© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���7 | doi � �. ��63/9789004334786_008 The Interplay of Poetry and Exegesis in Judah Hadassi’s Eshkōl ha-kōfer1 Daniel J. Lasker Abstract The Karaite Judah Hadassi wrote his monumental Eshkōl ha-kōfer (Cluster of Henna Blossoms) in mid-twelfth-century Byzantium. It is in the form of over 379 rhyming acrostics, most of which are alphabetical, either from the beginning of the alphabet forward or from the end of the alphabet backward. Stanzas are characterized by inter- nal rhymes of each line, but every single stanza ends with the syllable -khā. Although the form is ostensibly poetry, it is more accurate to call it rhymed prose since, other than the rhymes, there are almost no other poetic conventions. Hadassi expends great efforts at maintaining this style, including the use of rare expressions and the rework- ing of biblical verses. The book itself is replete with biblical interpretations and dis- cussions of exegetical methodologies, one purpose of which is to distinguish Karaite understanding of Scripture from Rabbanite exegesis. Ultimately the poetic framework is highly artificial and interferes with the presentation of Hadassi’s views more than it advances them. Nonetheless, Hadassi’s mastery of Hebrew and his dedication to the unique style of the book, in addition to its encyclopedic nature, make Eshkōl ha-kōfer one of the classics of Hebrew literature. The mid-twelfth-century Byzantine Karaite sage, Judah ben Elijah Hadassi, saw himself as a poet. His massive summa of Karaite law and theology, Eshkōl ha-kōfer (Cluster of Henna Blossoms; cf. Song 1:14),2 is composed of rhymed 1  This research has been supported by a grant from the German-Israeli Foundation No. 1179– 212.4/2011: Editing Theology at a Crossroad: A Preliminary Edition of Judah Hadassi’s Eshkol ha-kofer, First Commandment, and Studies of the Book’s Judaeo-Arabic and Byzantine Contexts. 2  The only dates known concerning the life of Judah Hadassi are the ones mentioned in his book, 1148 and 1149. The first edition of Eshkōl ha-kōfer was produced under the auspices of Abraham Firkovich’s publishing house in Eupatoria (Gözleve) in the Crimea, in 1836. This edition is severely lacking, having censored all anti-Christian passages and references, as well as omitting almost all the Judaeo-Greek of the original. It has been reprinted a number of times, most notably in Westmead: Gregg International Publishers Limited, 1971, with an introduction by L. Nemoy and two articles: A. Scheiber, “Ḥomer she-bi-khtāḇ yād la-ʿăvōdātō ha-sifrūtīt shel Yehudah Hadassi,” in Jubilee Volume in Honour of Prof. Bernhard Heller on