GIBBOR, JUDAH BEN ELIJAH

GIBBOR, JUDAH BEN ELIJAH (b.c. 1460), Karaite author and poet living in Constantinople. His writings include a poetical commentary on the Pentateuch Minḥat Yehudah (published in the Karaite ritual, Venice, 1529). In this poem, often commented upon by Karaite scholars, Gibbor refers with deep respect to Maimonides; it deals with the three pillars of Karaism – Scripture, analogy, and (Karaite) tradition. He also wrote three works which are no longer extant: Hilkhot Sheḥitah, on the laws of ritual slaughter, Sefer Mo'adim, regulations for the festivals, and Mo'ed Katan, on the secondary festivals, which also contained the essential teachings of the Kabbalah. Gibbor's eldest son, ELIJAH SHUBSHI (1483–1501), who died at the age of 18, wrote a commentary on Shesh Kenafayim, an astronomical work by Immanuel b. Jacob bonfils of Tarascon. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Danon, in: JQR, 15 (1924/25), 313–5; 17 (1926/27), 179–81; Mann, Texts, 2 (1935), 296, n. 7, 732, n. 176, 1177, 1421. (Isaak Dov Ber Markon)