Abraham ben Shemuel and His Attempt to Settle the Karaites of Hit in Jerusalem
Abraham ben Shemuel and His Attempt to Settle the Karaites of Hit in Jerusalem

Summary/Abstract: The present article seeks to investigate Abraham Firkowicz’s involvement in the attempt to settle the Karaites of Hit in Jerusalem in the 19th century. It presents an analysis of the Karaite correspondence with a translation of selected fragments from the Abraham Firkowicz Collection at the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg. The documents include Firkowicz’s private letters to his son-in-law Gabriel Firkowicz, his disciple Ṣadoq Yerushalmi, the Lithuanian Karaite leader Boaz Kapłanowski, the Karaites of Kosdina and Hit, as well as various letters from different members of the Karaite communities. The study was conducted to shed light on the circumstances of this unsuccessful settlement attempt and reveal Firkowicz’s personal motives for acquiring the Karaite manuscripts from Hit. In addition, this article pays particular attention to the most recent past of the Karaites of Hit that shaped the fate of their community.

• Details
• Contents