Page 202 - GQ 12

A 14th-century Karaite view of Jewish history and philosophy of religion 29*

they will tell thee” (Deut. 32:7); and ‫) ה̇דא (!) אלנצוץ ונחוהא תדל עלי אן‬2‫ב‬8(
it says about the stones that were ‫ביד ישראל נקל יתוא ̇רתונה ען דור משה ע"ה‬
taken from the Jordan River and ‫א ̇לדי נקלנא ירגע אליה ו ̇כדלך סאיר אלאגיאל‬
set up at Gilgal: “That when your ‫אלמסתאנ ̈פה תנקל מא בידהא אלי אולאדהם‬
children ask in time to come, saying '‫ לא ימושו מפיך ומפי זרעך ומפי זרע וג‬:‫כ"ק‬
[…] then ye shall say unto them:
Because the waters of the Jordan .)12:‫(יש' נט‬
were cut off […]” (Josh. 4:6–7),
and the Psalmist said: “O God, we
have heard with our ears, our fathers
have told us” (Ps. 44:2), “We will
not hide from their children, telling
to the generation to come the praises
of the Lord, and His strength,
and His wondrous works that He
hath done. For He established a
testimony in Jacob, and appointed a
law in Israel, which He commanded
our fathers, that they should make
them known to their children” (Ps.
78:4–5).
These texts and those like them
demonstrate that Israel has a
tradition that they transmit on the
authority of Moses’ generation, and
which is the origin of our tradition,
and likewise all of the succeeding
generations transmit what is in their
possession to their children, as it is
said: “They shall not depart out of
thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of
thy seed, nor out of the mouth of
thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from
henceforth and forever” (Isa. 59:21).