Narratives of Enlightenment 143

69. With respect to the Karaites see, for example, R. Yosef Karo , Beit Yosef to Tur, Orah Hayim 385, Resp. Mabit 1:37, Resp. R. Eliyahu Mizrahinos. 57-58, and Resp. Binyamin Ze'ev, no. 406. Concerning the descendants of Jews who converted to Christianity see Resp. Maharil no. 207. Resp. R. Eliyahu Mizrahi, no. 48, and Resp. Halakhot Ketanot(R. Ya'akov Hagiz, 17"-century Istanbul ) 2:92.

70. Resp. Binyan Tsiyon Hahadashot, no. 23. 71. B. Hulin 5a; Yad, Shabbat 30:15; Shulhan Arukh Yoreh De’ah 2:5.

72. For the sake of brevity, my exposition grossly oversimplifies the complexities of the ritual institution of“Gentile wine”; see Shulhan Arukh Yoreh De ah 123. This is also not the place for a lengthy discussion of the subtleties indicated by the words“/ike a Gentile”(my emphasis). Suffice it to say that the predominant view in the halakhah holds that the apostate Jew, even one who has formally converted to another religion, is still a Jew , albeit one who deserves severe communal penalties such as excommunication. In this case, the Shabbat violator is still a Jew , but he is like a Gentile in that his contact with wine belonging to another Jew

renders that wine forbidden for Jewish consumption.

73. The authority is R. Moshe Trani(16'-century, Safed ), Resp. Mabit 1:38. Trani cites the statement in the Sifra, Emor, parashah 9, that“one who violates the festivals is like one who violates the Sabbath .” Given that the Karaites do not recognize the Rabbinic institution of the second festival day in the Diaspora, they are to be considered as“violators of the festivals”and, therefore, of the Shabbat.

74. See Nekudot Hakesef(of R. Shabetai Kohen, author of Siftei Kohen) to Shulhan Arukh Yoreh De ah 124, wgo cites R. Shelomo Luria(16™ century, Poland ). Luria writes that the Karaites do not“violate the festivals” in the true sense of that term, since their“violation” lies primarily in their disagreements with us concerning the festival calendar and not the labors that are forbidden on festivals. Thus, they are not to be equated with transgressors against Shabbat , and there is no reason to prohibit their wine.

75. On all this, see Encyclopaedia Talmudit 1:3 14ff.

76. This had much to do with the insistence among the medieval theologians that a Jew must accept the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo(hidush ha olam), a belief oe strongly indicates the existence of God , rather than the Aristotelian conception 3

the eternity of the physical universe. See, among others, Maimonides , Guide of the