Eldad HaDani. Calcutta, 1856

Sefer Eldad HaDani - story of the ten tribes who ...

Eldad HaDani. Calcutta, 1856

Sefer Eldad HaDani - story of the ten tribes who were exiled beyond the Sambatyon River and hilchos shechitah. (Hilchos Shechitah by Eldad HaDani from the times of the Gaonim is quoted in the works of Rishonim.)

Calcutta, 1856.

9 leaves. 15.5 cm.

Worn margins without damage to text. Light blemishes to the last page, with some damage to text, aging stains.

*****

Eldad HaDani

Tales of a Jewish traveler claiming to be from the tribe of Dan over 1000 years ago!

In the late 800s, a merchant and traveler named Eldad appeared in the Jewish communities of North Africa, claiming to be from the tribe of Dan and telling stories of how his tribe, together with the tribes of Asher, Gad, and Naphtali, live in a powerful Jewish kingdom in what is today Ethiopia and practice a more Biblical form of Judaism, including the imposition of the four types of death penalty recognized by the Torah. He also told of the whereabouts of other Tribes of Israel that had been lost: Reuven and Shimon, Yissachar and Zevulun, Ephraim and Menasheh, and even a tribe of “the sons of Moshe” who live in splendid isolation, surrounded by the magical River Sambatyon.

Eldad’s tales both enthralled and puzzled the Jewish communities he encountered. In particular, they were troubled by the fact that their practices differed in many respects from the halachah of the Talmud. In particular, Eldad’s account of the laws of shechitah, known as Hilchos Eretz Yisrael, deviated in many respects from the accepted halachah. (See, for instance, the first Tosafos in Chullin, which cites Hilchos Eretz Yisrael and disagrees with its conclusion.) In their puzzlement, the important Jewish community of Kairouan, in today’s Tunisia, sent a detailed letter to Rabbenu Tzemach Gaon of Sura. In his response, the Gaon accepts Eldad’s historical claims and even allows that different tribes can have different halachic traditions to an extent.

The tales of Eldad HaDani circulated in different versions in manuscript throughout the medieval era, and it was first printed quite early--in Mantua in c. 1475--and dozens of times thereafter.

Some of the greatest of the Rishonim, including Rashi, Ra’avad, and Rabbenu Avraham ben HaRambam, cite Eldad HaDani uncritically, while others, including Avraham ibn Ezra and Maharam of Rothenburg, question the authenticity of Eldad’s accounts and traditions. In the 1800s, students of the Vilna Gaon who came to live in Eretz Yisrael sent letters to the leaders of the tribes, who they believed resided in Yemen. Even among modern scholars, there is no consensus about the origins of Eldad and his traditions. Some maintain that he was a Karaite who invented these stories in order to undermine the authority of the Talmud. Others maintain that his tales of lost Jewish kingdoms are based in historical reality and locate these kingdoms in Arabia, Ethiopia, or the Horn of Africa. These tales continue to captivate the imagination of people around the world even today, as various groups claim descent from the lost tribes of Israel.