KARAITE HEBREW POETRY AND POETICS IN EARLY MODERN EUROPE
KARAITE HEBREW POETRY AND POETICS IN EARLY MODERN EUROPE

Summary/Abstract: Hebrew was the main language of the early modern Karaim culture. Nearly all Polish–Lithuanian Karaim scholars wrote poetry in Hebrew for various occasions celebrating the Karaim cycle of life: for Sabbaths and festivals, for weddings and circumcisions, or as eulogies for a fellow scholar. Their poems cover exegetical, philosophical, and mystical topics from a Karaim point of view and contain historical details about Karaim life in Eastern Europe. Karaim Hebrew poets followed the footsteps of earlier Karaite generations: Byzantine Karaite poetry, emulating the Andalusian standards of poetics and familiarised through shared literary sources, served as their main literary model.

• Details
• Contents