Abraham Firkowitsch
Abraham Samuilowitsch Firkowitsch ( Russian Авраам Самуилович Фиркович, academic transcription Avraam Samuilovič Firkovič, Hebrew אברהם בן שמואל פירכוויץ, too. Ewen Reshef , Hebrew אבן רשף; born 2. September 1787 in Lutsk ; d. 29. June 1874 in Chufut Kale , Russian Empire , today Ukraine ) was the spiritual leader ( Chassan ) of the Karaites , manuscript collector and author.
Live and act
During his life, Abraham Firkowitsch devoted himself to the scientific research of the Karaites, especially their ancient Jewish monuments on the Crimean peninsula . However, he is said to have been falsified in terms of his achievement of Karaean equality . One of the most heated scientific discussions arose about the significance of his documents discovered in 1839–1843. In his opinion, the documents are intended to provide evidence of the merging of the Karaites with the Turkic Khazar people and their conversion to the Jewish faith around 740, which formed an empire on the Don , Volga , Caspian and Black Sea since the 4th century . – 12. Century succumbed to the Byzantines and Russians . For example, the authenticity of the letter from Chasdai ibn Shaprut to the Khazar king Joseph in the 10th century is in doubt. Firkowitsch's forgeries were u. a. verified and corrected by Ludwig Geiger .
Firkowitsch tried to convince experts of the Russian Empire that the first Karaites had already settled in the Crimea before the birth of Jesus and could therefore not be held responsible for his crucifixion. Last but not least, Firkowitsch tried to protect his religious community from anti-Semitic excesses in Tsarist Russia. His research took him to Palestine and Constantinople (1830–1831), but also to the Caucasus and Egypt around 1839 . In 1864 he visited the Geniza of the Ben Esra Synagogue in Cairo and took manuscripts from there to the Crimea.
A large part of his writing collection, including the Codex Leningradensis , is in the Russian National Library .
Firkowitsch is thus considered to be the first advocate of the theory of a non-Semitic origin of the Karaites.
Publications (selection)
- Hotam tokhnit (Seal of Excellence, 1835)
- Masa u-Meriva (Heb. מַסָה וּמְרִיבָה - trials and disputes, Evpatorija 1838)
- Avne-Zikkaron (Heb. אבני זכרון - memorial stones; Russian translation by David Markovich Gumush, Evpatorija 1872)
literature
- Khazars, Karaites. In: John F. Oppenheimer (Red.) U. a .: Lexicon of Judaism. 2nd Edition. Bertelsmann Lexikon Verlag, Gütersloh u. a. 1971, ISBN 3-570-05964-2 .
- Old Jewish monuments from the Crimea, reported by Abraham Firkowitsch (1839–1872) and checked by Albert Harkavy , 1923, facsimile 2010, p. 302, Kessinger Pub Co., ISBN 1169760902
- A. Firkowitsch and his discoveries: a gravestone from the Hebrew grave inscriptions of the Crimea / by Hermann L. Strack , Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1876, 44 pp.
- А. Geiger: A. Firkowitsch. In: Jewish magazine. for Science and Life , 1875
- А. Jellinek: A. Firkowitsch . Vienna, 1875
Individual evidence
- ↑ Abraham Geiger: Life and Lifetime Achievement of Ludwig Geiger , Berlin, 1910, p. 387
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Firkowitsch, Abraham |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Firkowitsch, Abraham Samuilowitsch (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Spiritual head (Chassan) of the Karaites, manuscript collector and author |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 2, 1787 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Lutsk |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 29, 1874 |
| Place of death | Tschufut-Kale , Russian Empire , today Ukraine |