AARON BEN ELIJAH

(?1328-69)

    Karaite philosopher and exegete. Born in Nicomedia in Asia Minor, he lived in Constantinople. He used Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed as a basis for his defence of Karaism in The Tree of Life (1346). He believed that the Mosaic law is immutable and should not be supplemented by rabbinic ordinances.