Abraham Firkovich

Abraham (Avraham) ben Samuel Firkovich (אברהם בן שמואל or Аврагъам Фиркович) (1786–1874) was a famous leader among the clerical Karaim-Karaylar. He was born in Lutsk, Volhynia, then lived in Lithuania, and finally settled in Çufut Qale, Crimea. Firkovich was a communal leader and hakham. He is best known as a collector of manuscripts and amateur archaeologist.

In 1818 Firkovitch was hazzan of his native city, an office which among both Karaylar and Jews includes that of cantor, reader, teacher, and minister. In 1828 he lived in Berdichev, and had controversies with some Jewish Rabbis, the result being his anti-rabbinical work Masah u-Meribah (Eupatoria, 1838). In later years when he was reconciled with the Rabbinites, he apologised for the sentiments contained in that pamphlet. In 1830 he visited Jerusalem, where he collected many Jewish manuscripts. On his return he remained two years in Constantinople, as teacher in the Karaylar community there. He then went to Crimea and organized a society to publish old Karaylar works, of which several appeared in Eupatoria with comments by him. In 1838 he was the teacher of the children of Sima Babovich, the head of the Russian Karaylar, who one year later recommended him to Count Vorontzov and to the Historical Society of Odessa as a suitable man to send to collect material for the history of the Karaylar. In 1839 Firkovich began excavations in the ancient cemetery of Çufut Qale, and unearthed many old tombstones, some of which belonged to the Bosporan "sebomenoi" period (first centuries of the common era). The following two years were spent in travels through the Caucasus, where he visited the genizot of the old Jewish communities and procured many documents on the history of his people. He went as far as Derbent, and returned in 1842. In later years he made other journeys of the same nature, visiting Egypt and other countries looking for anything which might pertain to Karaylar traditions concerning pre-Khazar origins. In Odessa he became the friend of Bezalel Stern and of Simchah Pinsker, and while residing in Wilna he made the acquaintance of Fuenn and other Hebrew scholars. In 1871 he visited the small Kabar-Karaylar community in Halych, Galicia, where he recommended several reforms. From there he went to Vienna, where he was introduced to Count Beust and also made the acquaintance of Adolph Jellinek. He returned to pass his last days in Çufut Qale, of which there now remained only a few buildings and many ruins. However, Firkovich's house is still preserved in the site.

Firkovich collected a vast number of Hebrew, Arabic and Samaritan manuscripts during his many travels in his search for evidence concerning the pre-Khazar traditions of his people. These included thousands of Jewish documents from throughout the Russian Empire in what became known as the First Firkovich Collection. He was one of the first to visit the Cairo Genizah with the intention of cataloging and studying its contents. His visit, in 1863, took place thirty four years before Solomon Schechter's more famous trip; Firkovich therefore got first pick of the documents contained in the Genizah. Though this "Second Firkovich Collection" contains only 13,700 items in comparison to Schechter's 140,000, the Firkovich documents are generally more complete.

As a result of his research he became focussed on the origin of the Karaylar ancestors among descendants of Israelite teachers (mainly from the tribes of Simeon and Levi and their Carian bodyguard from Caphtor){cite} who arrived in Crimea to make sebomenoi among the Kolkhis natives before the common era{cite} (thus not being culpable for the crucifixion of Jesus){cite} . However, because he recorded no comment regarding the sources for the Second Collection, many documents which passed through Firkovich's hands were promoted as sceptic among Jewish academics (Chwolson, S. L. Rapoport, A. Neubauer, Julius Fürst, Heinrich Grätz, Strack and Harkavy etc.). His theories caught on in the Russian imperial court, and the Karaylar were excluded from the restrictive measures against Jews.

Upon his death in 1874 Firkovich's collection was bought by the Russian National Library.

Among the treasures in the Firkovich collection is a manuscript of the Garden of Metaphors, an aesthetic appreciation of Biblical literature written in Judeao-Arabic by one of the greatest of the Sephardi poets, Moses ibn Ezra.

Firkovich's chief work is his Abne Zikkaron, containing the texts of inscriptions discovered by him (Wilna, 1872). It is preceded by a lengthy account of his travels to Daghestan, characterized by Strack as a mixture of truth and fiction. His other works are Khotam Toknit, antirabbinical polemics, appended to his edition of the Mibkhar Yesharim by Aaron the elder (Eupatoria, 1835); Evel Kavod, on the death of his wife and of his son Jacob (Odessa, 1866); and Bene Reshef, essays and poems, published by Peretz Smolenskin (Vienna, 1871). Gabriel Firkovich of Troki was his son-in-law.

Briefly stated, Firkovich's discoveries include the major part of the manuscripts described in Pinner's Prospectus der der Odessaer Gesellschaft für Geschichte und Alterthum Gehörenden Aeltesten Hebräischen und Rabbinischen Manuscripte (Odessa, 1845), a rather rare work which is briefly described in Literaturblatt des Orients for 1847, No. 2. These manuscripts consist of:

• Fifteen scrolls of the Law, with postscripts which give, in Karaylar fashion, the date and place of writing, the name of the writer or corrector or other interesting data.
• Twenty copies of books of the Bible other than the Pentateuch, some complete, others fragmentary, of one of which, the Book of Habakkuk, dated 916, a facsimile is given.
• Nine numbers of Talmudical and rabbinical manuscripts.

• Seraya Shapshal Philosophical disciple of Firkovich also carrying the Bashyazi Sevel ha Yerushah.

• Ben-Sasson, M. (1991). "Firkovich's Second Collection: Notes on historical and Halakhic material." Jewish Studies, 31: 47-67 (Hebrew).
• Josephs, Susan. "Fact from Fantasy" The Jewish Week January 12, 2001.
• Markon, I. “Babowitsch, Simcha ben Salamo.” Encyclopaedia Judaica 3: 857-58.

________. “Firkowitsch, (Firkowitz), Abraham ben Samuel.” Encyclopaedia Judaica 6: 1017-19.

• Miller, Philip E. Karaite Separatism in Nineteenth-Century Russia. Cincinnati, 1993
• Harkavy, Albert. Altjudische Denkmaller aus der Krim mitgetheilt von Abraham Firkowitsch, 1839-1872. In Memoires de l’Academie Imperiale de St.-Peterboug, VIIe Serie, 24, 1877; reprinted Wiesbaden, 1969.

• Кизилов, Михаил. “Караим Авраам Фиркович: прокладывая путь тюркскому национализму.” Историческое наследие Крыма 9 (2005): 218-221.

• Кизилов М., Щеголева T. Осень караимского патриарха. Авраам Фиркович по описаниям очевидцев и современников // Параллели 2-3 (2003). С.319-362.

• Shapira, Dan. “Remarks on Avraham Firkowicz and the Hebrew Mejelis 'Document'.” Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 59:2 (2006): 131-180.

• Shapira, Dan. Avraham Firkowicz in Istanbul (1830–1832). Paving the Way for Turkic Nationalism. Ankara: KaraM, 2003.

• Shapira, Dan. “Yitshaq Sangari, Sangarit, Bezalel Stern and Avraham Firkowicz: Notes on Two Forged Inscriptions.” Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi 12 (2002–2003): 223-260.

• Kizilov, Mikhail. Karaites through the Travelers’ Eyes. Ethnic History, Traditional Culture and Everyday Life of the Crimean Karaites According to Descriptions of the Travelers. New York: al-Qirqisani, 2003.

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