Simḥah Isaac ben Moses Luzki (, , ; 1716 – 1760/66), also known as the "Karaite

Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki (; ; ; 13 July 1105) was a French rabbi who authored comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud and Hebrew Bible. He is commonly known by the List of rabbis known by acronyms, Rabbinic acronym Rashi (). Born in Troyes, Rashi stud ...

" and "Olam Tsa'ir," was a Karaite Kabbalist, writer, and bibliographer.

Biography

Simḥah Isaac Luzki was born in the Volhynian city of

Lutsk Lutsk (, ; see #Names and etymology, below for other names) is a city on the Styr River in northwestern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Volyn Oblast and the administrative center of Lutsk Raion within the oblast. Lutsk has a populati ...

. In the introduction to most of his works he mentioned that he was the son of Moses son of Simhah, son of Joseph, son of Yeshu'a (who died in Derazhne in 1649 during the

Khmelnytsky Uprising The Khmelnytsky Uprising, also known as the Cossack–Polish War, Khmelnytsky insurrection, or the National Liberation War, was a Cossack uprisings, Cossack rebellion that took place between 1648 and 1657 in the eastern territories of the Poli ...

), son of Simḥah, son of Yeshu'a, son of Samuel, of a noble family. He resided in his hometown until the early 1750s, when he moved to

Chufut-Kale __NOTOC__ Chufut-Kale ( ; Russian and Ukrainian: Чуфут-Кале - ''Chufut-Kale''; Karaim: Кала - קלעה - ''Kala'') is a medieval city-fortress in the Crimean Mountains that now lies in ruins. It is a national monument of Crimean Kar ...

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

, where there was a flourishing Karaite community. He was received into the house of the writer Mordecai ben Berakah Yerushalmi, and succeeded Samuel Kala'i as teacher of the city's ''

bet ha-midrash A ''beth midrash'' (, "house of learning"; : ''batei midrash''), also ''beis medrash'' or ''beit midrash'', is a hall dedicated for Torah study, often translated as a "study hall". It is distinct from a synagogue (''beth knesseth''), although ...

''. Luzki rendered great services to Karaite literature both as copyist of early Karaite Jewish manuscripts and as writer of various studies of theology, philosophy, ''

Halakha ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Judaism, Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Torah, Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is ...

'', and ''

Kabbalah Kabbalah or Qabalah ( ; , ; ) is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of Mysticism, mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ...

''. His ''Light of the Righteous'' (1757) is a history of

Karaite Judaism Karaite Judaism or Karaism is a Rabbinic Judaism, non-Rabbinical Jewish religious movements, Jewish sect characterized by the recognition of the written Tanakh alone as its supreme religious text, authority in ''halakha'' (religious law) and t ...

and its literature in which he presented a spiritual genealogy for the '' Sevel ha-Yerushah'' (the Karaite Jewish "unwritten" version of the

Mishna The Mishnah or the Mishna (; , from the verb ''šānā'', "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. Having been collected in the 3rd century CE, it is ...

) from

Judah ben Tabbai Judah ben Tabbai ( ''Yehuda ben Tabbai'') was a Pharisee scholar, av beit din of the Sanhedrin, and one of "the Pairs" (''zugot'') of Jewish leaders who lived in the first century BCE. He lived approximately from 120 BCE to 50 BCE. Av beit din ...

Works

* ''Be'er Yitsḥak'', commentary on 's ''Minḥat Yehudah'' on the

Pentateuch The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () o ...

. * ''Siaḥ Yitsḥak'', commentary on the prayer for the

Day of Atonement Yom Kippur ( ; , ) is the holiest day of the year in Judaism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, corresponding to a date in late September or early October. For traditional Jewish people, it is primarily centered on atonement and ...

. * ''Reshit Ḥokhmah'', commentary in three volumes on the daily prayers. * ''Me'irat 'Enayim'' ('Light of the Righteous', 1757), code in two volumes, of which the first, entitled ''Ner Mitsvah'', comprises the Commandments and their explanations, and the second, entitled ''Ner Tsaddikim'', enumerates the differences between the

Rabbinites Rabbinic Judaism (), also called Rabbinism, Rabbinicism, Rabbanite Judaism, or Talmudic Judaism, is rooted in the many forms of Judaism that coexisted and together formed Second Temple Judaism in the land of Israel, giving birth to classical rabb ...

and the Karaites and gives a genealogy of the Karaite scholars and a list of their works. * ''Sha'are Tsedek'', on the

Hebrew calendar The Hebrew calendar (), also called the Jewish calendar, is a lunisolar calendar used today for Jewish religious observance and as an official calendar of Israel. It determines the dates of Jewish holidays and other rituals, such as '' yahrze ...

. * ''Akedat Yitsḥak'', on the laws concerning the slaughtering of animals, and on the ten Karaite articles of belief. * ''Kevod Elohim'', commentary on Joseph ben Mordecai Troki's mystic prayer ''Ha-Elef Leka''. * ''Arba' Yesodot'', on the four dogmatic principles, namely, the creation of the world, the existence of an invisible God, His holiness and spirituality, and His unity. * ''Tefillah le-Mosheh'', questions and answers exchanged between God and

Moses In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...

. * ''Halikhot 'Olam'', description of the creation of the world and of the nature of all things according to their quantitative and qualitative attributes. * ''Ene Yitsḥak'', commentary on Elijah Bashyazi's calendric tables. * ''Toledot Yitsḥak'', religious poems, enigmas, letters, ''etc.'', in two volumes. * ''Ture Zahab u-Nekuddot ha-Kesef'', on the precepts, in two volumes, of which the first, ''Ture Zahab'', enumerates in verse all the precepts, arranged in the order of the 620 letters of the

Decalogue The Ten Commandments (), or the Decalogue (from Latin , from Ancient Greek , ), are religious and ethical directives, structured as a covenant document, that, according to the Hebrew Bible, were given by YHWH to Moses. The text of the Ten C ...

; the second, ''Nekuddot Kesef'', being a commentary thereon. * ''Sefer Bereshit'', a mystic explanation of the Creation. * ''Rekeb Elohim'', on the mysteries of the Divine Chariot. * ''Kevod Melakhim'', a mystic explanation of the letters of the

Hebrew alphabet The Hebrew alphabet (, ), known variously by scholars as the Ktav Ashuri, Jewish script, square script and block script, is a unicase, unicameral abjad script used in the writing of the Hebrew language and other Jewish languages, most notably ...

. * ''Sefer ha-Tappuaḥ'', on the Creation and on the Divine Chariot, according to the modern Kabbalah. * ''Livnat ha-Sappir'', on the ten

Sefirot Sefirot (; , plural of ), meaning '' emanations'', are the 10 attributes/emanations in Kabbalah, through which Ein Sof ("infinite space") reveals itself and continuously creates both the physical realm and the seder hishtalshelut (the chained ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Luzki, Simhah Isaac 1716 births 1760s deaths 18th-century Jewish theologians 18th-century Ukrainian writers Jewish Ukrainian writers Kabbalists Karaite Jews People from Lutsk People of the Haskalah Year of death uncertain