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3 unusual facts about Alphabet of Akiba ben Joseph


Alphabet of Akiba ben Joseph

Version A was likewise known to Judah Hadassi, the Karaite, in the 13th century (see Jellinek, B. H. iii., xvii. 5).

It is directly based upon, if not coeval with, Shab. 104a, according to which the school-children in the time of Joshua ben Levi (the beginning of the 3rd century) were taught in such mnemonic forms which at the same time suggested moral lessons.

Version A, considered by Adolf Jellinek to be the older form, and by Bloch to be of a much more recent origin, introduces the various letters as contending with each other for the honor of forming the beginning of creation (bereshit).



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