Letter: T-S Ar.7.37

Description

Letter from a Qaraite religious authority to a pupil containing the answers to a number of queries that the addressee had sent him, chief among them is the proper interpretation of beginning the counting of the Omer on "the morrow of the Sabbath" (Leviticus 23:15–16)—a famous bone of exegetical contention. Rabbanites interpret it as the day after the first yom ṭov of Passover, while Qaraites interpret it as the day after the shabbat that falls during Passover. This writer presents various arguments and proofs and says, "And no one can dispute this with some tradition (i.e. Oral Torah) that they know of ... because they did not see the messenger, and they are just deriving it (?yastamiddū) from us." There follows a somewhat cryptic analogy to whether or not we believe what a clothier says about the price of his merchandise. There are several additional exegetical issues broached here, and verso reads, "the answer/responsum to the query on 'the morrow of the Sabbath.'" ASE