Page 190 - GQ 12

A 14th-century Karaite view of Jewish history and philosophy of religion 41*

consider themselves to be venerating ‫ אלקום לם יכן מעהם נקל י̇כתצו‬86‫נקול אן‬

them. And this is because we say that ‫ ואנמא למא קאמו אלקום בעד אנקטאע‬.‫בה‬

these men did not have a unique and ‫אלנבו̈ה בניף ען ת"ק סנ̈ה וראו א ̇לכלף ̇כתיר‬

particular tradition. But rather, about ‫לעדם אלאנביא ואלמוקפין כ"ק באין חזון‬

five hundred years48 after the end of ‫) פ ̇אתבת כל‬81:‫יפרע עם וגו' (משלי כט‬

prophecy, when they became aware ‫ מא כאן ענדה ומא סנח לה בחסב‬87‫פריק‬

of the many differences of opinion ‫עלמה וק ̈וה קריחתה ואסתנבאטה ̇מתל ̇גירהם‬

due to the absence of prophets and ‫ ע"ה ולם יכן ̇תם תוקיף ען‬88‫מן אלחכמים‬

teachers, as it is said: “Where there ‫אלנבי פב ̇הדא נעצמהם ען אל ̇כדב וננסבהם‬

is no vision, the people cast off ‫אלי אלעלם ואל ̇אגתהאד כל בחסבה כ"ק‬

restraint” (Prov. 29:18), each group ‫כל אחד ואחד כותב לעצמו כפי כוחו מבואר‬

set down the tradition they had, and ‫התורה ומהלכותיה כמו ששמע מפי רבותיו‬

what appeared reasonable to them, ‫א) ומדברים שנתחדשו בכל דור ודור‬01(

according to their knowledge and ‫שלא למדום מפי השמועה אלא במדה משלש‬

their powers of discernment and 89.‫עשרה מדות‬

deduction, just like the other sages,

peace be upon them, in the absence

of divine instruction via a prophet.

In this way, we preserve them from

the suspicion of lying, and [rather]

we attribute them knowledge and

interpretive effort, each according to

his own thinking, as it is said “Each

individual wrote down, according to

his ability, parts of the explanation

of the Torah and of its laws that he

had heard, as well as the new matters

that developed in each generation,

which had not been received by

tradition, but had been deduced by

.‫ אן] – ג‬... ‫להם‬ 86
.‫פרק ג‬ 87
88
.)‫אלעלמא פ(א‬ 89
.‫ הקדמה למשנה תורה‬,‫ציטוט מתוך הרמב"ם‬