about 95 years, . Born in Basra in the Abbasid Caliphate (now in Iraq), he later moved to Jerusalem between 950 and 980, where he died. The Karaites distinguished him by the epithet maskil ha-Golah (teacher of the Exile). Unlike his Karaite predecessors in the field of Bible exegesis, Yefet realized the importance of grammar and lexicography for the interpretation of Scripture, although he did not excel in either. The interest which his commentaries present lies chiefly in the accumulation of material for the history of the differences between traditional Judaism and the Karaites; for he enters into lengthy disputes with traditional rabbis, especially with Saadia, from whose commentaries on the Bible and polemical works, including some no longer in existence, he gives many extracts. Thus in regard to Ex. xxxv. 3 he discusses with Saadia the kindling of a fire by a non-Jew on Sabbath, a practise which the Karaites considered to be forbidden. Yefet reproaches Saadia with being unfaithful to the principles he himself had laid down for the interpretation of the Law, according to which no deductions by analogy are admissible in definite revealed precepts. On Lev. xxiii. 5 Yefet cites fragments from Saadia's "Kitab al-Tamyiz", a polemical work against Karaism, in which the author states that there are three sects which are divided on the question of the new moon: (1) the Rabbinites, who, except in special cases, determine it by the molad; (2) the sect of the Tiflis, which follow the molad absolutely; and (3) a sect which is guided by the first appearance of the moon.), though he never acknowledges it as a source, and he quotes Talmudic teachings frequently, likewise without attribution. In his style and idioms also he bears a deep debt to Talmudic writings, and his interpretations are very often borrowed from the exegetical works of Saadia Gaon or the doctrines of Mutazilism.) Babel and Binding of Isaac (Zawanowska 2022)

  • Numbers Balaam poetry (Avni 2003)
  • Deuteronomy 32 (Sokolow 1974, dissertation)
  • Joshua (Robinson 2015)
  • Judges (Wechsler, announced

Further reading

  • D. S. Margoliouth (ed.), Jephet Ibn Ali the Karaite, A Commentary of the Book of Daniel, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1889.
  • M. Polliack and E. Schlossberg, Yefet Ben `Eli`s Commentary on Hosea, Bar-Ilan University Press, 2009.
  • Joshua A. Sabih, Japheth ben Ali´s Book of Jeremiah, Equinox Publishing Ltd, 2009.
  • Michael G. Wechsler, The Arabic Translation and Commentary of Yefet ben 'Eli the Karaite on the Book of Esther, Leiden: Brill, 2008.

Notes

  • Haggai Ben-Shammai (2006), Japheth ben Eli ha-Levi, from Encyclopaedia Judaica (2nd ed.). via Jewish Virtual Library.