Elijah ben Baruch (ben Solomon ben Abraham) The Elder
ELIJAH BEN BARUCH (ben Solomon ben Abraham) THE ELDER
ELIJAH BEN BARUCH (ben Solomon ben Abraham ) THE ELDER (d. before 1712), Karaite author. Elijah lived at first in Constantinople but is included by Sim?ah Isaac *Lu?ki among the Karaite writers of the Crimea. Elijah subsequently visited Ere? Israel, and is therefore referred to as "Yerushalmi." While in Jerusalem he copied the polemic by Salmon b. Jeroham against *Saadiah Gaon, as well as the polemical tract of Sahl b. Ma?lia?. Elijah inserted his own comments, strongly critical of the *Rabbanites in general and Saadiah Gaon in particular. Elijah's writings, mainly polemical, include (1) Asarah Ma'amarot, his major work, on the differences between the Rabbanites and the Karaites; (2) Iggeret ha-Vikku'ah, in four parts, not extant (mentioned in Lu?ki's Ora? ?addikim); (3) Yalkut, a collection of 61 essays by Karaite and Rabbanite scholars, with commentary; (4) Sippurei Massa'ot, a description of his journey from the Crimea to Ere? Israel; (5) Zeror ha-Mor, a commentary on Judah Gibbor's Min?at Yehudah. None of his works was published.
bibliography:
A. Geiger, in: O?ar Ne?mad, 4 (1863), 18; A.B. Gottlober, Bikkoret le-Toledot ha-Kara'im (1865), 159; S. Pinsker, in: Likkutei Kadmoniyyot (1860), 25, 27, 43; S. Pozna?ski, Karaite Literary Opponents of Sa'adiah Gaon (1908), 86, no. 45; Mann, Texts, 2 (1935), 1426–27.